Warriors win title in softball regionals

Friday’s win for the Warriors avenged last year’s upsetting 11-1, five-inning loss to C. Milton Wright in the same round and clinched their second regional title ever — first since 1984.

Ward and the Warriors (19-1 record) were good and ready for Friday’s rematch, and the victory erased the anger they felt and carried with them since last year.

‘‘We’ve been waiting a year to play that team again,” said Ward, who helped herself with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate. ‘‘It’ feels great to win the regional championship. And it definitely feels good to beat C.M. Wright. They’re a strong team.”

Ward, who has tallied 231 strikeouts this year and recorded her fifth consecutive shutout Friday, admittedly tightened up in last year’s regional final. But she was just a junior, in her first year as the Warriors’ starting pitcher. And it didn’t help that the normally stingy defensive support she’d been used to all season committed five uncharacteristic errors.

The Warriors, understandably, were hesitant about Friday’s matchup. They were utterly dismantled by C.M. Wright (15-6) a year ago, and a mercy-rule loss like that in a regional final — Sherwood’s first run-rule defeat in coach Pat Flanagan’s 11-year tenure — is hard to forget.

But Friday Sherwood, and Ward in particular, put on display the increased maturity and resilience that has helped it to its first state tournament appearance in 23 years.

‘‘Yeah, I was definitely nervous going in,” Ward said. ‘‘Last year I had the opposite of a confidence boost.”

Friday’s efficiently executed defense wasn’t Sherwood’s only improvement. Led by Ward and senior catcher Katie Obal, who also went 2 for 3, and junior center fielder Kelly Morrow, who went 1 for 3 with a double and a run batted in, the Warriors got enough done on offense after mustering only three hits against the Mustangs in last year’s duel.

‘‘A few of the girls were nervous,” Flanagan said. ‘‘But then Kelly Morrow was just like, ‘Are you kidding me? We’ve got to pay them back.’ And she got just what she wished for. ‘‘

Last year’s regional final loss had been sitting with the Warriors for a year. They fought nerves, anxiety and a plethora of other emotions to avenge that loss Friday and it’s instilled in them a confidence capable of carrying them to their first-ever state title.‘‘After [Friday’s] win I think they’re all walking a little bit taller,” Flanagan said. ‘‘They’re thinking, ‘Maybe we deserve to be where we are.’ Getting to this point, I think the girls have all come to the realization that we just might be able to win this thing.”