FIRST TEAM CAL All-Star pick Captain Hayley O’Brien unleashed some heat on this pitch versus rival North Reading. The junior struck out 159 batters and had an ERA of 3.84 this season while leading the team at the plate, batting .383 with 14 RBI. (John Friberg Photo)
SENIOR third baseman Kelly Dillon makes a clutch catch in the infield this season. She is one of only two players lost to graduation on next year’s team. (John Friberg Photo)
Published in the June 21, 2017 edition
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
LYNNFIELD — Two members of the Lynnfield High softball team were recently named to the Cape Ann League All-Star team. Haley O’Brien made the CAL First-Team All-Stars while Kathleen Hamm made the CAL Second-Team.
O’Brien hit a team-high .383 with 14 runs batted in. The junior pitcher also went 7-10 in the circle with an earned-run average of 3.84. She struck out 159 batters this season.
Hamm, a senior first baseman, hit .333 with 12 RBI.
“I am absolutely proud of both of them,” said Pioneers coach Peter Marinelli.
Lynnfield will lose just two seniors from this team to graduation, Hamm and third baseman Kelly Dillon
“They are going to be missed,” admitted Marinelli, who just completed his seventh season at the helm. “They both made strong contributions to our team.”
Heading into the season with one of the younger teams in the CAL, the Pioneers went 7-11 overall, 5-11 in the league and 2-8 in the CAL Kinney Division to finish in sixth place among the large schools in the league.
This was the first season in six years that the Pioneers did not qualify for the Division 3 state tournament.
Next season, the team is slated to return 10 veterans who will be led by O’Brien.
“We have a good nucleus coming back next year and we will have players with experience that got to play a lot this year,” said Marinelli.
