Mount Greylock Regional School broke a 4-4 tie with two runs in the sixth inning on Friday to sneak past Mohawk Trail Regional High School, 6-4 in an independent softball game played in Buckland.
Mohawk (9-4 overall) jumped out to a 4-1 lead after one inning, as the Warriors scored all of their runs in the opening stanza. Lilly Lesieur rocked a two-run triple in the inning, while Caitlin Johnston and Ashley Walker also drove in runs to get the home team off and running.
Greylock (5-7) pulled within 4-3 after scoring a pair in the third, and then tied the game with a run in the fifth. The Mountaineers struck twice in the sixth and held on from there, as starter Fiona Kelley went all seven innings to pick up the victory. She struck out four and walked one on the night.
Ashley Reynolds and Walker totaled two hits apiece for Mohawk, with finished with eight as a team. Emily Page and Lesieur combined to strike out six batters in seven innings of work in the circle.
Greenfield 8, Frontier 5 — With two Greenfield High School runners on in the fifth inning of a tied Franklin County League softball game on Friday afternoon, Frontier Regional School coach Carrie Fydenkevez decided to intentionally walk Green Wave slugger Samantha Smith.
The move made sense. Smith has been one of the hottest bats in the league all spring and she was only two innings removed from clobbering a solo home run that landed well beyond the fence of the softball field named after longtime Frontier coach Jack Zabek.
Unfortunately for the host Red Hawks, the move did not pay off, because Greenfield’s Lizzy Howland followed Smith’s walk by depositing an offering from Frontier pitcher Lauren Davenport over the fence for a grand slam that put the Green Wave ahead for good. Despite one final gasp from the Frontier bats, Greenfield held on for a 8-5 victory to move back into a first-place tie with Turners Falls High School in the FCL.
Greenfield (10-1 overall, 8-1 FCL) held a 2-0 lead through three innings thanks to a single run in the first inning and another in the third on the Smith blast. Frontier (4-8, 3-7) came back to tie the game in the fourth inning when Maddy Fifield belted a two-run home run off Greenfield pitcher Olivia Joy.
The Green Wave answered in the fifth with four runs as Audrey Bresciano singled and Greenfield used an error and the intentional walk to Smith to load the bases.
“Smith has been really hitting the ball and in the third inning she really clobbered the ball, it wasn’t just barely a home run, it landed way out in the baseball field,” Fydenkevez said.
That brought up Howland to the plate and she went deep in grand fashion to put the Wave up, 6-2.
Frontier responded with three runs in the bottom of the fifth as Sarah Meunier hit a two-run double and Ava Harper drove in a run. Greenfield went right back on the offensive and scored two more runs in the sixth and Frontier was unable to muster anything further off Joy, who finished with 10 strikeouts and four walks in the win.
Smith finished with three hits, including a double and a home run, and drove in two runs. Molley Duclos had one hit and one RBI, Howland had two hits including the slam, Grace Kennedy singled and doubled, and Raegan Hickey doubled.
Fifield finished the day with two hits including the home run, while Natalie Denkiewicz had two hits. Davenport struck out eight and walked one in relief to suffer the loss. Lauren MacDonald struck out three and walked one in the first three innings.
Athol 3, Holyoke 1 — Athol High School cruised in the first set and then won a pair of close sets over the next three games to qualify for the postseason with a 25-15, 23-25, 25-23, 25-22 win over Holyoke High School in an independent boys’ volleyball match Friday in Holyoke.
Justin Blake continued to pile up the kills with 18 more on Friday to lead the Red Raiders. He also led the team with 35 digs and chipped in a pair of aces and a blocked shot. Josh Herk had a big day with 16 kills, 12 digs and a team-high four aces for the Red Raiders (10-7 overall), and Colby Soltysik had 26 assists, 12 digs and three kills. Nick Casella had 18 assists and seven digs, Ryan Warner had eight kills, six assists and seven digs, Hudson Carlson finished with four kills and 23 digs, and Dustin Aikey had seven kills and 10 digs.
Greenfield 3, Turners 2 — George Balis snagged the clinching point at third singles, enabling visiting Greenfield High School to capture a hard-fought 3-2 victory over rival Turners Falls High School in a Tri-County League boys’ tennis match Friday afternoon in Turners Falls.
Balis clipped Turners freshman Brian Poirier in a first-set tiebreaker, 7-6 (8-6) before finishing off the win with a 6-4 second set victory.
“Turners Falls is an opponent we really respect so getting a win against them is really big for us,” said Greenfield coach Andrew Varnon. “It’s good for Franklin County tennis. It was a good atmosphere, lot of people there cheering the guys on. There was a lot of emotion in it.”
Turners (7-5, 5-3 TCL), which swept Greenfield, 5-0, in the teams’ first meeting this season, took a 2-0 advantage thanks to wins in both doubles matches on Friday. The first doubles tandem of Jovanni Ruggiano and Nick Morin captured a 6-4, 6-4 win, while Will Turn and Brody Trott also won at No. 2, 6-1, 6-2.
Greenfield (6-5, 5-3) got on the board at second singles, where Victor Ivancev claimed a 6-3, 6-3 win over Ricky Craver, and Fahrah Day tied the match with a three-set victory over Jimmy Vaughn at No. 1. Day won via 7-6 (11-9), 0-6, 6-1 scores to even things, 2-2.
That put all eyes on third singles, where Balis edged Poirier in the opening set but trailed 4-0 in the second with things seemingly headed to a winner-take-all third set. Balis charged back however, winning the final six games of the set to pick up a 6-4 win and seal the deal for the Green Wave.