SOUTH DEERFIELD — With one swing of the bat, Macy Ring energized the Frontier Regional School softball team in a 6-2 Franklin County League win over Athol High School on Friday.
Ring’s homer to centerfield was one of 16 hits for the Red Hawks, which qualified for the postseason with the win.
“I’ve been in a rut recently,” Ring said. “I wanted to help my team out. We needed something to bring us up. I am glad I was able to make something happen.”
The Red Raiders scored two runs to take the lead in the first inning with four consecutive hits capped by a bases-loaded single by Haley Wrigley.
Athol took advantage of some early mistakes by Frontier starter Olivia Deane.
“I threw a couple pitches too high,” Deane said. “Athol is a bunch of great hitters. They took advantage of that. A lot of solid line drives.”
Deane limited Athol’s bats for the remainder of the game, allowing five hits with four strikeouts in the next six innings.
“After that I tried to manipulate each batters weaknesses,” Deane said. “Not necessarily aiming for a strikeout but just trying to get a pop up or a grounder because we have some of the best defense in the league.”
Deane forced 11 ground outs during the game.
Frontier (10-3, 6-2 FCL) scored three more runs after Ring’s homer to take a 4-2 lead.
“It gave us a little insurance,” Ring said. “We weren’t worried at the plate we were just swinging.”
Ring’s homer was her first at Frontier.
“We always get really hyped when someone hits a home run,” Deane said. “I definitely think it sparked our hitting.”
After a strong first inning, the Red Raiders (5-5, 2-5) could not get anything going offensively.
“We had four hits in the first inning and pretty much nothing after that,” Athol coach Sharon Chauvette said. “They are all flat and just kind of declined the whole game. The way we have been working on hitting in practice we should have been crushing the ball. It’s disappointing.”
The Red Hawks clinched but now face a difficult stretch in their schedule which includes trips to Greenfield, Turners Falls and Mount Greylock.
“I knew were going to get there with this team,” Frontier coach Gary Deane said. “We wanted it today but 10 wins wasn’t really one of our goals. We are third in our league. We play Turners on Monday.”
Ariana Walker singled home a run for Frontier before an RBI double from Lily Spencer made it a 4-2 game in the bottom of the second inning.
Walker and Vecellio had two more RBI hits in the third inning.
Athol starter Lindsey LeBlanc finished with four strikeouts.
Haley Bigwood had two hits for Athol, just missing a homer in centerfield in her first at-bat.
Jenna St. Cyr and Abby Roberts each had two hits for the Red Raiders.
For Frontier, Deane and Walker had three hits apiece. Also contributing multi-hit games for the Red Hawks were Spencer, Vecellio (double) and Charlotte Doulette.
The Red Raiders had two double plays in the game. One when Kendall Deleo caught a liner at second off the bat of Maddie Fifield and doubled up Doulette, who had started for second base. Another came in the sixth when Bigwood fielded a grounder at short and rocketed the ball to Wrigley at first base with Deane at second. Wrigley alertly saw Deane taking off for third base and threw to St. Cyr, who applied the tag for the Red Raiders.
Frontier 6, Athol 2
Athol ……………….. 200 000 0 — 2 9 3
Frontier ………….. 042 000 x — 6 16 2
Hits: (A) LeBlanc, Bigwood 2, Lehtomaki , St. Cyr 2, Roberts 2, Wrigley; (F) Santos, Fifield, Ring, Deane 3, Spencer 2, Vecellio 2, Walker 3, Denkiewicz
2B: (F) Spencer, Vecellio
HR: (F) Ring
RBI: (A) Wrigley 2. (F) Ring, Vecellio, Walker 2, Spencer 2
WP: Deane (7ip, 4k, 1bb).
LP: LeBlanc (6 ip, 4k, 0 bb).
