HOLDERNESS – In their fourth consecutive state championship appearance, top-seeded Coe-Brown Bears fell short against Kingswood, 8-2, in the Division II softball final.

Coe-Brown (16-3) faced an opponent it had beaten 16-4 earlier in the season, but the No. 2 Knights (17-2) had hunted for a championship since losing to the Bears in the 2023 final and went for it all in the title game in Plymouth.

Kingswood jumped out early and, after getting two players on base, managed to drive in multiple runs and eventually go up 4-0 before Coe-Brown had even stepped up to the plate.

However, the Bears knew that their offense was what had propelled them to the championship. Lead-off batter, senior Haile Comeau, got a hit to warm up the bats, and Kylie Bieniek scored on a double in the right-centerfield gap.

Senior pitcher Bella Pelletier settled into the game after the first, keeping the score close at 5-1 through the middle of the fifth inning. The Bears drew closer again with a sacrifice fly into right field by Reilly West to drive in Comeau.

“I think that there’s always going to be ups, and there’s always going to be downs, but no matter what, we always have our people and our team supporting us, which is really great,” Pelletier said after the loss. “We all just had a lot of love for each other and cared for one another, and I think that really helped us understand that everyone was doing the best they could.”

In the end, the bats never got quite as hot as they had in the 18-9 semifinal win against Merrimack Valley. Over the course of the year, and for the past four, the Coe-Brown program has dominated D-II softball.

Senior Madeline Lovett, who’s going on to play softball at Gordon College, echoed Pelletier’s thoughts on the togetherness of the squad as she prepared to walk off as a Bear one last time. “We’ve had a lot of injuries this season that have really affected our play. But people have been able to step up, which I really appreciate, like Bella (Pelletier) here, who hasn’t pitched in years,” she said.

“I think the bond that we have as a team is like no other. Obviously, we always pick each other up, we’re always like outgoing and doing things when we don’t have practice,” Pelletier added as she reminisced.

Coach David Allis said that his team has learned perseverance, especially with injuries this season, and he hopes that next year the underclassmen can put the loss behind them and return to their championship-winning form.

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com