H.S. Roundup: Greenfield baseball’s pitching stars in win over Turners Falls

MONTAGUE — The pitching staff of the Greenfield baseball team combined for 17 strikeouts in a 2-1 win over Turners Falls in Suburban East play on Monday afternoon.

Bodie Burke got the win, pitching four innings with nine strikeouts. Burke gave up only one hit in his outing. The sophomore made a concerted effort to pound the strike zone with fastballs.

“I just try to be as efficient as possible,” Burke said. “I was throwing fastballs for strikes and I knew it was working so I continued that.”

Arthur Fitzpatrick stepped on the mound with a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning. The senior hurler continued what Burke started with resounding success. Burke made his way to the outfield.

“It was great,” Burke said. “I was out in left field and didn’t really have to do anything. Arthur (Fitzpatrick) was just mowing them down. It was a nice performance by the both of us. That’s what we are going to keep doing.”

Fitzpatrick gave up two hits including a home run but struck out eight hitters with a walk. The teams dealt with breezy, brisk conditions during the game.

“It’s a cold day so it’s hard,” Fitzpatrick said. “You feel like you are going to tense up. But we just kept throwing fastballs…just kept pounding the zone. On a day like this, it’s not just the pitcher tensing up, it’s the hitter too.”

The Green Wave (1-1, 1-0 Suburban East) could not have asked for more from their pitching.

“They worked in front pretty much the whole time,” Greenfield coach Tom Suchanek said. “I thought they pitched well.”

Kainen Stevens had a nice outing of his own for the Thunder (0-1, 0-1 Suburban East). Stevens gave up only four hits with four strikeouts.

“I think he did well for the first outing of the year,” Turners Falls coach Scott Minckler said. “Held Greenfield to two runs. One was unearned. For the most part he worked pretty quick. He was pretty efficient as the game went on. Early on they got to him a little bit but once he settled in he threw a pretty good game.”

Stevens also provided the offense for the Thunder with a solo homer to left center in the bottom of the sixth inning. He went 2-for-3, adding a single with the RBI. The Thunder had three hits in the game.

“We’ve had 17 days of practice,” Minckler said. “We’ve been doing a lot of hitting…but we are gonna come out and that’s what we are going to work on.”

Conner Bergeron scored in the first inning for the Green Wave. The freshman reached on an error and eventually found his way home on a wild pitch.

Greenfield scored again in the top of the second when Urijah Jenness led off with a walk. A sacrifice bunt by Nico Siano moved Jenness to second base. Malik Moore provided the RBI single, scoring Jenness to make the score 2-0. Siano added a double in the top of the seventh.

Fitzpatrick struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh. The Green Wave will unveil their new scoreboard at their home opener against Palmer on Wednesday at Vets Field. There will be a short ceremony at 3:50 before first pitch at 4 p.m.

Franklin Tech 3, Frontier 2 — Levi Clark pitched a gem for the Eagles (1-0, 1-0) in a walk off win over the Redhawks (2-2, 0-1) at home in Suburban East play. Clark pitched into the sixth inning, giving up five hits and two earned runs with three strikeouts.

Hunter Donahue went 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. Donahue scored the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly by George Gutierrez Jr.

“I can’t begin to say how well Levi Clark pitched,” Franklin Tech coach Dan Prasol said. “And How well Hunter (Donahue) played. Those two really paced us the whole entire game”

Carter Miller went 2-for-3 for the Redhawks. Shawn Baumann and Alex D’Urso had RBI for Frontier.

Narragansett 7, Athol 6 — The Warriors edged the Bears in an independent match up in Baldwinville. Narragansett drew a walk in the bottom of the seventh to score the game-winning run.

Athol (0-2) had 11 hits and 11 stolen bases in the game.  Eli Wein, Dominik St. Andre, Enyert Arias Cepeda and Cooper Smith each drove in one run for Athol.

