Sports
High schools: Ian McDonald, Belchertown baseball edge Amherst 3-1
Tied up 1-1 with Amherst heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Belchertown baseball team grabbed two key runs to jump ahead by two – a lead they would keep the rest of the way.Behind two hits – their only two of the afternoon – and an RBI...
UMass lacrosse: Top-seeded Minutewomen hold off St. Joseph’s, punch A-10 title-game ticket
By CONNOR PIGNATELLO
The top-seeded UMass women’s lacrosse team advanced to the Atlantic 10 Tournament championship game with a 10-9 win over No. 4 St. Joseph’s on Friday afternoon in Pittsburgh, Pa.The Minutewomen will look to re-claim the Atlantic 10 Tournament title on...
Ultimate: Amherst Invitational returns to UMass this weekend
By GARRETT COTE
AMHERST — After two years away from home, the Amherst Invitational is finally back in the city of Amherst this weekend.Previously held at The MacDuffie School in Granby, one of the largest and most prestigious ultimate tournaments will be played on...
Softball: Hopkins Academy making strides despite 8-3 loss to Franklin Tech (PHOTOS)
By CONNOR PIGNATELLO
HADLEY – Hopkins Academy’s bats started out strong, but couldn’t keep up over the latter innings as Franklin Tech scored an 8-3 victory in a Franklin County League East matchup Friday afternoon.The Golden Hawks (5-5) held even with the Eagles (10-1)...
2024 Gazette Wrestler of the Year: Adin Clifford, Hampshire
By GARRETT COTE
There perhaps wasn’t a better stretch of dominance at the Western Mass. Division 3 Wrestling Championships at Mount Greylock Regional High School in early February than the performance of Hampshire’s Adin Clifford.To start his day, Clifford pinned...
On The Run with John Stifler: A closer look at the Boston Marathon’s wheelchair division
The average sports-page reader knows that the fastest runners in a major marathon are likely to be Kenyan or Ethiopian. But another part of the Boston and London marathons is dominated by northern Europeans, plus Americans, Japanese, Australians and...
High schools: Northampton softball edged by Pioneer in offensive slugfest (PHOTOS)
A marathon of a matchup between the Northampton and Pioneer softball teams was eventually claimed by the Panthers – 63 runs later.Pioneer defeated the Blue Devils 34-29 on Thursday afternoon in Northfield in what was an offensive explosion.Haly...
UMass lacrosse: St. Joseph’s knocks out Minutemen 11-9 in A-10 semifinals
By CONNOR PIGNATELLO
AMHERST – The UMass men’s lacrosse team never fell behind by more than three goals, but never took the lead and fell 11-9 to No. 1 St. Joseph’s in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament at Garber Field on Thursday.In their regular season meeting...
New Hopkins Academy athletic fields nearing completion
By CONNOR PIGNATELLO
HADLEY – The red shed off to the side of the Hopkins Academy softball field has seen some use. For decades, Golden Hawks baseball and softball pitchers used it as a backstop in pregame warmups. But now, with construction on a new athletic field...
Baseball: Offense continues to roll in Hampshire’s 18-7 win over Hopkins (PHOTOS)
By GARRETT COTE
WESTHAMPTON — During Wednesday’s batting practice session, Hampshire Regional sluggers Drew and Mikey Thompson didn’t bring their best swings, according to Raiders head coach Mark Baldwin.After their time was up, they insisted Baldwin let them get...
High schools: Big seventh inning lifts Smith Vocational baseball past Pathfinder
Knotted up 1-1 heading into the top of the seventh, the Smith Vocational baseball team erupted for five runs to break the game open and pull out a 6-1 win over Pathfinder on Wednesday afternoon.Patrick Millin struck out nine over all seven innings in...
Boys tennis: Sixth grader Lee Ferguson key cog in PVCICS’ win over Belchertown, undefeated start to the season (PHOTOS)
By CONNOR PIGNATELLO
BELCHERTOWN — Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School boys tennis coach Mike Locher has a Star Wars character assigned to each player on his team.After every match, he sends his players a game recap, along with a YouTube video of their Star...
South Hadley boys volleyball team making strides in first season as program
By GARRETT COTE
SOUTH HADLEY — Fighting toe-to-toe with Veritas Prep in the fourth set of its first varsity boys volleyball game in program history, South Hadley was on the brink of history.The Tigers did just enough to pull away and claim a 25-23 win in the frame,...
2024 Gazette Boys Swimmer of the Year: Luke Giguere, Belchertown
By GARRETT COTE
BELCHERTOWN — He didn’t think it would ever happen outside of a regular season dual meet, but Luke Giguere had just done something swimmers only dream of.The Belchertown senior put forth a heroic 46.62-second anchor leg in the 400-yard freestyle relay...
High schools: South Hadley baseball rallies past Monson for 8th straight victory
Trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning, the South Hadley baseball team rallied to keep its winning streak alive on Tuesday.The Tigers scored three runs in the frame, and held on for a 6-5 victory – the club’s eight win in a row to put them at...
Girls lacrosse: Amherst stays undefeated, runs away from Granby for second win in as many days (PHOTOS)
By GARRETT COTE
GRANBY — A pair of Mylin Laliberte goals dug the Granby girls lacrosse team out of an early 2-0 hole in the first quarter and tied things up with Amherst about midway through the frame.Just one day removed from a tough 18-5 defeat at the hands of the...
Softball: Ella Schaeffer’s walk-off hit lifts South Hadley to 1-0 extra-inning win over Easthampton
By CONNOR PIGNATELLO
SOUTH HADLEY – Ella Schaeffer had already tossed nine innings of shutout ball, but when the South Hadley pitcher stepped to the plate against Easthampton in the bottom of the ninth inning with a runner on second base and one out, she still had some...
2024 Gazette Girls Swimmer of the Year: Ursula von Goeler, Northampton
By CONNOR PIGNATELLO
Ursula von Goeler likes making calculations.Her favorite subject is physics. She’s decided to major in it next year at Bowdoin College.But that love of matter and its behavior through space and time isn’t just limited to the classroom. It stretches...
MIAA power rankings: See where all the local teams are ranked
By GARRETT COTE
The MIAA released its second edition of the spring sports power rankings across the state on Tuesday. Out of all sports, Hampshire Regional softball holds the highest ranking in Hampshire County, checking in at No. 5 in Division 4. Hopkins leads all...
High schools: Smith Academy softball rallies past Holyoke
The Smith Academy softball team trailed 8-2 into the fifth inning before scoring 10 runs to snatch control and win 18-8 over Holyoke on Monday afternoon.All told, Smith posted 16 unanswered to capture the victory.Sophia Jagodzinski had two hits, two...
