TURNERS FALLS — Despite a furious comeback, the hole was simply too big for the Turners Falls Invaders to climb out of on Wednesday night.
Visiting Westfield stormed out to a 9-1 lead and held on for dear life as the Invaders made a game of it in the fifth inning. But in the end, the Whip City made a successful trip to the Powertown with an 11-7 victory to capture the 14U Suburban League championship at the Bourdeau Fields Complex.
Top-seeded Turners Falls (13-2) trailed 10-2 in the fifth inning before the offense finally got going. The big blow came in the form of a two-run home run over the fence by Jade Tyler, which plated Juliana Rode. The deficit shrank to 10-7, but second-seeded Westfield tacked on an insurance run in the sixth inning and held on from there for the title.
Catie Reynolds paced the offense with three hits, including a double, and three RBI for Turners, while Mercedez Morales also had three hits. Olivia Whittier and Taylor Murphy had 2-for-5 nights at the top of the lineup, while Taryn Thayer and Becca Kucenski added two hits each.
Tyler struck out 10 batters in the pitching circle for the Invaders, which beat Greenfield in the semifinals on Tuesday to advance to the title tilt.
Turners Falls actually got off to a solid start. After working around two errors in the top of the first inning to keep Westfield off the board, the Invaders went to work in the home half. Murphy doubled with one out to deep left field and she scored when Reynolds drilled a base hit through the infield to stake the Powertown to a quick 1-0 advantage.
The damage could’ve been worse, when Thayer reached on an error and Morales singled to load the bases with one out. But Westfield escaped, inducing a pair of pop-outs to keep the deficit at just 1-0.
The visitors exploded from there, using timely hitting and situational ball to get the job done. Westfield tied the game on a triple by Katie Joyner, and the Bombers took a 2-1 lead when they successfully executed a double steal with runners on first and third. All told, Westfield scored five times in the top of the second, three of those runs coming with two outs, to storm ahead, 5-1.
The two-out magic continued for Westfield in the top of the third, when the visitors scored three of their four runs with two outs to continue the offensive work and extend the advantage to 9-1.
12U semifinals
Greenfield Grizzlies 9, Frontier Blue 7 — Kameryn Dearborn locked things down over the final two innings in the pitching circle, and the Greenfield Grizzlies offense scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to come back for a wild 9-7 victory over Frontier Blue in the 12U Suburban League softball semifinals Wednesday night at Veterans Memorial Field in Greenfield.
Trailing 7-4 after fourth-seeded Frontier Blue scored four runs in the top of the sixth, Greenfield rallied for five runs in the home half to take a 9-7 lead. Dearborn, who struck out four batters over two innings of relief, made the lead stand up. Starting pitcher Brie Widelo struck out eight batters over five innings.
Mackenzie Paulin and Dearborn had two hits and two RBI each to pace the Grizzlies offense, while Widelo also smacked a pair of hits. Rachel Dodge had a hit and two RBI, while Ava Widelo and Sofia Holden added hits in the victory.
Frontier jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning before Greenfield scored three in the second to take a 3-2 lead. Frontier tied the game with a run in the third in the back and forth affair, while Greenfield led 4-3 in the sixth before Blue exploded for the four runs in the inning.
Greenfield advanced to tonight’s 12U championship game, where the Grizzlies will play top-seeded Southwick at 5:45 p.m. at Southwick Recreation Field.