Ondrick, Archbishop Williams softball off to flying start after first Final Four in 2023

BRAINTREE — Despite having multiple wins against opponents in higher divisions, there's a one-loss Division 3 high school softball team on the South Shore that thinks it hasn't yet hit its ceiling.

This Archbishop Williams group has high standards, and the hopes to match.

The Bishops, ranked No. 5 by the MIAA in the first release of its Division 3 power rankings, have survived longer in the tournament every year since Jill Ondrick has been on the team's varsity roster... when the standout sophomore pitcher was in seventh grade.

Last spring, Archbishop Williams advanced to its first Final Four in program history on the heels of a 17-5 season. The team went to the Division 4 Elite Eight in coach Charlie Conners' first season the year before and suffered a first-round exit in the COVID-altered 2021 campaign.

The Bishops currently sit at 8-1 near the halfway mark of its bulked-up regular season schedule with wins over D-1 foes Braintree (4-3) and Boston Latin (15-0), and a loss as close as they come to Peabody (3-1, on a walk-off home run in the seventh inning).

“Coming in, I had my thoughts about where we might be in the worst-case scenario and best-case scenario. I think, based on where we are, we’re in a great spot," Conners said. "We’re slightly above my expectation with the schedule we’ve played.”

"The scary thing is," the coach added, "they're capable of better. We're not playing our best ball yet. Last year, we got a run at the end of the year and won like eight games in a row, then rolled into the tournament and did well. Hopefully that happens again, and we get hot at one point and keep going with it."

Ondrick, a repeat All-Scholastic selection, has resumed action in the circle at a near full-time rate after sharing starts in past seasons. She already has six games of 13-plus strikeouts, and last year owned a 1.15 ERA with 157 K's.

At the plate, the sophomore already eclipsed the 100 career hits mark this spring, and is quickly approaching 100 career RBIs. Ondrick hit for a .589 average and .673 on-base percentage with 10 home runs and 43 RBI as a freshman.

“It never gets old watching it," senior center fielder Alyssa Burke said of Ondrick's growth. "It gets more impressive every day.”

“When you talk about varsity experience, this is (technically) her senior year and she’s got two years left," Conners said. "She’s still growing as a player and has gotten better every year. This is what she does -- she’s a softball player.”

“When it’s all said and done, I feel like she’s going to be in the record books in a lot of different categories," Conners said.

Ondrick admitted pitching against the team's tougher schedule this year has been "stressful at times" but the right-hander learned to calm herself down. "I focus on one batter at a time," she said.

Last year's run helped.

“I feel like it gave us as a team more confidence," Ondrick said. "It helped boost us enough to make plays in the field and big hits at the end of games.”

On that tune, the Bishops' defense has relinquished 17 runs in the nine games, and the lineup has driven in 60.

Burke, the lead-off hitter from Abington, maintained her .500 average from last year's All-Scholastic campaign. Ciara McMenamin, Reagan Parr, Monica Kelley, Candace Sumner and Joey Whitney also wielded powerful swings through the first portion of the regular season.

“Alyssa’s been great. She holds herself to a high standard. Jill is Jill. Ciara McMenamin has been unbelievable. Joey Whitney has been great," Conners said. "Even the girls that don’t necessarily have a great average, they’re getting big hits. In the big moments, they’re coming through. Whether it’s working a walk or hitting a ground ball to the right side when we need it. Those are the things we need to do."

The team still has King Philip and St. Mary's (Lynn) ahead on the schedule, plus rematches against Cardinal Spellman, Bishop Stang and Bishop Feehan as it contends for its first league title in nearly two decades.

"Come June, that’s when we want to be at our best," Conners said. “They’ve done it once. They know they can do it. The hope is that we can get it done again this year, and see where it takes us.”

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Ondrick, Archbishop Williams softball rolling through the competition