WESTFIELD – Ryanne Dubay knew that being simply good wasn’t going to be good enough in the Western Mass. Class B tournament final.
As her No. 1 Hampshire Regional Raiders squared off against the No. 3 South Hadley Tigers, she was pitted against Isabella Schaeffer in a pitching duel for the ages.
“I had to meet her on her level,” Dubay said. “I had to make sure every pitch is perfect and make sure that I’m hitting my spots. She’s a great pitcher. She’s probably one of the better pitchers that we’ve ever faced in our lives. I knew I had to step up my game.”
Step up, Dubay did.
Not only was she simply good enough on Tuesday, but she was downright dominant as she struck out 12 en route to a 1-0 win at Sullivan Field on the campus of Westfield State University.
Across seven innings of work, Dubay completely stifled the South Hadley lineup as three soft singles were all that the Tigers could scrape off of her.
“She was dynamite today,” said Hampshire coach Brian McGann. “The last two days, we worked on getting her spots back. Taking these longer breaks in between games kind of throws her off a little bit. She’s sharper as we play more. But she worked her tail off the last two days trying to get back to her spot. Today, she did it.”
Dubay helped her own cause by driving in the game’s lone run in the top of the first inning with an RBI single.
The Raiders missed an opportunity to add some insurance when they failed to drive in a run with the bases loaded later on in the third.
By then, it was clear they weren’t going to get much else against Schaeffer, who allowed just two hits herself in the circle and only seemed to improve as the game wore on.
But so too did Dubay as she set down seven of the final 13 batters she faced on strikes.
“Good pitching shuts down good hitting, and today that was proven on both sides,” McGann. ” At this point of the season, one run is enough. As long as you get it, the W is all that counts. It’s not how you do it, just as long as you do it.”
The Raiders have found all sorts of ways to win over the years, as the program has now claimed 12 Western Mass. titles since 2009.
This latest one, however, wasn’t necessarily expected, and neither was the team’s final record of 20-1.
Not expected, but certainly deserved.
“We worked so hard for this,” Dubay said. “I’m shocked. I’m so happy to be here again. I’m so happy to win again. This feels like home playing here. Truly, I love the girls I just played with. I think we really deserve this.”
