Behind a balanced scoring attack featuring three players in double figures, Turners Falls captured a title Saturday.
Turners, sponsored by Montague Elks Lodge #2521, blew past Monson, 61-41, in the finals of the grades 7 and 8 Suburban League NIT Division Tournament held at Westfield Middle School.
Jake Sak led all Powertown scorers with 17 points, joined in double figures by Jake Dodge (14 points) and Nick Lyons (12). Ryan Bergmann tossed in 7 points while Corbin Leh provided a spark with 5 points for Turners.
Two local free-throw champs
Jackson Campbell and Madison Liimatainen were crowned free-throw champions Saturday at the Knights of Columbus Western Massachusets Hoop-Shoot Championships hosted by St. Thomas Apostle School in West Springfield.
Campbell won the 9-year-old boys’ title by sinking 19 of 25 foul shots. Liimatainen ruled the 10-year-old girls’ competition by hitting 16 or 25 free throws.
The two local champions advance to the state championships scheduled for April 29 in Worcester.
UMass baseball wins
It was a solid weekend for the UMass baseball team in the Sunshine State.
The Minutemen captured their first two victories of 2017, sweeping a pair of games against the University of Maine at Little Fenway at the Delray Invitational. UMass closed the weekend with a 10-6 slugfest victory on Sunday while also taking a 5-1 win on Saturday.
In Sunday’s win, UMass (2-4) overcame a 6-4 deficit with three runs in the sixth inning and added three more in the later innings to pull out the win. Jon Avallone and Cooper Mrowka smacked home runs for the Minutemen, as Mrowka registered four RBI.
Starter Mike Geannelis earned the mound win, throwing five innings and was still the pitcher of record when UMass made its comeback in the top of the sixth. He struck out five while walking one and allowing five runs on 11 hits.
In Saturday’s win, UMass overcame an early 1-0 deficit to defeat Maine, 5-1, for the squad’s first victory.
The Minutemen later broke up a 1-1 deadlock with four runs on four hits in the fifth inning. Back-to-back one-out RBI doubles from Brett Evangelista and Ryan Lever put UMass on top, 3-1. Walks to Geannelis and Dylan Morris loaded the bases and set up a two-run single for sophomore Logan Greene that increased the advantage to 5-1.
Freshman Brooks Knapek threw 7⅔ innings and limited Maine to one run on six hits en route to his first collegiate win, walking four and striking out six.
Avallone and Lever combined for four of the Minutemen’s six hits, both going 2-for-3 at the plate with a run scored. Lever and Greene had two RBI apiece.
Softball sweeps 3 games
After two Friday losses, the UMass softball team closed its California spring trip with three big wins over the weekend.
The Minutewomen held on in Sunday’s finale, scoring three runs in the eighth inning to knock off Iowa State for a 6-4 extra-inning victory at the Aggie Invitational in Davis, Calif.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Stavinoha drove in the eventual game-winning run with an RBI single in the top of the eighth, while freshman Nicole Imhof added a bases-loaded single in the frame to turn a 3-3 game into a 6-3 advantage.
Freshman Candace Denis closed out the win in the pitching circle, as Iowa State got one run in the home half of the eighth but couldn’t climb all the way back for the 6-4 final.
UMass won a pair of Saturday games to get things rolling. The Minutewomen defeated Seton Hall, 1-0, in their first game, and followed it up with a 9-5 victory over UC Davis.
UMass ended the day with a strong 9-5 victory over UC-Davis. Junior Meg Colleran started in the circle and pitched seven innings, striking out three batters and giving up three earned runs.
The Minutewomen’s bats came alive at the plate against UC-Davis, starting off the game by posting one run in the first and two in the second. In the bottom of the fifth, Imhof tripled to score senior Ashton Wince and reached home shortly after on a wild pitch. Sophomore Kaycee Carbone blasted a home run and UMass took a 7-2 lead.
The squad scored another two runs in the sixth after singles from Stacevicz and Denis, along with a sacrifice fly from Stavinoha. Denis went three-for-four at the plate and scored two runs. Stacevicz and Carbone both went two-for-four with an RBI, and sophomore Melissa Garcia picked up an RBI-single.
Denis posted a dominant outing in the team’s 1-0 win over Seton Hall, as she tossed seven innings, allowing just one hit while striking out 9 to nail the shutout.
Stacevicz went 1-for-2 at the plate with one RBI, while Stavinoha doubled and went 1-for-3 at the plate.