TURNERS FALLS — Up until the fifth inning, everything seemed to be going well for Franklin County Technical School — the Eagles were scoring runs, getting hits and limiting their mistakes.
Then in one nightmare of an inning, it all came unraveled.
Pope Francis High School erupted for 13 runs in the fifth inning to erase a 9-7 deficit and rolled to a six-inning, 24-11 win over Franklin Tech in a first-round Western Massachusetts Division III Softball Tournament game on a hot Saturday afternoon at Nancy Gifford Field.
The ninth-seeded Cardinals (12-7) advanced to Monday’s quarterfinal at top-seeded Monson High School (20-0) at 4 p.m.
The eighth-seeded Eagles (17-5) will complete their season in the State Vocational Small Schools Tournament championship game against Norfolk County Agricultural High School. That game is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
Pope Francis sent 17 batters to the plate in the decisive frame and only managed four hits, but also drew eight walks and took advantage of two errors and two wild pitches. Krista Jasak’s two-run triple later in the frame was the biggest hit, and Jasak was awarded home due to an obstruction call on the play.
The Eagles had rallied from a pair of four-run deficits early on, eventually taking the lead with a five-run third-inning rally.
An outfield error got things rolling, then Sam Macomber singled and Ashlee Townsley belted a two-run double to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 7-5. Rachel Shearer’s infield single pushed another run across, Summer Gaudreau’s comebacker was bobbled by pitcher Alexa Keough and courtesy runner Brooke Adams scored to tie it. Then Cassie Harris singled home Erin O’Neil to make 8-7 Eagles.
Franklin Tech added one more run in the fourth on another infield single by Shearer before Pope Francis’ decisive rally.
Jasak finished with four RBIs, while Maddie Sutton went 3-for-5 with two doubles and four RBIs. She was one of four Cardinals players to register three hits.
Macomber was 3-for-4 with a double and one RBI, and Townsley added a single, double and four RBIs for the Eagles.