EASTHAMPTON — Lisa Sikop had to get Samantha Sypek to home.
No one had touched the plate into the sixth inning of Thursday’s Western Massachusetts Division 2 softball quarterfinal between No. 5 Sabis and No. 4 Easthampton at Nonotuck Park.
Sypek doubled then stood on third after stealing the base thanks to a fake bunt by Sikop.
The Eagles struggled to chain hits together against Sabis starter Jayden Dow. Sikop had their best chance with one out.
“I was like ‘I have to hit this ball, it has to go out there and they can’t catch it because we keep hitting it right to them,’” Sikop said.
She slapped a single up the middle, easily scoring Sypek for the game’s first run.
“When she got home I was like ‘this game is done,’” Sikop said.
That run was all Easthampton needed but not all it got in a 5-0 win, its third victory over the Bulldogs this season.
The Eagles (16-3) will face top-seeded and three-time defending champion Hampshire Regional (15-5) in the semifinals at 3 p.m. Tuesday at UMass’ Sortino Field.
The Eagles scored all five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on four hits.
Olivia Downer followed Sikop with a fielder’s choice, then Michelle McDermott reached on an error.
Sierra Raskevitz crushed a double for Easthampton’s hardest hit ball of the day to make it 2-0. Rachel Robinson followed with an RBI single, setting up Sophia DeBlase with two on.
She lifted a triple to left field, scoring two for a 5-0 lead.
“I just wanted to keep the hitting streak alive,” DeBlase said.
It took Easthampton until its third time through the lineup to adjust to Dow’s pitching. Rather than catch up to heat, the Eagles needed to downshift against slower pitches.
“We usually practice faster than her. For timing, it took us a few innings to time her,” Easthampton coach Homar Gomez said. “We were hitting the ball well, they play really great defense.”
Center fielder Bianca Marrero robbed Downer of multiple bases with a ranging, stabbing catch nearly in left field to put two outs on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Easthampton only managed one hit and two walks before the sixth inning.
“I felt (Dow) did everything we could ask her to do because defensively we made some great plays,” Sabis coach Tom Campagna said.
Robinson matched it inning for inning. She struck out 12 and allowed just four hits and no walks.
Sabis threatened in the sixth inning. Kayla Brown led off with a single and stole second. Robinson struck out Dow and Nasia Torres reached first on a fielder’s choice. Robinson then ended the inning with a strikeout.
It was the only time all game Sabis sent more than four batters to the plate. Robinson worked three 1-2-3 innings and allowed only one baserunner in the other three.
“We play good small ball – bunt and run. We didn’t get a lot of opportunities to move runners along because (Robinson) shut us down,” Campagna said. “We didn’t get a lot of runners on base.”
Easthampton returns to UMass and the semifinals for the second consecutive season. It’s a vastly different group than last year after the Eagles graduated seven seniors. This group has never faced Hampshire, the two-time defending state champions, before.
“I feel like we’re up to the challenge,” DeBlase said. “It’s going to be new, but we’re ready.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.