WESTFIELD – Executing the little things wins big once you’re deep in the postseason.
Most years, that’s the Turners Falls softball team’s MO. On Tuesday, third-seeded West Boylston took a page out of the Thunder’s historically successful playbook.
The Lions were aggressive on the bases, and stay buttoned up defensively while weaving in and out of trouble for much of the MIAA Division 5 semifinal. No. 2 Turners left 10 runners on base, as a run-scoring hit always remained just out of reach.
West Boylston pitcher Peyton Maloney didn’t allow a run over seven innings, striking out eight and scattering eight hits to send the Lions into the Div. 5 championship game via a 2-0 victory over Turners at Westfield State University’s Hagan Field.
Turners finished its season 15-10 overall.
“We were a rollercoaster ride this year,” offered Turners head coach Gary Mullins. “But we started to play better softball in practice and in games. They got better.”
West Boylston advanced to the state final where it will play the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between No. 1 Greenfield and No. 21 Frontier. The title game is set for either Friday or Saturday at UMass’ Sortino Field in Amherst.
“We knew what we needed to do, we knew who we were up against,” began West Boylston coach John Pajer. “This is how we play. We don’t make a lot of mistakes defensively, we get good pitching. We knew their pitcher (Madi Liimatainen), knew they weren’t going to give us too, too much. So we had to take advantage of our opportunities.”
The Lions took advantage of an opportunity to take a lead in the top of the third inning. Shannon Luksha walked to lead off the frame, and moved around to third base on a sacrifice bunt from Maddie Petro. Advancing two bases on the play ultimately led to a run, as a wild pitch from Liimatainen enabled Luksha to scamper home for a 1-0 advantage.
“We spent two days working on that and we were a little bit slow with it and she got there,” said Mullins of the play. “And then we threw it off the backstop.”
Pajer said the stars aligned with Luksha being the perfect baserunner to advance from first to third on the bunt.
“We just had really good luck on the bases. I think we were a little more aggressive on the bases than they were,” he said. “We had the right person on first to try and pull that off and it worked for us. You try and take advantage of it when you can.”
The lead doubled to 2-0 in the top of the fifth, when Petro smacked a triple to the right center field gap with one out and then ran home on another wild pitch from Liimatainen.
From there, Maloney did her best to keep the Turners bats from coming to life. The top of the Thunder lineup put pressure on the West Boylston defense throughout, and the No. 2 seeds threatened in the home fifth when Emily Young singled and took second when Liimatainen worked a one-out walk. Maloney got a pair of fly outs to keep it a 2-0 game.
In the sixth, Turners put a pair on base when Skylei LaPan singled with two outs and Jenna Petrowicz was hit by a pitch. Maloney got a punchout to escape yet again, though the Thunder were able to turn the lineup over and get the top of the order up in the seventh.
“That was absolutely huge for us,” explained Mullins. “If we can get a couple kids on (in the sixth), and bring Emily and Madi up (in the seventh), Madi can knock it out of here. And we got there. Hey, we’ve got a shot.”
Young, who was 3-for-4 atop the lineup, led off the seventh with a double to bring the tying run to the plate. Liimatainen, who nearly hit a tying home run earlier in the game when her bomb to left field cleared the fence but was just a few feet wide of the foul pole, was unable to drive her catcher in however. Maloney buckled down and notched a huge strikeout.
Young got to third on fly out to center, but Maloney induced a ground out to second base to end the threat and send the Lions into the state title game.
“This game can be cruel and that’s exactly what happened to us,” Mullins said. “Madi threw the ball well enough to win and we had enough hits to win, we just couldn’t put them together at the right time.”
Turners outhit the Lions by an 8-4 margin, but the 10 runners stranded on base prevented the Thunder from breaking through.
Liimatainen struck out nine and walked four while allowing just the four hits in a solid performance in the circle.
“I thought she threw fairly well. Got some big outs for us,” said Mullins. “But you don’t win softball games without scoring runs. Even Einstein knew that. We didn’t get that one big hit. If we did, would’ve been a different story.”
NOTES: Pajer said that playing 10-time state champion Turners may have been a daunting task, but his team didn’t shy away from the challenge. “I think that bothered us as coaches but it didn’t bother the kids on this team,” he said. “They were zoned in. They know who they’re playing, don’t get me wrong. But that doesn’t seem to bother them. They seem to play and stay in the moment.” … Mullins said he was hoping Turners could defend its state title after beating Amesbury in the final a year ago. “I wanted to play on the last day of the season but we’re not going to do it,” he said. … The state finals will be spread across two days. Two of the five divisions will meet on Friday at UMass (3 & 5:30 p.m.) while other three tangle on Saturday (11 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 4 p.m.).