Dreary weather gave way to glorious sunshine and some heat, a subtle reminder that the regular season is almost over and the playoffs are about to begin.
With teams jamming games into the schedule it gave ample opportunity for players to earn a final Longplex Softball Player of the Week nomination. Finding noms from the penultimate week of the season wasn’t difficult, but getting the list down to five certainly proved difficult.
The good news is, we’re going to let our readers vote to decide who should be the Week 7 Longplex Softball Player of the Week. There’s only one way to vote, and that’s by reading about this week’s nominees below and then casting your vote in the ballot at the bottom of the page.
We do not take email submissions – and reserve the right to make internet jokes about those who ignore this sentence – but you can vote as many times as you’d like between now and when the poll closes on Friday.
The winner will be announced in next week’s Player of the Week poll.
Who was the Week 6 Player of the Week?
Izzy Sousa’s had a dominant second half of the season and last week, had an equally dominant performance at the voting booth as she ran away with the Week 6 Longplex Softball Player of the Week award.
The St. Raphael faithful showed up in droves and made sure their star earned the accolade. Sousa garnered over 76 percent of the total vote and while Ponaganset’s Ella McKenney cracked 17 percent, there wasn’t anyone else in the same stratosphere as Sousa.
Congrats to Sousa and all the Saints fans who voted for her!
What does Player of the Week receive?
The prize for Longplex Player of the Week is simple – a big bucket of internet clout.
The award is designed to be an interactive way for the state’s most passionate softball communities to show support for their local stars. We want schools, teams and players to create social media campaigns to drive interest and show how much their community cares about the sport and its players.
When a player wins, the community does as well – and that shows us which parts of the state are truly passionate about high school softball.
How does a player get nominated?
The first step is easy – shine on the field and do everything possible to help your team win. It’s not about just one big game during the week either, it’s about consistent performances in every game you play.
The second step is having coaches report results to the Providence Journal. Reporting softball is easy, especially with the majority of the state using the GameChanger app. We need the coach of the home team to forward the GameChanger report – box score and recap – to the Journal at PJSports@ProvidenceJournal.com by 8 p.m. on the day of games.
If a program does not have game changer, we will need the home team coach to email the following information – final score and score by innings; three star hitters from the winning team and one or two star players from the losing team; pitching stats, if someone throws a good game; and any pertinent information we can use to write a recap.
That information can also be sent to PJSports@ProvidenceJournal.com
All this information will be used in our daily High School Scoreboard, where we write about all the games played that day.
So now that you have all the information on the award, check out this week’s nominees and cast your vote for the Longplex Softball Player of the Week award.
Week 7 Nominees
Haley Boudreau, Johnston
The Panthers’ ace looked playoff ready last week in two dominant starts. Her first was one of her best of the season, as Boudreau threw a three-hit shutout with 14 strikeouts in a 7-0 win over East Greenwich that also saw her go 4-for-4 with three runs at the plate. Boudreau was masterful for six innings against Portsmouth – four hits, one run – before nearly losing control of the game, but she picked up a strikeout to close the 6-5 win out in a game where she went 3-for-4 with two runs.
Izzy Marcano, Cranston West
It was a busy week for the Falcons and a busier one for their star freshman. Marcano held her own against All-Stater Izzy Sousa and St. Raphael in a 6-1 win, going 2-for-4 with three RBI and throwing seven innings of three hit ball with four strikeouts. She followed it with a one-hit, nine-strikeout shutout in a 1-0 win over Prout and then threw a casual four innings with six strikeouts in a 10-0 win over Smithfield. Saturday against Moses Brown Marcano threw four innings and struck out five in the 11-1 win and closed the week with three innings of shutout ball in a 12-1 win over Cumberland.
Sara Poland, Tiverton
The Tigers only had two games last week, but it might have been their toughest stretch of the season. Poland and the offense made things look easy in a 13-2 win over Cranston East where she went 3-for-4 with two runs and one RBI. Playing Division II Portsmouth on Saturday, Poland continued to swing a hot bat and went 2-for-4 with a home run, one RBI and two runs in the 13-10 loss.
Barbara Rainey, Portsmouth
Five games wasn’t enough to tire out Rainey, who mashed in every single one. She was 3-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI in an 8-1 win over South Kingstown, then went 3-for-4 with two RBI and nearly led the Patriots to a comeback in a 6-5 loss to Johnston on Tuesday. She then went 2-for-4 with two RBI and two doubles in a 9-0 win over BNS, hammered out four hits while driving in three and scoring three in a 13-10 win over Tiverton and closed things Sunday going 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs in an 18-2 win over Woonsocket.
Izzy Sousa, St. Raphael
Sousa’s week didn’t start great with a 6-1 loss to Cranston West, but the All-Stater more than made up for it in her other three games. Sousa bounced back with three light innings while scoring three times in a 17-3 win over Cumberland. Facing undefeated Chariho, Sousa threw 6 innings while giving up five hits and finishing with seven strikeouts and hit a run in the 4-1 loss. She closed the week Sunday with a masterful performance, throwing a two-hit shutout with 15 strikeouts while driving in a pair in a 7-0 win over East Providence.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Vote for 2026 Providence Journal Week 7 Softball Player of the Week