WESTFIELD — Down three in the bottom of the seventh inning of the Class D Western Mass. Final, it looked like Granby might be able to pull off the improbable.
The Rams had the bases loaded with no outs on the board, in prime position to pull off a difficult comeback to secure their first ever Western Mass. baseball title in their first trip back to the championship tilt since 2017. But it wasn’t meant to be; Granby struggled to piece together enough hits to bring their runners home, scoring once but failing to catch No. 2 Pioneer Valley Regional in a 4-2 loss.
“Their guys were good. I just think that we blew too many chances at the plate, hit the ball too much in the air,” Granby head coach James Woods said. “They gave us opportunities. They did kick the ball around a little bit, some walks here and there, we just didn’t take advantage of it. Usually we’re a better hitting team than we are today.”
After plating three runs in the top of the sixth to put Pioneer up 4-1, the Rams tried to respond right away, but couldn’t get anything going in the sixth. Pioneer relief pitcher Ethan Quinn struck out two batters and the Panther outfield caught a fly ball to end the inning, putting all the pressure on the Rams to make something happen in the bottom of the seventh.
“After that sixth inning when we were down three, to be honest, everybody thought it was over. That’s what the mood was for a little,” Kennedy said on the team’s initial mood going into the final inning. “But we didn’t act like that. We got a rally, everybody was up, everybody was excited.”
It looked like Granby might be able to pull it off – Kennedy singled, and Quinn hit the next two batters to put three runners on with no outs. But Quinn settled back down, striking out two, and only Kennedy was able to score on an error that also allowed Granby’s Dan Gauvin on base. The Panthers caught an infield pop up to secure the third and final out.
“We’re a good fielding team, generally we’re a good team all around. We just didn’t get that big hit,” Woods said.
It was a bit of a lopsided game on the stat sheet for the visiting team; Pioneer committed five errors but also reached double digits in hits, recording 10 to Granby’s four. Five of those 10 hits came in the sixth inning, when the Panthers scored three unanswered runs to take a commanding 4-1 lead. That stretch of scoring forced starting pitcher Ryan Gaughan off the mound for the Rams, replaced by Connor Asselin, who closed out the game. Gaughan finished the game with two strikeouts, while Asselin recorded one in 1⅔ innings of work.
The Panthers came out hot, looking like they were going to go on a run in their very first inning at bat. The starting three batters, Braeden Tsipenyuk, Sean Allen and Jared Hubbard all singled to load the bases up, but a quick-thinking double play and strikeout from Gaughan got the Rams out of the inning down just 1-0.
It took the Rams a while to get back into the game, but senior Collin Kennedy made sure that the Granby faithful didn’t have to stay quiet for too long. Ray Toth walked in the bottom of the third and stole second on Kennedy’s at-bat. Shortly after, Kennedy launched a blast to center field that was bobbled by Pioneer, allowing him to reach second and Toth to race safely home. Kennedy turned to his dugout on second and let out a triumphant yell, slamming his hands on top of his helmet in an effort to pump up his teammates. It was a moment Kennedy and his teammates had been waiting for a long time – to play in a Western Mass. final.
“Everybody’s nervous. We got to the field probably at 12:30, so for those 4-5 hours I was awake in the morning, it was all I was thinking about. I couldn’t even really go to sleep last night,” Kennedy said. “They played a heck of a game. Just beat us.”
Those nerves may have played a factor, but whatever the reason was, Granby just struggled to bring their runners home. They loaded the bases twice, once in the fourth and again in the seventh, and left two runners stranded in three more innings.
“We left a lot (on base.) We had the bases loaded, I know at least a couple times,” Kennedy said. “You can’t win like that.”
Despite the loss, the Rams season will continue. The Rams are a No. 10 seed in the MIAA Division 5 state tournament, earning a bye in the first round. They will host either No. 23 Blue Hills or No. 42 Avon.
“I just told them to keep their heads up, we still have the state tournament to go for,” Woods said. “The season isn’t over.”