The Conant and Mascenic softball teams met under the sunny skies of New Ipswich Friday afternoon for another classic rivalry game which saw the Orioles come out on top of a 2-1 pitchers’ duel. 

“Nothing better than that,” Conant senior captain Rylee Herr said of the rivalry win. “Pretty awesome. Great way to start the season.”

Both teams combined for just three hits in the first five innings, as Mascenic’s Katalina Davis (four innings pitched, five strikeouts, no runs, two hits) and Lexis Vautour looked strong on the mound, while Conant’s Graecen Kirby (seven innings pitched, 13 strikeouts, two hits) dominated. 

Conant head coach Wiley Billings said that Kirby’s control was even better Friday than it was in the Vikings’ season-opening win at Monadnock.

“When she’s pitching like that, we’re going to win a lot of games,” Billings said.

The Vikings got early hits from their two potential Player of the Year candidates, Davis and Leah St. John, but it wasn’t enough to string anything together. But Mascenic played well in the field and didn’t give Conant anything easy. 

“We didn’t make any errors in the field today, so that was good – just need to work on that batting,” said first-year head coach Tim St. John. 

After Davis went three innings under the sun, the Vikings switched things up, sliding her over to third base and moving Vautour onto the mound. Davis put on a show at third, vacuuming up grounders and then snagging back-to-back line drives to start the sixth inning. 

“Katalina Davis was amazing on the mound for us and in the field,” coach St. John said. “Anything that was hit to her, she caught.”

After those two quick outs in the sixth, Davis called down the line to Herr, a close friend from travel ball, urging her to hit one more liner to third to end the inning.

Herr did not comply. Instead, she ripped one over Davis’s head and into left field for a game-changing two-out double.

“We had timely hitting today,” Billings said. 

Freshman Sophia Spingola followed with an RBI single and took second on the throw; Kirby knocked her in with another single and Conant had a 2-0 lead. 

Mascenic got on the board in the bottom of the sixth, when Vautour drew a two-out walk and then scored on a St. John fly ball to left that was misplayed by Spingola. But the threat ended there, as Davis’s frozen rope to center was tracked down by Herr to finish the inning. Mascenic went in order in the seventh, with Spingola making a catch in left for the final out. 

“We’re young, and we’re going to make young mistakes,” Billings said. “She didn’t get a good read on the ball, but she made up for it with another good catch there.”

Mascenic (1-2) is playing in Division IV this season due to school enrollment numbers. After a big blowout win at Epping to open the season, the Vikings have lost two one-run games against Portsmouth Christian and DIII rival Conant. But after years of contending in DIII, the Vikings should be poised for a big season against smaller-school competition.

“I’m looking to go pretty far this year – that’s the game plan,” coach St. John said. “[The team] knows that coming from DIII to DIV, everyone’s going to be looking for us, so we’re going to work a little harder to show them what we’ve got.”

Friday marked St. John’s first game coaching at Mascenic’s home field, and the last for Conant’s Billings, who coached a variety of Viking varsity sports over the years before finding a new home with the Orioles. Billings plans on retiring after this season.

“I would have liked to end my career here, but it wasn’t in the cards, so I went somewhere else and it’s been a blessing,” Billings said. 

The Orioles have been blessed with some ultra-talented teams over the past few seasons but have been unable to reach the highest heights, bowing out early every year since 2017’s DIII semifinal appearance. Could this be the year Conant puts it all together? Billings hopes so.

“It’s my last year, I’m trying to go out with a bang – maybe make the finals,” Billings said. “They’re young and they’re grasping everything and they’re learning – I’m excited.”

“We have a young team but we have studs in every position,” Herr said. “I have full confidence in everyone to play really well. I think we can make it far.”

Conant (2-0) was set to host Gilford Monday afternoon and play at Fall Mountain Wednesday; the Vikings host Wilton-Lyndeborough Monday and Newmarket Wednesday. 

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