As we moved through another year where the pandemic continued to wreak havoc on all aspects of life in Hampshire County, there were, at least, a few moments in the sports world where fans had reason to cheer in 2021.
Perhaps the most memorable came in April, when the UMass men’s hockey team won the program’s first-ever national championship thanks to a 5-0 thumping of St. Cloud State in the title game. Sports reporter Kyle Grabowski made the trip to Pittsburgh for the Frozen Four run, navigating the chaos that comes with covering sports during a pandemic. After UMass won the Hockey East title in an empty Mullins Center, Kyle was able to jump aboard the train for the postseason run with stops in Bridgeport, Connecticut and Pittsburgh.
At the high school level, it was quite a spring for the Hopkins Academy baseball team. For the first time since 1985, the Golden Hawks won a state championship thanks to a 3-0 win over Abington.
Jack Feltovic closed out his storied career in Hadley with a 10-strikeout, shutout performance in the state final on the mound. The senior allowed just two hits in the title game.
In the fall, the Easthampton boys soccer team won the program’s first state title after beating Frontier 2-0 in an all-Western Mass. championship game. The fall season marked the beginning of the MIAA’s new statewide tournament format, and the Eagles marched through the Division 4 bracket in dominant fashion to claim the hardware.
There were other impressive team runs to highlight, including Hampshire Regional softball’s Western Mass. title, and the breakthrough Western Mass. championship raised by the Northampton baseball team in Division 1. Can’t forget sectional titles by both the Amherst and Belchertown boys tennis teams, as well as Frontier Regional volleyball, Smith Academy boys soccer and both Belchertown soccer programs. Northampton’s Riley Cole won the PVIAC cross country championship, South Hadley’s Jonas Clarke dazzled on the track at the state level. There were also individual track and field titles for South Hadley’s Emma Sanford, Northampton’s Quincy Biddle and the Blue Devils’ 4×800 relay team.
Oh yes, the Northampton golf team won its first WMass Div. 1 title since 1956!
UMass football has a new head coach, though it’s a familiar face in Don Brown, while the Minutewomen basketball team is teetering on the top 25 and could be an NCAA Tournament team come March.
But the pandemic, along with games being postponed or canceled again in recent weeks, continues to linger over the sporting world. As mentioned in this space a year ago, that doesn’t appear to be changing any time soon. While 2021 featured actual games and championships, there was still no escaping the impact of COVID-19. How the sporting community continues to evolve in order to keep the games going will be much of the story in 2022.