TURNERS FALLS — Don’t look now but after a rollercoaster of a season, the Turners Falls softball team is starting to look like its old self.
The Thunder opened the MIAA Div. 5 state tournament with an emphatic 21-0 win over Upper Cape Cod Regional on Monday, and on Tuesday against Bourne in the Round of 16, Madi Liimatainen tossed a gem to help Turners advance again.
The freshman struck out 11, scattered just two hits and walked four to propel the second-seeded Thunder to a 7-1 victory over the Canalmen at the Bourdeau Fields Complex.
“I thought she was great,” Turners coach Gary Mullins said of his pitcher. “That’s as well as she’s thrown this year. She threw very well. We have to have that.”
Through two postseason games, Liimatainen has gotten into a groove, allowing a total of three hits in the two state tournament games and striking out 25.
She hopes to keep that going when No. 23 Millis comes to the Powertown on Friday at 6 p.m. for a quarterfinal showdown.
“I was really looking for the no-hitter tonight but I felt good,” Liimatainen said. “I felt relaxed and I knew where my release point was.”
The Thunder got on the board in the first inning. Morgan Dobias reached on a single, stole second and third and scored on an error off the bat of Paige Sulda to give Turners an early 1-0 lead.
A big third inning broke the game open. Emily Young opened the frame with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a Liimatainen fly out and was brought home by a Dobias single to make it 2-0.
Cady Wozniak reached on an error that put her on second and Dobias on third. Olivia Stafford brought both home on a single, taking third after an overthrow home by Bourne. Stafford then scampered home on a passed ball to make it a 5-0 game going into the fourth.
“Morgan had a big hit for us,” Mullins said. “They made some mistakes but we added to that by putting some runs on the board. I thought we played good softball as a team and made some nice plays.”
The Thunder tacked on a sixth run in the bottom of the fifth. Dobias was hit by a pitch, stole second and third and reached home on a Stafford ground out to give Turners a 6-0 lead.
Liimatainen’s no-hit bid came to an end in the top of the sixth. Hannah Greene and Liz Black reached on walks, with Greene making it to third on a passed ball. Jadyn Morrell hit a dribbler and beat the throw to first — the first hit of the game for the Canalmen — bringing Greene in to cut the lead to 6-1.
The bottom of the Thunder lineup added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Jenna Petrowicz dinged a single, stole second and scored off a Marilyn Abarua single to give Turners its 7-1 lead.
Getting contributions from the full lineup is a big boost for Turners moving forward in the tournament.
“Seeing girls who haven’t been hitting the ball so well putting the ball in play gives me confidence on the mound,” Liimatainen said. “It’s nice knowing I have people behind me who can make plays.”
Meghan Roche cracked a single up the middle for Bourne in the top of the seventh but Liimatainen struck out the side to close out the win.
Liimatainen and the Thunder feel as though they’re coming together at the perfect time of year, not letting the postseason expectations that come with playing for Turners get to them.
“We’re really connected,” Liimatainen said. “We had a patch during the season where we weren’t playing like ourselves. We’re the team we know we can be now. The expectations are high but I think of it more as friendly pressure than anything else. I go out there and represent the name on my shirt and that’s what we’re doing right now.”
She said she knows Turners has to play its best softball of the season to keep this tournament run alive on Friday against Millis.
“We are going to experience faster pitching,” Liimatainen said. “If we go in there and know we have to make adjustments, we’ll win the game. If I go out there and pitch well, we’ll get a win.”