Little was expected of this year’s girls’ softball team. However, former assistant coach and now Head Coach Rod Laniewski took a handful of returnees, along with five freshman, and turned the Lady Dragons into a playoff contender with an 11th seed in the MIAA Division II South Sectionals.

Duxbury (13-6) made its post-season debut on Thursday when it traveled to Norwell (14-4) to take on the No. 6 seed out of the South Shore League.

The pre-game consensus was that it would be a low scoring game, as Duxbury pitcher Laura Walter has been superb all year, while the Lady Dragon offense has been inconsistent at times.

Duxbury threatened first in the third inning, getting two runners on with only one hit when Kristin McHugh led off the inning with a single. Duxbury would leave the runners stranded.

Under warm temperatures and high humidity, Walter held Norwell scoreless through the fourth inning.

Duxbury would threaten again in the fifth, loading the bases with one out when Lindsey Cobb opened the inning with a single. Grace Kelso beat out an infield grounder and Erin Gallagher reached on an infield hit. However, the Lady Dragons stranded all three runners.

In the bottom of the fifth Norwell would eke out a run on a couple of bloop infield pop ups, one of which was almost caught by Erin Gallagher, who made a great effort to catch the ball, only to see it roll out of her glove as her momentum carried her forward.

Duxbury rallied in the top of the sixth after two were out. Caroline McSherry reached first base on an error and Alex Leaverton came in as a pinch runner, promptly stealing second and third base. Madi Duddy came to the plate and with two strikes unloaded a bomb over the center fielder’s head to drive home Leaverton and tie the game at 1-1. 

Disaster struck in the bottom of the sixth when the Clippers led off with back-to-back singles. After a strikeout and a groundout moved the runners to second and third, Duxbury looked like it was about to escape. However, a fly ball to the outfield was misplayed, allowing both Norwell base runners to score for a 3-1 lead.

Senior Meghan Nelson singled in the top of the seventh, but it wasn’t enough to keep Duxbury’s season from ending.