The loss of Samantha Smith to an injury has left a gaping hole in the Greenfield High School softball lineup, leaving coach Rian Lovett looking for others to answer the call.
Up stepped a quartet of sophomores and freshmen who helped the Green Wave end the regular season in dramatic fashion when freshman Kelsey Richardson hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift Greenfield to a 3-2 victory over Frontier Regional School in a Franklin County League softball game Friday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Field in Greenfield.
Frontier (13-5) scored one run in the top of the sixth inning to tie the score 2-2 but the Green Wave came back in the final frame. Sophomore Gianna Conte singled up the middle but was erased on a fielders choice by Racquel Provost who stood on first base with two outs. Freshman Kaitlin Lavoine kept the inning alive when she singled, and Richardson followed with a ground ball through the left side of the infield. Provost ran hard from second and just beat the throw home.
“It was all freshmen and one sophomore. That’s kind of nice, because that’s their team next year,” Lovett exclaimed. “I think it kind of showed some character for our girls. We battled back the whole game. I think that’s really telling of our team. We were able to fight through seven innings.”
Frontier took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Olivia Deane doubled and scored on a Lily Spencer single. Greenfield responded in the bottom of the frame as Audrey Bresciano reached on an error and Rachel Dodge followed with a pinch-hit single. With two outs, Hannah Marchefka blooped a single over third base that both runners came around to score on and give the Green Wave the lead.
Frontier did not go away and in the sixth inning Natalie Denkiewicz reached on a two-base error and Deane followed with an RBI single.
Green Wave pitcher Olivia Joy went the distance and allowed just three hits and one walk, striking out 11. Deane suffered the loss, striking out one and walking one.
“It’s a really good way to end the season, especially with the unknown of Sam,” Lovett said.
Greenfield wound up 14-4 in the regular season and now will wait a week and a half before the seeds are announced.
Greenfield 3, Athol 1 — A small-ball style offense and a whole lot of Kyle Devlin on the mound helped Greenfield earn a regular-season split with Athol during a 3-1 victory Friday night at Vets Field in Greenfield.
Devlin came over from Pioneer this season and has had a huge impact on the Wave, not only serving as the team’s starting catcher, but also emerging as not only a consistent starter, but one of the most dominant pitchers in the Hampshire League this spring. He earned run average currently sits around 1.00.
“He’s got decent stuff,” Green Wave coach Tom Suchanek said of the senior. “He’s got a sneaky-quick fastball and he has a couple good breaking pitches. He has been a very pleasant surprise.”
Devlin scattered seven hits over seven innings, striking out seven. He only allowed one run in the sixth inning.
Greenfield (13-5) broke open a scoreless game in the fourth with a pair of runs, both of which came on just one hit. Ryan Campbell led off with a double and went to third on a wild pitch. Joel Peabody walked and stole second, and Jake Sak laid down a safety squeeze bunt to score Campbell. Peabody made it 2-0 when he came around to score on an error.
Athol (11-7) cut the deficit in half with a lone run in the sixth as Nick Bousquet doubled, Tyler Lutz singled and Mark Ferrari hit an RBI double. With runners on second and third and one out, Devlin came back to strike out Maysin Tarbell and Riley Paine to get out of the jam.
Greenfield got the run back in the bottom of the inning as Peabody walked, moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt by Sak, and later scored on a wild pitch.
“The last three or four games that we’ve played, small ball has kind of got us rolling,” Suchanek said. “We work on it. We don’t have much for launch angle at this field. It’s certainly been a large part of our offense and it’s paid off.”
Ferrari pitched well in the loss, allowing just four hits and three walks, and striking out six. He also had three hits, while Bousquet had two hits.
Cam Baird had a pair of hits for the Wave, and Owen Phelps chipped in a single.
Greenfield 3, Frontier 2
Frontier …………… 000 101 0 — 2 3 2
Greenfield ………… 000 200 1 — 3 6 1
Hits: (F) Deane 2, Spencer. (G) Lavoine, Richardson 2, Dodge, Marchefka, Conte.
2B: (F) Deane.
RBI: (F) Deane, Spencer. (G) Richardson, Marchefka 2.
WP: Joy (7ip, 11k, 1bb).
LP: Deane (6⅔ip, 1k, 1bb).
Baseball
Greenfield 3, Athol 1
Athol …………… 000 001 0 — 1 7 3
Greenfield ….. 000 201 x — 3 4 0
Hits: (A) Fountain, Bousquet 2, Lutz, Ferrari 3. (G) Phelps, Baird 2, Campbell.
2B: (A) Bousquet, Ferrari. (G) Campbell.
RBI: (A) Ferrari. (G) Campbell.
WP: Devlin (7ip, 7k, 1bb).
LP: Ferrari (6ip, 6k, 3bb).