Jenna Putala kicked her senior season off with a bang.
The Turners Falls High School slugger belted a two-run home run in her first at-bat of the season and the Indians defeated Mahar Regional School, 8-0, in a Franklin County League softball game Friday afternoon in Orange.
Putala likely made history with her shot to left-center field in the first inning, which came after Jordan Meattey reached on a walk. The round-tripper marked the third consecutive season that Putala’s first at bat resulted in a home run — believed to be the first time in area history it has happened.
“It was not a cheapie, it was a good 30-40 feet over their fence,” Turners Falls head coach Gary Mullins said. “She hit the ball hard today.”
The Indians scored in every inning except the second but only scored multiple runs in the first and sixth. Mahar coach Jerry Duguay said he was proud of his team for hanging around with the powerful Indians, and he was not sure the last time the program was not run-ruled.
“I said before the season that I want to go seven (innings), specifically with Turners Falls and Frontier,” Duguay said. “It’s not a win in the win column, but it’s a win for our program. We want to get young kids involved in the sport and we want to show that we are not going backwards, we are coming up.”
Peyton Emery pitched five innings of two-hit ball for the Indians to earn the win, striking out 11 and not walking a batter. Mackenzie Phillips struck out five over the final two innings.
Putala finished with two hits and two RBIs in the win, while Meattey added two hits and two RBIs. Gabby Arzuaga added two hits and one RBI, Peyton Emery had one hit and one RBI, and Jordyn Fiske had a hit.
Joslyn O’Brien and Sarah Graeff each doubled for the two Mahar hits.
Duguay pointed to his pitcher, Sophia Smith, who started a game for the third straight day, as playing particularly well, as did the Senators’ defense.
“I think Sophia really grew as an athlete today,” Duguay said. “That Putala home run was an absolute bomb and afterward Sophie just composed herself and never got rattled. And our defense was sharp today.”
Smith struck out six and walked seven in the loss.
Frontier 11, Pioneer 5 — Frontier Regional School scored nine times in the third inning to defeat Pioneer Valley Regional School, 11-5, in a FCL softball game Friday afternoon at Zabek Field in South Deerfield.
Pioneer actually outhit the Red Hawks, 13-10, but Frontier took advantage of eight walks in the game, including four straight to start the third inning. Pioneer also committed four errors on the day.
Sarah Meunier finished with two hits and three RBIs in the win, while Lauren MacDonald had two hits and two RBIs. McKenzie Patterson had three hits, including a double, and drove in a run, while Hannah LaClaire, Lexa Boyden and Natalie Denkiewicz each had one hit and one RBI.
MacDonald earned the win, striking out five and walking four in seven innings.
Logan Anderson had three hits and two RBIs to pace the Pioneer (1-1) offense, and Alexus Vergobbe added three hits and one RBI. Kailee Gibson, the losing pitcher with four strikeouts and six walks, had three hits, and Olivia Rowe had two hits and one RBI. Shelby Avery added a hit and an RBI.
Greenfield 8, Smith Academy 3 — Owen Schilling struck out nine and did not walk a batter in a three-hit shutout and Greenfield High School remained unbeaten on the season with a 8-3 victory over Smith Academy in a Hampshire League baseball crossover game Friday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Field in Greenfield.
Schilling did not allow an earned run in leading the Green wave to its third straight win to start the season and earned praise from coach Tom Suchanek.
“Any time you don’t walk people, that only enhances your ability to win, and obviously the more you strike out, the less times your team has to play defense,” the coach explained.
Greenfield, meanwhile, had a much better time at the plate against Smith Academy ace John Ferrara, tallying 11 hits. Ferrara finished with nine strikeouts and two walks, and gave up six earned runs.
The Falcons scored twice in the first inning when John Ferrara reached on an error and later moved to third on a Kevin Banas double. Both runners came home on wild pitches. Greenfield came back to tie the game in the bottom of the frame and Schilling helped himself by getting on with an infield single. He scored on Andrew Toritto’s RBI triple to right-center, and Zach Avery plated Toritto with a double to deep left.
Smith Academy went back on top in the third when Ferrara reached on a two-out single, moved to third when the ball was misplayed by the Green Wave outfield, and scored on a Banas single.
Greenfield came back to tie the game and take the lead for good in the bottom of the third with two more runs, including one that came home on a double by Toritto. The Green Wave catcher went on to finish with four hits and two RBIs on the day, coming a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. McBarry finished with two hits and one RBI, and Tyler Townsley and Schilling each had two hits.
Suchanek also pointed out the strong play of his defense, which did make two errors, but also made some nice plays. Through three games, Greenfield has gotten three quality starts from its three starters, and has only made four errors.
“Between pitching and defense, we have hung in games, and today we hit the ball pretty well, too,” Suchanek said.
Greenfield hosts Palmer High School on Monday.
Mahar 16, Turners 3 — The Turners Falls baseball team continued its early-season error issues, committing five miscues for the second straight day and Mahar took advantage, clubbing the hosts, 16-3, in a HL crossover game Friday afternoon at the Bourdeau Fields Complex in Turners Falls.
The Senators (2-2) piled up 12 hits and worked 12 walks against Indians’ pitching en route to the 16 runs. Mahar put up six runs in the second inning and never looked back, scoring in each of the final four frames.
Sam Paul had three hits, including a double, and drove in three runs for the Senators, while Miller Richardson had two hits, two RBIs and scored three times. Hunter Richardson doubled, drove in a pair and scored twice, and Liam Bashista had one hit and three RBIs. Tyreece Younger added two hits, one RBI and scored a team-high four times.
Paul earned the win for Mahar, striking out five and allowing just four hits and two walks in five innings.
Jalen Sanders had two hits and one RBI for the Indians (1-3), and Tanner Jones had one hit and one RBI. Trevor Mankowsky suffered the loss, striking out two and walking three in 1 2/3 innings.
The Indians have now committed 16 errors in four games this season and first-year coach Scott Minkler said his guys have some work to do.
“The problem is that we had three games in three days,” he began. “We learned what we need to work on, now we just need some practice days to work on it.”
The Indians will get Monday to do just that before going back to work on Tuesday when they travel one mile down the road to face Franklin County Technical School on Tuesday. The Senators travel to Westfield on Monday to take on St. Mary’s Parish School.