The Hopkins Academy baseball team is in the semifinals for a third straight season.
Jon Morrison beat the throw to the plate in the seventh inning as the No. 2-seeded Golden Hawks beat No. 7 Ware, 2-1, in the Western Massachusetts Division 4 Tournament quarterfinals, in Hadley on Monday.
Hopkins (12-7) will play No. 3 Lenox (15-6) at 4 p.m. Thursday at UMass’ Earl Lorden Field.
The Golden Hawks, who won the sectional title in 2014, lost to Turners Falls in the semifinals last season.
Tied 1-1, Morrison led off the seventh with a walk. Pat Michalak then drew two wild pitches to push Morrison to third. Michalak grounded to short and Morrison slid around the tag at the plate to win the game.
Morrison drove in the first run in the fourth. Brett Morrison walk, moved to second on a groundout and scored on his brother’s single.
Jon Morrison was strong on the mound. The sophomore struck out seven, walked three and scattered three hits in the complete game.
“His control was really good today,” Golden Hawks coach Dan Vreeland said. “He put the ball where ever he wanted to. They didn’t hit him hard. He walked the same kid twice and apart from that he walked one other kid. It was good to have him pitch as good as he possible can.”
Morrison was only in trouble twice. In the second, he allowed a leadoff single and a walk, but catcher John Earle threw one runner out attempting to steal to minimize the threat.
In the seventh, Morrison walked the leadoff hitter and an error put runners at the corners with no outs.
A single drove in one run, while center fielder Zach Yahman threw the second runner out at the plate. Moments later, Earle caught the other runner attempting to steal second.
Earle threw three runners out attempting to steal in the game.
Morrison allowed a single in the fourth and a walk in the sixth.
Caleb Wiatsch singled for Hopkins’ second hit.
West Springfield 2, Northampton 0 — The tying runs were on base in the top of the seventh inning and the Blue Devils just needed one more hit.
It didn’t come through in a Division 1 quarterfinal loss on the road.
“They were one hit better than we were,” Northampton coach Mark Baldwin said.
The Blue Devils (13-8) finished with two hits, singles by Will O’Connor and Tim Horton.
Hector DeJesus and Cody Cleveland also walked to give Northampton options on the base paths.
The Blue Devils had runners in scoring position in the second, fifth and sixth innings.
“We just couldn’t get a two-out it,” Baldwin said.
Northampton never had a leadoff hitter reach base.
Hunter Salem’s gem kept the Blue Devils in striking distance.
The Babson commit struck out five in six innings of work, allowing five hits and walking none.
West Springfield scored its two runs in the fifth inning. The lead runner took first after being hit on the foot by an 0-2 curveball. He eventually scored on a double.
The Terriers scored their second run on a wild pitch.
Monday’s loss closed the high school careers of Cleveland, Pat Grygorcewicz, Tim Horton, Salem, DeJesus, Tylor McCallumore, Andrew Serio and Brandon Zaikowski.
“This was one of the best group of seniors we’ve ever had,” Baldwin said. “It was a very satisfying year after a tough year last year.”
Monson 12, Pope Francis 1 — The top-seeded Mustangs showed why they haven’t lost all season, overpowering the Cardinals in a Division 3 quarterfinal.
Monson scored three runs in the third inning and four in the fourth to jump out early.
“We shot ourselves in the foot,” Pope Francis coach Fran LaFond said. “If we make the plays we’re supposed to make that we practice and practice on this game would have been a lot closer.”
Pope Francis (13-8) scored its run in the fifth inning.
Maddie Sutton singled, then two strikeouts followed. The Cardinals picked up another base runner on an error, then a walk loaded the bases.
Sydney Brosseau walked to drive in the run.
“We hit the ball against (Carly) Zielinski, which we didn’t do the first time (in a 14-1 loss in April),” LaFond said. “We played really good considering where we were last year. We did our due diligence. We just didn’t execute.”
Monson had 14 hits, while Zielinski struck out 13.
“They’re the No. 1 seed for a reason,” LaFond said.
It was the final game for Pope Francis seniors Brosseau, Sutton and Krista Jasak.
Longmeadow 5, Northampton 0 — The fourth-seeded Blue Devils were swept out of the Western Massachusetts Division 1 Tournament with the road loss in the semifinal round, Monday.
The top-seeded Lancers (17-1) will face the winner between No. 7 East Longmeadow and No. 6 Minnechaug in the finals Thursday.
Hamp finished its season 11-7.
The Blue Devils won less than four games in every match with the exception of second doubles, where Charlie Denhart and Cole Rhodes-Dow fell 7-5, 6-1 to Ashvin Babu and Ben Griffiths.
Leon Moore dropped a second singles match to Sam Freedman, 6-0, 6-4. Nat Jones and Jack Denhart were beaten by David Bogdanis and Ben Schneider 6-3, 6-0 at first doubles.
Northampton Julian Laird lost 6-0, 6-2 to Jeff Mueller at second singles, while Alex Zimbalist lost 6-0, 6-0 to Will Chen.
It was the final match for seniors Zimbalist, Laird, Moore, Jones and Rhodes-Dow.