LINCOLN – The clouds rolled in early at Saylesville Elementary School, causing some coaches to grab sweatshirts and leaving fans searching for an extra layer.
In the seventh inning, the skies broke up, allowing enough sunlight to illuminate the field, with the brightest spot being the pitcher’s circle. Mother Nature was the stage director and she was putting the spotlight on the game’s brightest star.
Molly Ganim is just that and Thursday, showed why. The Lincoln freshman entered the game trailing Kent County by four runs and when the Lions rallied, left little doubt about how it would end. The late offensive surge and Ganim’s dominant 4 1/3 innings of relief led to a 7-4 win over Kent County that has Lincoln one win from playing for the Division II title game.
“It feels really good to get the win,” Ganim said. “It was a little shaky at the beginning and it feels good. We got our bats going in the end and it feels good to pull out the win.”
Softball is dominated by pitching and for most teams, that means one ace doing the bulk of the throwing. Ganim did that in the first few weeks of the season, but when Kayleigh Gouchie – a transfer from La Salle – became eligible, Lincoln coach Alyssa McCoart had a problem any coach would love to have.
Instead of throwing them in an alternating rotation, McCoart gives one the keys to the car and if they run into trouble, the other steps in. While every other one of the state’s best pitchers throw complete game after complete game, Ganim hasn’t thrown one since April 14 and Gouchie’s last full complete game came on April 26.
Situations like this can sometimes cause internal drama, but it’s not a problem for McCoart because her pitchers don’t let it be one. After two years of not playing at La Salle, Gouchie is happy for any opportunity; Ganim is a freshman and understands her time is coming.
On Thursday, Gouchie got the start. Ganim pitched against Kent County – the Toll Gate-West Warwick co-op – in the season opener, so McCoart wanted to give them a different look and if it went well, leave Ganim rested for the winners’ bracket final on Saturday.
It may have been classic overthinking, but McCoart knew she had an ace up her sleeve – and Ganim wasn’t stressed about who started and who didn’t.
“I found out before the game and just realized she told me to go warm up in the cage and I was ready to go whenever,” Ganim said. “It’s been good to have us both splitting.”
Kent County didn’t play nice. An error to open the second inning led to an RBI single by Charlotte Horak and in the third, Kent County kept hitting. Addison Eddy came up with a two-out, two-run double and another error led to another run that made it 4-0.
McCoart promptly called timeout, called for Ganim and changed the game for the rest of the day.
While Kent County hadn’t seen Gouchie throw before Thursday, it couldn’t see what Ganim was throwing. The freshman ended the threat in the third, the retired 11 of the next 12 batters before giving up a two-out single in the seventh.
“It’s easy to come in [in relief]. Either way I try to stay focused if I’m starting or coming in, I try to stay locked in and get in the right mindset,” Ganim said. “I just try to stay locked in and I find motivation to shut everyone down and do what I can do to stay confident.”
Confidence is a big thing with Lincoln. Once they had it Thursday, the game flipped in a hurry.
Aria Eddy was brilliant the first time through the order, taking advantage of the Lions’ overaggressive plate discipline with a changeup that broke enough backs to make you wonder if the school had a chiropractor on site.
Lincoln’s second time through went different. Chloe Landry opened the fourth with a single, Annika Sampson reached on a bunt single and Lucia Whyte brought Landry in with a single to left. Sampson scored on a passed ball and while the Lions didn’t get anything more, they got something better.
“If you have energy, the whole team gets into it,” Landry said. “When we were hitting, hitting is contagious and we know what we have to do and keep our energy up.”
With Ganim setting Kent County down quick, Lincoln kept the bats going. Sydney Marchand hit an RBI double in the fifth and Mara Kapadia – Marchand’s courtesy runner – and Brooke Tilson later scored on a two-run single by Landry that put the Lions ahead 5-4 and ended Eddy’s day. A Kent County error added to the Lincoln lead and in the sixth, Adeline Macomber ripped a home run off reliever Reagan Motta that ended up on the beach at Lincoln Woods.
“Once we got our confidence and we’re up in the game and we’re all doing good,” Landry said, “we just keep it.”
Ganim made sure they did as well and now the Lions will keep moving forward as they try and chase down their first title since winning the State Championship in 2013. Lincoln is set to play at Rhode Island College at 2 p.m. on Saturday against the winner of Friday’s game against Johnston and Portsmouth.
Ganim and Gouchie split duties in Lincoln’s 6-2 win over Portsmouth on April 30 and did the same in a 3-1 loss to Johnston on May 18 – which has been followed now by four straight wins. Who pitches doesn’t matter and who they play won’t change the Lions’ approach.
“Johnston was a tough game so hopefully either way we can come back from our Johnston loss and continue to do good if we play Portsmouth,” Ganim said. “Either way, we should be good if we stay locked in.”
“We’re just going to do what we know how to do and be confident in ourselves,” Landry said. “We know we can win, we just have to want it.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Score from Kent County vs. Lincoln softball on Thursday May 28 2026
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