NORTHAMPTON — The Smith Vocational softball team beat Westfield Tech 16-4 on Tuesday at home to clinch the first Tri-County League title for any girls sport in school history.
The game ended in six innings after Stephanie Start walked with the bases loaded to give the Vikings a 12-run lead.
Vikings coach Nelson Lacey, while excited about winning the title, has not tried to attract attention to the accomplishment.
“To be completely honest we’ve been really quiet about it,” he said. “Purposefully trying to not make it seem like a big thing because I didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on this team.”
Lacey went on to praise his teams development throughout the season, and the character of the players.
“It was one of those years where we knew we had a chance coming into it, you always do. Things came into place for us in the second half of the season,” he said. “This is historic for the school, and it couldn’t have happened to a better group of kids, they deserve this.”
After going down three runs in the top of the first, Lacey made a pitching change. He put in put Samantha Von Haugg, who started the game at first base, in for Start.
Von Haugg allowed just one run the rest of the game and went 4-for-5 at the plate. She struck out 11 and had five RBIs.
The Vikings (13-6, 12-1 Tri-County) put up three runs in the first to tie the game then scored four in the third, two in the fourth and six in the fifth to build their lead.
Von Haugg is one of seven seniors on the team along with senior captains Maddi Atkinson and Allie Kowalczyk.
“As a team we’re all ecstatic, it’s a major accomplishment seeing as though the seven seniors have pretty much been the foundation for this team,” Kowalczyk said. “We really picked it up out of the ground.”
Atkinson had three singles in the game, Kowalczyk had a single and a double.
Lacey said he’s going to miss his senior class.
“This is definitely a group of kids I’m never going to forget. You’re talking about two-thirds of my starting lineup that I’m going to be losing,” Lacey said. “You’re talking about losing such a huge piece of the team, it’s going to be really difficult to replace that physically, on the field but also emotionally.”