Another spring, another round of teenagers making the rest of us look lazy. This year, SouthCoast softball actually gave us something to talk about. Apponequet ended a grueling 27-year drought to crash the Div. 3 state final. Seven out of nine local squads made the MIAA postseason. New Bedford and Wareham grabbed some hardware with conference titles. It was a busy season.
Now, we hand out the individual praise. We have whittled the list down to three elite players. You get a say, but only a small one. Your votes count for 25% of the final tally. Sports Editor Laurie Los Lee holds the real power with the remaining 75%. Get your clicks in before the digital ballot box locks on Sunday, July 5, at 8 p.m.
Here are the three finalists, listed alphabetically by school.
Reese Taylor, Apponequet
She is only a sophomore. Taylor threw 163 innings of absolute misery for opposing batters, racking up 265 strikeouts and a microscopic 1.33 ERA. She blanked New Bedford with a regular-season no-hitter and nearly repeated the trick with a one-hitter against top-seeded Dighton-Rehoboth in the state semifinals. She also rakes. Taylor hit .338 with three homers, 23 RBIs, and a .467 on-base percentage.
Akiira’Ley Vazquez, GNB Voc-Tech
Last year’s Player of the Year did not suffer a sophomore slump. Vazquez mowed down 158 batters over 131 innings, posting a 2.51 ERA. She humiliated Fairhaven with a school-record 17-strikeout no-hitter. At the plate, she was even more dangerous. She carried a team-best .435 average, launched nine home runs, and drove in 29 runs.
Ivy Mattos, New Bedford
The senior shortstop went out with a bang. She led the Whalers to a Big 3 title. Her stats look like video game numbers. She hit .603. Let that sink in. With runners in scoring position, that average jumped to an absurd .708. She drove in 27 runs, scored 25 times, and launched five homers—three in a single game against Falmouth. Naturally, she walked away with the school’s Female Athlete of the Year honors.
