An unfamiliar foe will occupy the opposite dugout from Turners Falls High School this morning, as the top-seeded Thunder seek another sectional championship to add to their historic resume.
When the brackets were announced, the Powertown appeared destined for a third consecutive title-game matchup with second-seeded Mount Everett. Turns out, that wasn’t the case. While Turners took care of business in a 10-3 win over No. 4 Mount Greylock in the first of two semifinals, Wednesday, the Eagles were unable to hold their seed in the late game. Third-seeded McCann Tech put up a five-spot in the top of the first inning and held on, knocking off its Berkshire County foe, 6-3, to join the Thunder in today’s WMass Division 3 championship tilt.
First pitch is set for 11 a.m. at Sortino Field on the campus of UMass.
Turners (20-2) hasn’t played McCann Tech (17-5) since the 2017 quarterfinal round, a 9-1 victory for the Thunder. The Hornets are making just their third-ever appearance in a sectional final.
“I watched enough of their game (Wednesday) to get a feel for what they do,” began Turners coach Gary Mullins of McCann. “They want to play the short game to try and make you make mistakes. We made some very poor plays (Wednesday). One big inning and you can go home this time of year.”
Turners enters today’s game seeking the 21st WMass championship in program history. The Thunder have won five titles in a row, and they’ve been downright dominant in those finals. The squad has outscored opponents by a 50-4 margin in those five wins, pitching three shutouts in the process. All five wins have been by at least five runs.
Mount Everett’s semifinal loss halted the team’s chance to play Turners for a third straight year in the final. The Thunder won last year’s game, 8-3, and also picked up a 15-1 victory in 2017. Still, the Eagles were the last team to defeat the Powertown in a championship game, coming back in 2013, 3-0.
“That first inning killed (Mount Everett),” said Mullins of the semifinal defeat. “McCann took advantage of the walks. I think they had one hit and they scored five runs in the inning. All self-inflicted. It just kills you.”
Turners is 20-5 all time in WMass finals, including a 15-3 mark as a Division 3 school. The program has won 17 of its last 18 title tilts.
While the Powertown has an extensive championship-game pedigree, McCann enters today’s game 1-1 all time in WMass title games. In 1987, the Hornets lost, 4-0, in the Division 3 final to a Smith Academy team that went on to beat West Newbury, 7-5, for the state championship.
One year later, McCann Tech returned to the sectional title game and won the program’s first — and only — softball championship when it doubled up Mt. Everett, 8-4, in the 1988 Division 3 final.
“If we do what we’re supposed to do, we should have a really good chance to win the game,” said Mullins.
McCann senior pitcher Meg Goyette struck out five and limited Mount Everett to single runs in the second, third and fifth innings after her offense staked her to an immediate 5-0 lead.
“Their pitcher is decent. She’s a little funky, bends way down but we’ve been hitting the ball decently of late,” Mullins said. “We jumped on it the other day. Need to keep that approach going.”
While sophomore Jade Tyler will pitch in her second WMass final today, Mullins is more focused on his defense after the team committed three errors in the semifinal win over Mount Greylock.
“I’m a big believer in that people make mistakes because of fear of failure,” the veteran coach said. “If you have those negative thoughts, you aren’t going to produce. You have to overcome those thoughts. We have veteran kids that need to do what we expect them to do.”
The winner of today’s game will meet the winner of the CMass Division 3 final between top-seeded Hopedale (18-2) and No. 2 Millbury (15-5) in next week’s MIAA semifinal round. The central Mass. sectional final will be played today at Worcester State University at 1:30 p.m.
Turners and McCann kick off a tripleheader today at UMass. The Division 1 final between Minnechaug and Pittsfield follows at 1:30, and the Division 2 title game pitting Frontier against Hampshire is set for 4 p.m.