WILLIAMSTOWN — During the regular season, the Mount Greylock softball team had Frontier’s number. The Mounties earned a 13-8 win over the Redhawks in April, and on May 13, Greylock cruised to a 17-5 triumph.
That was a different Frontier team, however. The Redhawks caught their stride and have been playing their best softball down the stretch, upsetting No. 12 Tahanto earlier this week to earn a third matchup with the Mounties in the MIAA Div. 5 Round of 16 on Wednesday.
It was a slow start for both teams at the plate, with neither club producing a run through three innings. No. 21 Frontier had been making good contact and that paid off in the fourth, when the Redhawks exploded for eight runs. Frontier added a run in the fifth and put six more on the board in the sixth to run away with a 15-0 upset victory over No. 5 Greylock in six innings.
The Redhawks (7-15) now find themselves in the Div. 5 quarterfinals, where they’ll face off with No. 4 Franklin Tech on Friday at 4 p.m. in Turners Falls.
“I told the girls about 2019 when we went to the Western Mass. semis,” Frontier coach Gary Deane said. “I don’t compare teams but I told them about how great it is. You just have to win enough to get there and once you’re there, everyone’s on the same playing field. They’ve been working hard and wins are huge for our confidence. That’s a great team we played here. Their pitcher is great, their offense is great. It all just worked out. Our players and coaches did a great job.”
The season flipped for the Redhawks after a win over Turners Falls in the last game of the regular season, a team that has given them problems for years.
“The season was getting long,” Deane said. “It was our senior night but none of our seniors or I were there because they had COVID. There was no reason to win that game. It’s Turners – they’ve mercy-ruled us forever but we mercy-ruled them. That turned it around so much. We’re not making mistakes, we’re keeping offenses down.”
While the bats were going for Frontier on Wednesday, Ashley Taylor kept the Mounties offense from doing damage. Taylor tossed all six innings, striking out three and surrendering just five hits in the shutout.
“We came in knowing we were the underdogs and we picked up our energy,” Taylor said. “We knew our energy could outrun them. Once we started hitting, our energy went way up. We talk a lot about confidence but knowing everyone can hit the ball is huge.”
Delaney Fifield got things going for the Redhawks in the fourth, reaching on a walk. Skyler Steele then blasted a single and took second on the throw trying to get Fifield at third. Hailey Hutkoski brought both of them home with a single to give Frontier a 2-0 lead.
Olivia Machon then knocked a hit to score Hutkoski. Sophia Pinardi walked and Gabrielle Adams got on with a bunt to load the bases for Chloe Cutting, who drew a walk to force Machon home to make it a 4-0 game. All that damage came with no outs.
Taylor followed with a bloop single to score Pinardi, Fifield grounded into a fielder’s choice to bring Adams in, and Steele ripped another single to score Taylor and Fifield, giving the Redhawks an 8-0 lead.
“After the first inning we knew we could hit,” Deane said. “The last time we played here, we took too many pitches. We walked away with regrets and said we weren’t going to do that again. We hit the ball in the first inning, didn’t get on base but we were making contact. We did that again in the second and we knew the hits were coming.”
Machon dinged a double to open the sixth and Pinardi brought her home with a single to extend the lead to 9-0.
Fifield opened the top of the sixth with a single, stole second and was brought home off a base hit from Steele. Hutkoski and Machon drew back-to-back walks, with Steele and Hutkoski later scmapering home on passed balls to make the lead 12-0.
Adams ripped a double to drive Machon in, Cutting hit Adams in with a single and later made it to third off a Taylor base hit. Cutting then got home on a passed ball to make the lead 15-0.
Taylor got three straight outs in the bottom of the sixth to close out the run-shortened victory.
Frontier will need another big performance on Friday against the Eagles to earn a spot in the Div. 5 semifinals. Franklin Tech beat the Redhawks 5-3 during the season and knocked Frontier out of the Western Mass. tournament with a 4-0 win, but as Wednesday showed, the Redhawks won’t back down from anyone.
“They’re a great team,” Deane said of Franklin Tech. “We’re concerned but we’ve been concerned about pretty much every team we play. There’s nothing these kids haven’t seen or hard situations they haven’t been in. We’ve been through it all. It’s been a weird season.”