Rockland teachers battle it out on the softball field

April 1, 2023

By Chloe Nash, Staff Writer

ROCKLAND- Mr. Nick Liquori is starting his first season as the Rockland High School softball coach.  He started the season Friday, March 31, with his first win over Canton, 6-3.

Rockland beat Canton Friday, March 31, with a score of 6-3.  Freshman Kiley Murdock pitched a complete game, and junior Brianna Hewitt had a double and a triple.

The Canton team is coached by history teacher Ms. Sandy Lombardi. 

Mr. Liquori and Ms. Lombardi both know they’re will be an advantage to whoever wins, and Mr. Liquori said, “there’s always going to be that added competition, just to see who has bragging rights for the particular season.”

There will be a rematch against Canton on Thursday, April 3, at 4 p.m. for the Spring Street Softball field in Rockland. Home games will be played there due to the construction behind the new Phelps Elementary School. 

After years of coaching football, baseball, and basketball,  math teacher Mr. Liquori has decided to try something new and now is coaching girls' softball. 

Mr. Liquori enjoyed coaching baseball and said that softball is “an opportunity to get back into the spring season, been out of the season now for seven years or so and it’s always fun to be outside when you can.”

The best part of coaching for him is watching them succeed. 

Mr. Liqouri said, “It’s an opportunity to see them succeed but also learn from the mistakes that they’ve made and ultimately end up being a better person overall.”

He played baseball at the youth level as well as at Rockland High, and although he has never coached softball before, he has been able to tell many differences between both sports. 

“Lot of different rules, a lot of different techniques… a variety of different types of pitches that can be done. I’ll tell you it’s definitely a first-hand learning experience, I know enough about softball but to see it live is really different.”

Mr. Liquori added, “it’s still early, but I think the amount of effort that we’ve done in the past three days has been fantastic. Our goal is to just kind of get better each day, so we’ve done a great job doing that so far.”

Ms. Lombardi is in her second season coaching softball at Canton High. She has coached varsity softball at Whitman Hanson and Duxbury, as well as coaching at Massasoit for three years. 

As a softball pitcher in high school softball, she has loved the game and enjoys being able to coach and hang out with the kids. 

“I love coaching both basketball and softball, the different types of games. Basketball is more and fast pace, and softball is more relaxing because it’s outside,” Ms. Lombardi said. 

Junior Samantha Murdock, has been playing softball since second grade and has played pitcher, shortstop, and second. 

Starting the season, Murdock enjoys Mr. Liquori being the new coach. 

Even though she wants her Canton team to win, Ms. Lombardi is also rooting for her RHS students.

“It’s going to be fun. I enjoy playing against Rockland teams. I played them in basketball, I played them in softball before, so it's fun. “Go Bulldogs!” Lombardi said.