Medals were abundant for area athletes over the weekend during the Bay State Games competition, as all five West teams that competed finished with some hardware to take home.
The boys soccer team was the best of the bunch as it went undefeated en route to a gold medal against Coastal on Saturday afternoon. Both the West boys and girls volleyball teams claimed silver in their tournaments while girls soccer and field hockey snatched bronze.
Starting on the pitch, the West boys team was the cream of the crop in the boys soccer showcase as it finished 5-0-0 with just two goals allowed altogether. The gold medal game against Coastal wound up being the closest match for West during the showcase as it snuck by with a 2-1 win. West had previously beaten Metro, 5-1, Central, 6-0, Northeast, 2-0, and Southeast, 5-0.
Saturday’s gold medal game featured both of the tournament’s top teams as Coastal entered the bout 3-0-1.
Among the local talent who earned gold were Northampton’s Will Senn-McNally and Sam Busone, Belchertown’s Timothy Haley, Smith Academy’s Cajun Benson, South Hadley’s Spencer Parsons and Frontier’s Casey Bestler.
On the girls side, West blanked Southeast, 3-0, to solidify third-place in the girls soccer showcase. The bronze medalists concluded with a 3-2-0 record following wins over Central and Southeast (both 6-1 victories) in round-robin play before Saturday’s shutout for bronze.
Nine local athletes starred for West in Smith Voc’s Monique Fredette, South Hadley’s Allison Fleury, Kiana Ramos and Hannah Haesaert, Northampton’s Willow Claps, Holyoke’s Kyra Lippman, Belchertown’s Alexis Canoa and Williston Northampton’s Riley Platt and Addison Perich.
On the court, the boys volleyball team fell to Southeast, 25-22 and 25-17 while the girls volleyball team came up short against Northeast, 25-21 and 25-17 for silver.
In the boys volleyball showcase, West grabbed the No. 1 seed going into the medal round after a 3-1-0 showing in round-robin action. It had previously lost to Northeast, 17-25, 25-20 and 14-16 during the round robin, but then took down every other team—including Southeast—on its way to the gold-medal match.
A couple of Granby athletes made up the Hampshire County representation on the West team in Braeden Gallagher and Nathan Walsh.
The girls volleyball showcase saw an upset as No. 3 West beat No. 2 Coastal in three sets during the semifinal round (15-25, 26-24, 15-8) to advance to the gold medal game. West went 1-3-0 during the round robin, yet fought its way to a silver medal as one of three teams to win just once before the medal round.
Amherst’s Ava Carey, South Hadley’s Grace Matyszewski and Belchertown’s Layla Liminski highlighted the area talent on the silver medalists.
Lastly, a 3-2 victory against Coastal secured the West team a bronze in the field hockey showcase on Sunday. West’s round-robin slate shook out to 2-2-0 (wins over Coastal, Metro/Northeast) before edging past Coastal yet again during the third-place contest.
Of the area athletes to win bronze were Northampton’s Haly Doucette-Kaplan, Frontier’s Amelia Bouchard and Greenfield’s Henley Gilstrap, Grace Laurie and Gloria McDonald.
