A dominant outing from Lindsey LeBlanc helped the Athol softball team to its first Franklin County League East victory of the season on Tuesday.
LeBlanc struck out 13 batters in a complete-game outing, limiting visiting Mohawk Trail to just five hits and a single unearned run. The Bears took the lead for good in the second inning and held on for a 3-1 victory in Athol.
LeBlanc walked just one batter in the win for Athol (2-1, 1-0), as 69 of her 96 pitches went for strikes.
The Warriors (0-2, 0-1) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Addie Loomis scored on an RBI off the bat of Sophie Guy.
Athol tied the game in the bottom of the inning and scored twice in the bottom of the second to take a lead it would not relinquish. Sadey Lehtomaki was 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and an RBI for the Bears. Sam Kenniff also singled and scored a run, while Kassidy Swan added an RBI in the victory.
Mohawk Trail pitchers Riley Giard and Mya Lesieur combined for four strikeouts in six innings of work. The duo allowed just four hits and four walks.
Franklin Tech 12, Hoosac Valley 1 — Following a slow start at the plate — where they trailed 1-0 after three innings — the Eagles put up two runs to get going in the fourth before exploding for nine runs in the fifth to pull away with a 12-1 win over the Hurricanes in Turners Falls on Tuesday.
Kylee Gamache and Hannah Gilbert each tallied three hits for Franklin Tech (3-0), with Gilbert knocking a double, a triple and a home run to go along with two RBIs. Gamache knocked in three runs.
Kaitlin Trudeau had a single and a triple and two RBIs, Lauren Ross hit a solo home run, Cordelia Guerin had two hits and an RBI, Lillian Day cracked two hits and Keira Stevens hit safely in the victory.
Lauren Ross got the win in the circle, striking out 12 and scattering five hits for the Eagles.
Greenfield 15, Mt. Greylock 3 (6) — MacKenzie Paulin struck out 11 in the circle and went 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs in the Green Wave’s FCL West victory over the Mounties on Tuesday at Vets Field in Greenfield.
Kaitlin Lavoine went 3-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs while Ainslee Flynn and Anna Bucala each had a pair of hits and an RBI for Greenfield (3-1, 1-0).
Turners 11, Taconic 9 — The Thunder held off Tanonic late, with Madi Liimatainen striking out 16 in the circle to propel host Turners to an 11-9 FCL West win on Tuesday.
Liimatainen finished with a double, a home run and four RBIs at the plate for the Thunder (2-1), which bounced back after a loss to Easthampton on Monday. Emily Young was 4-for-4 with a home run, Morgan Dobias smashed three doubles and brought in four runs, and Paige Sulda had a pair of doubles in the victory.
Wahconah 16, Frontier 0 (6) — Redhawk Chloe Cutting shut the Warriors out for three innings but Wahconah put four runs on the board in the fourth, tacked six on in the fifth and added five more runs in the sixth to earn a 16-0 FCL West win over Frontier in six innings in South Deerfield on Tuesday.
Cutting and Makayla Santos had the two Redhawk hits in the loss, as Frontier dropped to 2-3, 0-1.
Hopkins 24, Mahar 2 — Saylor Kegans smacked a two-run home run in the third inning to provide the offense for the Senators in a loss on Tuesday.
Hopkins pushed eight runs across in the first inning to take control.
Franklin Tech 13, Mohawk Trail 0 (5) — Kyle Begos tossed four scoreless innings, striking out six and surrendering just three hits as the Eagles defeated the Warriors in five innings in a Bi-County League North contest in Buckland on Tuesday.
Mason Lehtomaki came on for the final inning and struck out all three batters he faced for Franklin Tech (3-1, 2-1). Jake Whitney and Cayden Lehtomaki each cracked a single and a double while Begos recorded a double in the victory.
Deven Buchanan, Oliver Johnson and Carter Miller all hit safely for Mohawk Trail (0-3, 0-3).
Smith Academy 11, Mahar 1 — Will Dobson and Griffin Smiarowski combined for 11 strikeouts while allowing just five hits for Smith Academy in an 11-1 Bi-County League North win over Mahar on Tuesday in Hatfield
Mahar scored its lone run of the game in the top of the first inning, when Liam O’Donnell drove in Nate Danielson to stake the visitors to a quick 1-0 advantage.
O’Donnell, Danielson, Cole Johnson, Jeremy Vezina and Jayden Delgado all had singles for the Senators (1-2, 1-2). The Falcons scored three in the first inning and four in the second to take control.
PV Christian 5, Turners 0 — Mike Boyle and Alex Sabin fell in their singles matches while Jake Reich and John Carmichael were unable to come up with a win at No. 1 doubles as the Thunder fell on the road on Tuesday.