Campbell High School’s softball team may be losing three of its star players, but Joe Raycraft isn’t expecting to fall too far in Division III.

Seniors Brittany McNulla, heading to the University of Virginia on scholarship, and Emily Paquin, off to Southern New Hampshire University, graduated Friday night, while junior Lauren King is moving to Ohio.

His Cougars, who won their second straight title and third in four years at Plymouth State University on Saturday, are still loaded with young talent. They should still be considered a contender for a return trip to Plymouth next spring.

“We still have a real good group of young kids, and they’re working hard,” said Raycraft, whose third-seeded Cougars beat No. 2 Conant 14-5 in the semifinals and No. 1 White Mountains Regional 1-0 in the final. “They’ve improved. Every year, they improve and improve a little bit at a time. That’s what they’ve got to continue to do. If they do that we’ll be in good shape and we’ll be back here.”

McNulla’s replacement behind the plate, Gianna Cataldo, is one of the team’s better hitters. She’s gotten plenty of work at catcher in games McNulla played shortstop.

Paquin has a couple girls filling voids with her departure. In the circle, junior-to-be Olivia Martinage is a lock. Martinage has been sharing pitching duties with Paquin since her freshman season. She’s has plenty of experience for the Cougars, including tournament action the last two seasons. When not in the circle, Paquin was Campbell’s starting shortstop. While Paquin was out with an injury this spring, senior-to-be Meaghan Coughlin filled in admirably at shortstop. Coughlin also came up big at shortstop again during Paquin’s tournament run in the circle – pitching Campbell to victory in the quarterfinals, semifinals and final.

The biggest question mark may be in the loss of King, who has been a rock at the hot corner the last two seasons.

“It’s hard to lose these three girls,” Raycraft said. “They are the heart and soul of this team. Brittany and Emily have been to the final four all four seasons. They have been part of three championship teams. They are two respected leaders on our team and they will be missed on and off the field. So will Lauren. I can’t say enough about Lauren – great fielder, great bat, another great leader. I wish she’d be here for her senior year. I wish I could keep all three here for another go at it.”

Even with the key losses, leadership won’t be hard to come by for the Cougars.

Starting outfielders, from left to right, Hannah Neild (senior-to-be), Amber Gibbons (junior-to-be) and Emma Kuczkowski (senior-to-be) are all returning, along with second baseman Carrie Fernandez (senior-to-be), Cataldo, Martinage and Coughlin. That’s a strong defensive unit full of both contact and power hitters.

“They will be just fine without us next year,” McNulla said. “These girls are a solid group. This was never about one or two of us. This is a team game. It takes everybody playing their position to the best of their ability to win. That’s what each and every one of us did. We played our hearts out and we were rewarded.

“I won’t be surprised if they are right back in this same spot next year. I expect it out of them.”

Even in victory WLC’s Claire second-guesses himself

Denny Claire has been coaching 28 years at Wilton-Lyndeborough. He’s never been afraid to admit a mistake. Of course, he hasn’t made too many of those on the hardwood or the softball diamond.

During Saturday’s 10-9 walk-off win over Portsmouth Christian Academy of Dover at Plymouth State University, he made an error that was weighing heavily on his mind post-game.

Claire felt his choice could have cost his Warriors a Division IV softball title.

“My little seventh grader got that first hit in the last of the seventh,” said Claire of Lexi Balam. “A big hit. I figured if she got on we had a shot because the top of the order was coming up. And I made a mistake. I should have bunted when we had runners on first and second – I always bunt it – but I said I’m going to let Tesa (Simpson), our leadoff hitter, hit it because she’s been hitting the ball well. I should have bunted them over, because the next two batters can hit the ball pretty good and I think I would have got a run in. But we still managed to pull it off.”

Thanks to the bat of Sara Holka, who earned sweet redemption for a rough top of the seventh inning in the circle.

