A Merciless Victory: Monomoy Softball Thumps Barnstable

HARWICH – The Monomoy softball team is on fire. 

 Going into Thursday’s game against Barnstable, the Sharks had outscored their opposition 82-14. That’s an average game score of 20.5 runs scored to 3.5 runs allowed. 

Thursday was no different.

Monomoy cruised to a 15-0 win over visiting Barnstable in five innings after receiving strong pitching from senior Alana Ljoko, aggressive base running, and timely hitting. 

“It’s great, when we start off the season it’s all about aggression,” said Monomoy coach Stacy Yarnall. “Scoring the runs has helped them build up their confidence.”

And confident they were. The Sharks (6-0) jumped out to an early 7-0 lead after one inning, with the output coming from a mix of hitting and aggressive baserunning as Monomoy took full advantage of Barnstable’s early struggles on the mound. 

Despite the struggles, Barnstable coach Aaron Buckler was happy with his team’s effort, especially how the Redhawks (1-3) rebounded as the game went on.

“We didn’t come out on the right side, but we’re building a program,” said Buckler. “We struggled in the first inning, second inning was a little bit better, and then their confidence — I couldn’t be happier. They pulled themselves together.”

In fact, the biggest contrast between the teams came from the pitching. While Barnstable struggled to find the strike zone early on, Ljoko retired her first 10 batters in order. In the fourth, she managed to get out of trouble after allowing her first hit, a single to left field through two diving Sharks, and putting another runner on base. 

Lojko then struck out the next two batters to end the inning. After the game, she preached the importance of taking care of the field, so she and her team could get back to the plate.

“It’s top of my priority this year,” said Ljoko. “I’ve had some rough spots, but this game I really got through it all.”

Ljoko’s efforts did not go unnoticed by her coach.

“She is my senior pitcher, she’s been pitching for me since eighth grade, she actually stepped up really well today,” said Yarnall. “Even if we’re scoring runs, she still goes back out and we do one, two, three innings.”

Other highlights included a two-run inside-the-park home run by first baseman Liv Sanford in the second, and the play of shortstop Kate Huse at the plate and on defense throughout.

Moving forward, Monomoy has three games next week, with two coming against neighboring schools. Yarnall stressed the importance of keeping the momentum rolling.

“We’ve got a pretty tough week ahead of us with Wareham, Nauset, and DY…hopefully we can stick with it,” she said.