Two more youth baseball leagues opened their seasons over the weekend.
The Frontier Cal Ripken Youth League held its parade Saturday morning, then had games at several sites, while the Mohawk Youth League also opened up with its parade and also held several games.
The Frontier League handed out the Founders Award during the festivities. The award, named in honor of Joe and Sheila Zewinski, who helped start the Ripken-afilliated league, is given annually to a person or people who volunteered time to help with the success of the league. This year the award was given to Sue Martino and Bryan Barnes. Martino was a longtime league secretary, Barnes a longtime coach.
In addition, league officials invited high school players to the opening festivities.
“We wanted to show the kids how it all develops and the importance of playing in the league,” Frontier Cal Ripken president Jon Edwards said.
Frontier Regional School coach Chris Williams said that having a strong youth league in the district is crucial to the high school’s success.
“The success of the youth program is a direct pipeline,” Williams said. “Fortunately, there are a ton of people involved who are passionate about youth baseball in our area, many of whom are parents to my own athletes who are still working tirelessly for youth sports. Especially today, with the tragedy that is high school athletics due to the dropping enrollment numbers and the decline in participation interest across the Pioneer Valley, such efforts are critical and reassuring to see.”
In action from the league, Owen Babb had two hits, one RBI and scored a run to lead Yankee Candle to a 6-1 win over Polish American Citizens Club in Major Division action at the Sunderland Field.
Dylan Camp had one hit, one RBI and scored twice for Yankee, and Claire Kirkendall had one hit and scored twice. Camp struck out five in two scoreless innings on the mound, while Mason Thornton struck out two in two innings of hitless work to earn the save. Kirkendall pitched one inning of relief and earned the win, and Jonny Scagel pitched one strong inning.
Michael Hoie had an impressive performance on the mound for PACC as he pitched two innings and struck out each of the six batters he faced. Hoie also had one hit and one RBI, and Jon Santiago scored a run.
In other action, New England Greenscapes outlasted Wilcox Builders, 12-11, in seven innings at Hatfield.
Greenscapes got big offensive outputs from Ethan Combs, who was 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs, Dave Sodlodky, who went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs, and Collin West, who went 2-for-4 with and RBI and two runs.
Winning pitcher Tegan Dexter went two innings. Coombs pitched three innings, allowing just one run without getting a decision.
Mohawk Youth League
Brady Beckwith plated a pair of runs in the second inning to help the Buckland/Shelburne Brewers to a 3-2 win over Ashfield in a Mohawk Youth League Major Division game Saturday night under the lights at Mohawk Trail Regional High School in Buckland.
Nathan Wiles had an RBI single in the sixth for the game-winning run.
Gabe Selig went 2-for-3 at the plate for Ashfield, while Sammy Thompson tripled.
GGSL
MacKenzie Paulin struck out 16 in six innings in her first career start to lead Crocker Communications to a 8-6 win over Descavich Plumbing in a Greenfield Girls’ Softball League Ponytail Division game Saturday at Murphy Park in Greenfield.
Paulin shook off some early-game jitters and allowed just four walks after the first inning, and three hits through the six innings of work. Taylor Menard had one hit and two RBIs to pace the offense, while Paulin, Amelia Pierce, Kelly Baird, Tayler Bergeron and Rachel Wood each added one hit.
Gianna Disciullo struck out two in one inning of work, and Lilly Ross struck out six in four innings for Descavich.
Meghan Collins, Gloria McDonald and Carly Blanchard each had one hit.
Bucky Bash
Robert Haigh and Nate Burdick shot a five-under, 65 to win low gross in the men’s division during the 2018 Bucky Bash at the Country Club of Greenfield on Saturday.
Jason Yuryan and Brodie Conant came in second with a 68, and Chris Bourbeau and Garrett Cousineau tied Tom Helbig and Mike Duclos for third at 69.
Scott Stacy and Jon Unaitis tied Roy Emerson and Mike Archer for low net with a 58. Tim Gochinski and Pete Murphy finished third with a 59.
Phyllis Canon and Teresa Varner won low gross in the women’s division with a 81, while Sue McDonald and Margo Worden won low net with a 61.
FC Spring 5K
Aaron Stone of Greenfield cross the finish line in 17 minutes, 19 seconds to win the Franklin County Spring 5K Saturday in Montague.
Ben Whitbeck of Greenfield came in second in 19:14, while Abe Klein of Turners Falls was third at 19:32. Patrick Cregten of Greenfield was fourth in 21:39, and Scott Martin of Rindge, N.H., and competes at Franklin County Technical School was fifth at 21:52.
Gena Mangiaratti of Turners Falls was the women’s division winner as she placed eighth overall in 22:58. Linda Hobbs of Mount Hermon was next (ninth overall) at 23:17, and Megan McHugh of Orange was third in 25:02. Kristin Meza of South Deerfield was fourth in the women’s division in 25:34, and Rebeccah Hanna of Mount Hermon was fifth in 25:48.
Golf
Lowell Weil shot a 74 to finish in a three-way tie for medalist honors on Saturday and Deerfield Academy won the Phillips Andover Academy Invitational with a team score of 303 at Newport Country Club.
The golf team remained unbeaten on the season at 9-0.
Volleyball
Phillips Andover Academy defeated Northfield Mount Hermon School 26-24, 25-16, 25-19 in a boys’ prep volleyball match Saturday in Andover.
NMH fell to 2-4 on the season.
Tennis
The NMH boys’ tennis team suffered a 6-1 loss to Phillips Exeter Academy on Saturday.
• On the girls’ side, Deerfield fell to Hotchkiss School, 9-0.
Lacrosse
Deerfield swept the boys’ and girls’ lacrosse matches Saturday in Deerfield.
The girls’ team defeated Westminster School, 15-6. The win was the sixth in a row for the Big Green after starting the season 0-2. The boys’ team defeated Andover, 7-4, and ran its winning streak to seven games after it dropped its season-opener.
Rowing
The Deerfield boys’ and girls’ rowing teams each won at the Pomfret School Quad in Pomfret, Conn., on Saturday.
Water polo
The Deerfield girls’ water polo team defeated Hopkins School, 17-14, Saturday in Deerfield.
The Big Green improved to 6-3 on the season.
Softball
Deerfield suffered its first softball loss of the season on Saturday as it fell to Williston Northampton School, 7-0.
Deerfield is now 4-1.
Baseball
The Deerfield baseball team split a doubleheader with Exeter on Saturday as it dropped a 19-4 decision in Game 1, but rebounded for a 7-3 win in the nightcap.
Vaultapalooza Sunday
An extra MIAA-sanctioned pole-vault competition for high school athletes will be held Sunday at Pioneer Valley Regional School at noon.
For more information, call event organizer Jim Bell at 413-648-8929.