Ahead by four runs, 9-5, Holka allowed PCA to rally for a tie. Holka walked the first two batters in the inning. After they advanced on a wild pitch, PCA’s Mikaela Harkovich drove them home with a single to cut the deficit to 9-7. Amelia Sheedy followed with a single, and Hannah Daly tied the game with a single of her own to score Harkovich and Sheedy.

Now tied in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Warriors needed a little magic of their own.

Balam led off with a single, and advanced to second on a Lorrie Blais bunt single. With two on and not outs, Claire would normally called for the bunt. Instead he let Simpson swing away into a fly bal out to left field. Kimmie Edmunds followed with a fielder’s choice as Blais was forced out at second base. With runners at the corners and two outs, Holka swung at the first pitch she saw and shot it into right field to score Balam with the game-winning run.

“I felt like the world was on my shoulders,” Holka said. “My knees were shaking. I’m not even kidding right now. I swung at the first pitch, and I didn’t know what to expect. It paid off.”

And in Claire’s eyes, it bailed him out.

“I should have bunted,” Claire said. “That took away an out. My next batter, the leadoff hitter, she’s a pretty good bunter. I said right then I’m going to kick myself if we don’t get that run in. But we did.

“Sara Holka’s the one I wanted up there. Her and Ally (Schwab), our catcher, are our leading RBI guys.”

BASEBALL

Gorham thought hitting would be key for Campbell baseball

Jim Gorham wasn’t quite sure his Campbell High School baseball team had what it took to win it all in Divison III, but he was about 95 percent sure a title was a definite maybe.

“I still thought we had a chance because of the way we hit the ball,” Gorham said after the Cougars beat Somersworth 3-2 on Saturday at Manchester’s Northeast Delta Dental Stadium. “I knew it was going to be really tough, we’d have to piece it and patch it together from time to time with the pitching, which we did in the Interlakes game.”

But there was one ace that Gorham was counting on – Tyler Butler, who would be likely matched up against an opposing pitcher who would be down that club’s depth chart in the second round and the semis. Butler clearly outmatched Berlin’s Connor Jewett, known more for his hockey prowess.

“I never had a doubt Butler could beat anybody’s No. 2,” Gorham said, “when we went against Berlin and went against Bishop Brady. I had no doubts in my mind that Tyler Butler could beat anybody’s No. 2 pitcher.”

And Gorham’s thoughts rang true, as the Butler won two tourney games.

Hilltoppers-Cougars
rivalry blossoming

Campbell and Somersworth have a nice little rivalry going on the baseball diamond.

“This isn’t a one-time thing,” Somersworth coach Dave Kretschmar said. “It’s been going on for awhile now.”

“Either one or both of us has been in the championship game in the last five years,” Gorham said. “The two best program as far as records go in the last 10 years, to be honest.”

Kretschmar was asked what was the difference between the two teams on Saturday.

“A break,” he said, referring to the Bobby Baril hit that landed just beyond shortstop when the Hilltoppers infielder Ryan Cordeiro was moving in thinking bunt: “A break that went there way. That’s really what it was. That could have been this way.

“We’re very, very similar teams as far as that goes. We’re both pretty good when it comes to those.”

Somersworth pitcher Mike Paquette, who beat Campbell 5-1 earlier in the season, nearly did it again. His only real mistake was the fastball to Campbell’s Christian Bourgea that Bourgea nailed for a triple in the sixth, setting himself up to score the eventual game-winner.

“Mike pitched a hell of a game,” Kretschmar said. “He pitched a really, really good game. He kept them off balance most of the time. When we beat them up there (in Litchfield) in the same type of game, he was the same type of pitcher.

“He’s a battler, a competitor. It’s unfortunate his senior season has to end like that.”

Campbell only graduates two

Speaking of seniors, the Cougars say good-bye to only two from Saturday’s championship game roster: Bourgea and valuable third baseman Vinny Bucci, who reached on an error, singled and sacrificed with a bunt in Saturday’s win.

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