Hopkins Academy 12, Pioneer 0 (five innings)— Tucker Russell threw five perfect innings to spoil the Panthers’ (0-2, 0-1 Suburban East) home opener in Northfield. Russell had seven strikeouts for the Golden Hawks in the Suburban East match up.

Softball

McCann Tech 16, Mohawk 7 — The Warriors (0-3, 0-2) lost at home to the Hornets in a Valley Wheel contest. Addie Loomis went 3-for-4 with a double for Mohawk. Maddie Finn had a nice day at the plate as well, going 2-for-4 with a double. Grace Stevens pitched seven innings with three strikeouts.

Palmer 22, Mahar 10 (five innings) — The Senators (1-2) couldn’t hang with the Panthers on the road in an independent contest.

Girls tennis

Greenfield 3, Mohawk 2 — The Green Wave needed a win from No. 2 doubles to pull off the victory over the Warriors on Davis St. in their season opener. Clara Kelsey and Sam Cocking came through, defeating Rowan Richardson and Drew Cusimano, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), to secure the Tri County North win for Greenfield.

Amy Mihailicenco won at No. 1 singles for Greenfield, downing Hazel Foucault, 6-2, 4-6 and 6-1. Karinna Kostov added another win at No. 2 singles for Greenfield. Annabelle Koshinsky took No. 3 singles for the Warriors. Ivan Hillenbrand and Anneke Whitsett took No. 1 doubles for Mohawk.

Frontier 5, SICS 0 — The Redhawks swept the Bulldogs in independent play in South Deerfield. Frontier lost only two games in 10 total sets. Thanushi Ratnatunge, Kayla Fagan and Ella Sibley all win in singles competition. Brooke Charest and Hailey Fernandez won in No. 1 doubles, while Esther Ehle and Jimin Ahn won in No. 2 doubles for Frontier (3-1)

Turners Falls 3, Chicopee 2 — In their season opener, the Thunder downed the Pacers at home in a Tri County North match up. Olivia Wolbach won at No. 1 singles, 6-0, 6-0. At No. 3 singles, Jesi Berry took down her opponent, 6-0, 6-1. In the decisive win for Turners Falls (1-0, 1-0 Tri County North), Kiera Feeley and Kenzie Flaxington won at No. 1 doubles, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (9-7).

Boys tennis

Frontier 4, SICS 1 — Down some players, the Redhawks used some come from behind wins to register their first victory of the season in Springfield. Xavier Fripp dropped his first set but came back to win at No. 1 singles. Noah Nichols and Liam Wells coasted to wins at No. 2 and No. 3 singles, respectively. Henry Pleasant and Anthony Leonardi won for the first time on the varsity squad with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 comeback win at No. 1 doubles.

Volleyball

Longmeadow 3, Frontier 0 — The Lancers swept the Redhawks in Longmeadow, 25-12, 25-15 and 25-9. Chanju Banda had seven kills for Frontier (0-5, 0-4 East). Ethan Rivera added 11 assists. Nate Rivera led the defense with seven digs.

Ware 3, Athol 1 — Caunor Mason had 10 assists, but the Bears lost their first match of the season against the Indians at Mallet Gymnasium in East League play. Aiden Desreuisseau led the offense with 14 kills for Athol (3-1, 1-1 East). Set scores were 25-19, 25-16, 25-27 and 25-14.

Track & Field

Frontier 124, Turners Falls 21 — Louise Flagollet, Liv Christensen and Charley Harrington won multiple individual events for the Redhawks in the home victory over the Thunder in Intercounty play. Flagollet finished first in the 400-meter (1:02.6) and the 200-meter (28.5). Harrington grabbed a couple wins in the long jump (15-2.5) and the triple jump (30-6.5). Christensen swept the mile (6:31.2) and the 2-mile (14:01) for Frontier.

Tristan Bliss won the shot put (26-2.75) and the discus (85-1) for the Thunder. Jakhia Williams added a win in the 100-meter for Turners Falls.