Steve Lomasney more than earned his stripes as one of the best baseball players to come out of Peabody High School.
Now, he’s looking to carve a niche in a different athletic avenue at his alma mater.
Lomasney took over as the head softball coach at Peabody High in February, taking over for Tawny Palmieri. So far, the transition has gone smoothly as the Tanners are 5-1 and ranked fourth in the latest MIAA Division 1 statewide softball rankings, the only loss a 1-0 setback to Bishop Fenwick.
“Things have gone well so far,” said Lomasney, a fifth-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 1995. “I know most of the girls from coaching them in softball and basketball, so that’s been a big help. They want to work and want to get better so that’s made things easier.”
The Peabody softball program has been one of the more successful ones in the state over the past three years. The Tanners went 20-2 and advanced to the Div. 1 state semifinal last year after reaching the Div. 1 state final two years before losing to powerhouse Taunton. Even three years ago, in the last year of the sectional format, Peabody reached the Div. 1 North final before bowing to Billerica.
“These girls are super competitive and (softball) is pretty important to them,” Lomasney said. “I really didn’t change too much, just added a few little things, and they’ve been receptive.”
No reason to change things around with a core led by returning Boston Herald All-Scholastics Abby Bettencourt and Logan Lomasney. Bettencourt won 19 games last year with an ERA of 0.87, while hitting 10 home runs. Lomasney is a three-time Northeastern Conference All-Star coming off a campaign in which she batted .500 with nine home runs and 32 RBI.
“It is a little different with a daughter on the team – she calls me Coach Dad,” Lomasney said with a laugh. “I really don’t coach any of them any differently. All I ask is that they play hard and give their best effort and they do that.”
The end results speak for themselves so far.
Royal success
Georgetown baseball coach Phil Desilets is quick to caution that the MIAA doesn’t give out championship banners for the fast start, but no one can deny the fact that 9-0 is bound to open some eyes.
Fresh off a 17-7 season with most of the roster returning intact, the Royals are hell-bent on getting further than the Div. 5 state quarterfinals. Desilets could see the determination from the get-go.
“I met with the seniors before the start of the season and you could see that look in their eyes,” Desilets said. “They were locked into every word I was saying.”
Georgetown has dominated the opposition to date, winning seven of the games by at least nine runs and posting a team batting average in the vicinity of .400. The only two teams to hang with Georgetown to date are Lowell Catholic (6-2 and ranked No. 19 in Div. 3) and traditionally tough Lynnfield (4-2 and ranked third in Div. 4).
Desilets has the benefit of trotting out a lineup that can rake from 1-9. The starting nine of Hayden Ruth, Jake Gilstein, Jake Gilbo, Ethan Lee, Jason Gioia, Carter Lucido, Ty Gilmore, Oliver Thibeault and Brendan Loewen give the opposing pitchers little room to breathe.
“We’ve got five seniors who got a lot of playing time as freshmen,” Desilets said. “They took their lumps early on and figured it out. I knew early this year that we were going to be able to take advantage of that experience against teams that are younger and starting to try to figure things out.”
Gilmore, Lucido and Ruth have eaten up most of the innings, with Ty Southall, Lee and Thibeault providing quality innings in relief. Another arm, Zachary Floyd, is currently injured but expected to return in May.
“We certainly haven’t expected to win as many games by the mercy rule as we have so far,” Desilets said. “But we still have a lot of work to do.”
Mr. 400
Congrats to Malden baseball coach Steve Freker on earning his 400th career win last week in a 10-0 win over Everett as highly-touted freshman Ryan Bowdridge struck out 12 in a two-hit effort. A fixture in the Malden baseball community, Freker earned many of those wins at Malden Catholic, where he guided the Lancers to the 2003 Div. 1 state title.