With the first win out of the way, NK softball is ready to show its youth can prosper

EAST PROVIDENCE — During the bottom of the seventh inning Monday, North Kingstown softball coach Bill Aquilante went through the motions as he watched his team try to finish off its first win.

He started calm and, with two outs, looked relaxed. Then Bay View started putting bat on ball. Nervous pacing followed. Then a mound visit to gather his team to relax. More pacing, to the point where Aquilante was almost afraid to look up after each pitch.

When Samantha Haun’s throw from third narrowly made it to first before the runner, ending the game, Aquilante smiled and relaxed.

On Monday, the Skippers checked off a big box for their 2024 season — their first win. NK is one of the youngest teams in Division I, but it is playing with confidence despite its slow start to the season. The 6-3 win over Bay View featured some solid pitching from Gianna Amedeo, some big hitting from Gabriella Peralta and a result that allows the Skippers to stop worrying about when their first win was going to happen.

“It’s really tough,” Amedeo said. “We had a long string of losses and it feels good to get this one.”

“It’s awesome,” Peralta said. “We’ve been struggling and we’ve been focusing a lot on communication, which has helped a lot.”

The biggest question surrounding North Kingstown this spring was its youth. The Skippers’ lineup is immensely talented, but with five sophomores and one freshman among the nine, there’s a lot of learning that needs to be done for this team to succeed.

It’s shown in North’s results. The Skippers hung tough in a 3-0 loss to Coventry and in a7-6 defeat to Cumberland —two games in which they weren’t able to come up with the big play at the right moment.

But confidence hasn’t wavered. North didn’t let the pressure of trying to win its first game wear it down and, going up against Bay View — which played in the state title game last spring — the Skippers came in just as confident as they are every day at practice.

“We’re making sure losses don’t get us down,” Peralta said. “It’s just a positive attitude. We’ve been doing goals for each inning, what our goal is, and that’s been helping us a lot.”

With a pitcher like Amedeo, it's easy to be positive.

The sophomore wasn’t overpowering, but she threw with a sniper’s precision. Her wide variety of speeds and ability to spin and spot had Bay View befuddled. She pitched with confidence and even after getting dinged for an RBI double by Gianna Paolino in the bottom of the sixth, she stayed focused and got the final two outs to keep the score at 6-1.

Things got trickier in the seventh, but again Amedeo showed her confidence. After getting the first two batters of the inning, Amedeo gave up a double to Ava Wasylow and back-to-back RBI singles to Hope Myers and Sage Verkler, making it 6-3 and sending Aquilante into his manic pacing in the dugout area.

Amedeo didn’t think about the lead, which was now cut to three, or the tying run being on deck. She just pitched and induced a ground ball to Bella Waycott that Haun cut off before it could get in the hole at short, beating Waycott by a step for the game’s final out.

“A lot of nerves, but nerves help me do better,” Amedeo said. “I had to slow down and control what I could. Take deep breaths on every pitch.”

North hit with confidence all game. The Skippers grinded out a run in the first, with Michael Bucci drawing a bases-loaded walk that scored Rosemarie Hayward to get the team out to the start it was looking for.

In the third, Peralta added to it. The sophomore hit a screamer of line drive that was well over the fence, putting the Skippers ahead, 3-0.

“I was trying to make it simple. I’ve been struggling at the plate,” Peralta said. “That at-bat, I was making sure I was going to get it out. That’s what I did.

“I literally tripped [out of the box] and everyone was like ‘it’s a home run,’ and I’m like ‘no way.’ ”

North also took advantage of Bay View mistakes. With two runners on and two outs in the sixth, Mia D’Andrea hit a towering pop fly to short that Wasylow — blinded by the sun hanging over the first-base side — lost in the sky. Pinch-runner Riley Henderson and Riley McHale were running on contact and scored with ease and Julianna Bucci followed with an RBI double that plated D’Andrea for the 6-0 lead.

“A big goal of ours is to keep our energy up,” Amedeo said. “We have a lot of talent on this team so we’re just working to win.”

North wasn’t the only team in search of its first win on Monday.

Bay View is putting things together and while it has core of talented seniors, there are plenty of new faces in the starting lineup. Chemistry isn’t quite where it was last spring when the Bengals made a run to the state title game, but it's something they’re trying to build on the backs in their seniors.

“It has to show in your composure on the field,” Wasylow said. “After you make an error in the field or strikeout, if you’re kind of down, it can affect how you play.

"If you display that you can’t even win or you lose confidence, it’s just going to spread to [the younger players] and they won’t have confidence. It’s poison.

Much like NK, this Bay View team still has to learn how to win. The potential for a great season is there, but the Bengals are in need of a spark — and in a hurry — to help them reach the goals they want to this spring.

“I was really hoping the first win was going to be today, just because once it gets going, we’ll have the confidence to do that and it will keep going,” Wasylow said. “Every win is important so you want to get wins, but I also know we’ve competed against some of the better teams so we’ve shown we can do it at any time.”

North Kingstown also has big goals.

The first win was one of them and now the Skippers should be able to relax enough to play the type of softball they think they’re capable of. How far can this young team go?

That’s what they’re excited to find out.

“We can only get better,” Amedeo said. “We’ve got a lot to prove.”

“We’re a really young team so I think we can do this,” Peralta said. “We have a lot of positive energy and positive attitude, so I think we’re going to do really well this year.

“It’s short-term, 100 percent, we’re not looking for championships or playoffs — it’s just one game at a time.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: North Kingstown softball team holds off Bay View for first win of 2024