BELCHERTOWN — An explosive offensive performance gave the Athol High School softball team a convincing 22-5 win over Belchertown in a five-inning independent contest, Saturday morning.
The offense got cooking early under the morning sun with a three-run homer by Sadey Lehtomaki in the top of the first inning.
“At the beginning of the season I was not hitting as well,” Lehtomaki said. “Now I just learned to fully watch the ball. I was pulling my head a lot at the beginning of the season. I’ve been working on that in practice.”
The blast cleared the center field fence.
The extra work has paid off for Lehtomaki who was just getting started on the day en route to a 4-for-5 performance with a double and five RBIs.
Lehtomaki wasn’t alone as the Red Raiders pounded out 21 hits.
“We’ve been plagued with the hitting bug,” Athol coach Sharon Chauvette said. “It was nice to see today.”
A seven-run second inning gave Athol a comfortable 10-1 advantage for starting pitcher Lindsey LeBlanc. The freshman gave up just one earned run on six hits with seven strikeouts.
“That, in my opinion was one of the worst performances of the entire season,” LeBlanc said of her outing. “I couldn’t get the ball over the plate.”
Of LeBlanc’s 115 pitches, she threw 76 strikes with one walk. LeBlanc did her part at the plate with four hits and four RBIs.
Haley Bigwood (RBI), Rozlyn Nelson (three RBIs) and Lexi Forte (four RBIs) all had multiple hits for the Red Raiders.
At one point in the second inning Athol put together six consecutive runs including RBI doubles from Nelson and Forte.
Reily Polana showed some power in the second, just missing a dinger that hit off the fence in the air.
Four runs in the fourth and another eight-spot in the fifth triggered the mercy rule.
Kennedy Vaillancourt and Sam Kenniff came up from junior varsity for the game and both players recorded their first-ever varsity hits.
Kenniff’s single scored a run in the top of the fourth. Vaillancourt followed with a double before LeBlanc knocked both of them in with an RBI single.
Kendall Deleo had a hit with an RBI for Athol. Jenna St. Cyr chipped in with a hit and two RBIs.
Athol (8-6) has now won three straight and will host Mohawk Trail Regional on Tuesday.
Belchertown (6-7) got a first-inning home run from Gina Camerota. Olivia Plate had two hits with an RBI. Joelle Ouimette took the loss in the circle for the Orioles.
Frontier 6, Northbridge 1 — Five solid innings from Kalen Evans, mixed with a balanced offensive effort guided host Frontier to an impressive 6-1 victory over central Mass. foe Northbridge High School in an independent contest Saturday at Valiton Field in South Deerfield.
“It was nice to see some consistency with our offensive attack,” Frontier coach Chris Williams said.
The Red Hawks (13-3) jumped ahead early, scoring a pair in the bottom of the first. With two outs, Kiernan Freeman and Corbin Blight walked, and both came around on a Jacob Bryant triple to make it a 2-0 game.
Bryant wound up with three RBIs, while Freeman had two hits, including a double, to go with an RBI. Garrett DeForest tripled for Frontier, which received RBIs from Matt Hildreth and Kyle Barnes.
Evans struck out eight and walked a pair in five innings, allowing just a single run in the top of the fourth. Xavier Santiago shut the door over the final two innings, striking out five and not issuing a walk. The duo limited Northbridge to just four hits — all singles.
Frontier is back at it today on the road against South Hadley.
Athol 22, Belchertown 5
Athol …………………….. 370 48— 22 21 4
Belchertown………….. 102 02 — 5 6 4
Hits: (A) St. Cyr, LeBlanc 4, Bigwood 3, Lehtomaki 4, Nelson 2, Polana, Forte 3, Deleo, Kenniff, Vaillancourt. (B) Camerota, LeBlanc, Plate 2, Troy, Mallalieu.
2B: (A) Lehtomaki, Polana, Vaillancourt, Nelson.
HR: (A) Lehtomaki. (B) Camerota
RBI: (A) St. Cyr 2, LeBlanc 4, Bigwood, Lehtoamki 5, Nelson 3, Forte 4, Deleo, Kenniff
WP: LeBlanc (5ip, 7k, 1bb).
LP: Ouimette (5ip, 3k, 5bb).
Frontier 6, Northridge 1
Northbridge …………… 000 100 0 — 1 4 1
Frontier ……………….. 202 200 x — 6 8 0
Hits: (N) Stuczynski, Roberts, Remillard, Cray. (F) Waitkus, Freeman 2, Bryant, Hildreth, Evans, DeForest, Barnes.
2B: (F) Freeman.
3B: (F) Bryant, DeForest.
RBI: (F) Freeman, Bryant 3, Hildreth, Barnes.
WP: Evans (5ip, 8k, 2bb), Santiago (2ip, 5k, 0bb).
LP: Consigli (3ip, 2k, 3bb), Roberts (3ip, 0k, 0bb).
