AMHERST — The pop out by Gabby Downer that ended the Easthampton softball season won’t stick out in the Eagles’ memories.
Tuesday’s 5-4 loss to Palmer in the Western Massachusetts Division 2 Tournament semifinals at UMass’ Sortino Field represents the punctuation ending an undulating sentence, more exclamation point than period.
“Even just to make it here, because nobody thought that we would, it was awesome that we did,” Easthampton senior pitcher Stephanie Therrien said. “Even though we lost, it was awesome to play here.”
The sixth-seeded Eagles didn’t take long to show they belonged with No. 2 Palmer.
Trailing 2-0, Sierra Raskevitz led off the third inning for Easthampton and reached third when Palmer’s right fielder struggled to corral the ball.
Samantha Sypek singled to bring Raskevitz around and cut Palmer’s lead in half.
The Eagles’ offense kicked into gear in the top of the fourth after the Panthers extended their lead back to two runs.
Olivia Downer led off with a single, and Gabby Downer, her older sister, followed with a single of her own.
Slattery continued the hitting streak with her own single, scoring Olivia Downer.
Michelle McDermott hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 3-3 and record the Eagles’ first out of the inning.
Nicole Lewandowski reached on an error, allowing Gabby Downer to score and giving Easthampton (13-7) its only lead at 4-3.
“We just all started to get really excited. We were all yelling, cheering. Everyone got into it,” Gabby Downer said. “It was amazing. The game was so close. I’m upset that we lost, but I’m glad we got to play in a game like that.”
Palmer tied the game right back in the bottom of the inning when Jasmine McCord singled Sierra Cavanaugh home after a walk.
Easthampton put a runner on second base with two outs in the sixth after Slattery and Sypek both walked, but Therrien struck out.
Therrien allowed eight hits and three walks on the mound, striking out one.
The Panthers won the game with an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth.
Kelsey Kokosa reached on an error then stole second base. McCord put the ball in play and Kokosa reached home.
“We’ve been there before. We were up and down all year,” Palmer coach Joe Kubala said. “We’ve been in that situation lots and lots of times. It’s about hits and getting base runners on. They got the base runner on.”
Easthampton sent the top of its order to the plate in the seventh inning to try and extend its season.
“There were so many games this season where we won on walk-offs or would just come back with two outs,” Therrien said. “I knew we definitely had a good chance.”
Kadyrose Newman led off the inning and blasted the ball up the middle.
Palmer pitcher Savannah Cavanaugh snapped her left wrist to snare the ball in midair.
Olivia Downer followed with a groundout, and Gabby Downer popped out.
“They played with their heart. That’s what I see,” Easthampton coach Homar Gomez said. “We weren’t intimidated. (Palmer) hit better, and that’s why we didn’t win.”
It was the final game for Easthampton seniors Gabby Downer, Lewandowski, Slattery, Newman, Anne Ryan, Therrien and Brenna Mottor.
The Eagles won the Bi-County West title in Gomez’s first season after returning just three starters from a team that finished 12-8 last season and reached the quarterfinals.
“We all came to the season thinking it wasn’t going to be that great because we basically had a completely new team,” Gabby Downer said. “We practiced hard, and everyone put 100 percent in every practice. It was amazing to watch it happen.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.