We were tied and heading into extra innings after a long day in the hot sun. You won’t believe what happened at the end of the day. The Seven Hills Panthers were at the Special Olympics MA Softball State Tournament at the Hildreth school in Marlborough.  Before the start of the first game, we all had a team pep talk and team stretch led by our first baseman Kyle Stokes.  The biggest thing we all said was, “win or lose, let’s all have fun.” We all left that pep talk and walked away ready to play hard!

The first team we played was the DPGMF Eagles at 9:30 AM.  We started off with very good energy. Everyone was cheering each other on, and you could feel the energy in the dugout.  We kept playing hard.  Even when someone struck out, the teammates still cheered and everyone kept their heads up. The final score of the first game was 11-7, with a win for Seven Hills. The team was so happy we won.

We had a big break until the next game, which wasn’t until 2:00 PM. We all found a place on the grass in front of the school and we all just laughed, trying to stay cool since it was so hot.  There was a tiny kiddie pool next to the school that opened up at 12:00 PM. Two of my teammates, Nick Vannada and Bri Kelly, and I went and put our feet in the pool to try to cool off a little bit before we had to get ready for the second game. The team had lunch and was bounding.  It was so hot that the family of one of our Unified Partners, Ray, brought us oranges. Then we were all ready to play hard.

The second game was against the Hockomock Huskies and it started a little rough. Our team was still so hot when we started the second game, but the oranges from Ray’s family did help us get our energy back. The game was a very good game.  Every time the huskies scored, we came right back and tied the game.  Every inning they scored, and we scored back and forth. The team was very anxious on the bench and it started getting very quiet.

We were tied at the end of the seven innings, and we had gone into extra innings. The score was 8-8 before we went into extra innings.  The way that extra innings works, is that you automatically get a runner at second base. The Huskies scored two points and then it was the Panthers up at bat. Bri was the runner we started at second base.

The next three hitters were first time softball player Jack Fitzgerald, softball vet Mike Kelly, and our Unified Partner Ray. Jack hit the ball and even though he got out at first, his hit was able to move Bri to third base. Next up at bat was Mike Kelly, and he hit to center field, and Bri was able to score while Mike made it to first base. Up next was our Unified Partner, Ray. He launched a ball way out in the outfield and Ray started running. But when he was running around second base, he pulled his hamstring.

He kept running and we were all screaming “You got this Ray!” Mike Kelly scored, and we tied the game.  Ray was still running, and he finally made it home. The Seven Hills Panthers won the game 11-10, and we were all super excited to have won the game. We were screaming and clapping our hands for our teammates. The Seven Hills Panthers won the gold medal at the 2025 Softball State Tournament and proved to ourselves  that we never give up.

Anita Griffin is a member of the Special Olympics MA Content Squad. The mission of Special Olympics MA Athlete Leadership is to empower athletes to develop communication skills and utilize their voices to assume meaningful leadership roles. As members of the Content Squad, athlete leaders contribute to Special Olympics MA story-telling through interviews, photos, video creation, and more.

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