H.S. Roundup: Granby softball holds off Hopkins in Hadley

HADLEY — The Granby softball team held on to a large lead despite a late comeback attempt by Hopkins to take home a 9-6 victory on Wednesday night.

Entering the bottom of the sixth inning, the Rams were sitting pretty with a 9-0 lead in large part due to outstanding performances defensively and in the pitching circle.

Meredith Bartosz got the start for Granby, pitching all seven innings for her squad. The junior began her night with a perfect first three innings, holding on through a late surge to come away with a win.

“[Bartosz is] composed, she’s experienced,” Rams head coach Mike Afflitto said. “We knew it was a matter of time before [the Golden Hawks] made a little bit of a run, but one quick mound visit and she was able to finish strong.”

At the plate, the Rams had consistent traffic on the basepaths all night long, tallying a combined 10 hits and six walks.

Jaidyn Roberge had a huge night, finishing with three hits in four at-bats. The junior continuously came through with runners in scoring position, driving in four of her squad’s nine total runs in the win.

“We got ourselves in good count leverage, 1-0, 2-0, we didn’t chase a lot,” Afflitto said. “… Being in good counts and not helping [Hopkins] out by chasing after pitches out of the strike zone was a good approach for us [Wednesday].”

After tacking on their first run of the night in the sixth inning, the Golden Hawks entered the bottom of the seventh facing a 9-1 deficit.

The large discrepancy on the scoreboard didn’t have any effect on the energy in the Hopkins dugout. After loading the bases without recording an out, the team got to work at cutting away the lead.

Olivia Earle and Lily Ellia’s back-to-back singles put three runs on the board, bringing up Isabella Bramucci. The sophomore smacked a triple into right-center field, giving her team their fifth and sixth runs of the night.

“We started off a little slower than we usually do, making some mistakes that we don’t normally make,” Golden Hawks head coach Paula Cristoforo said. “But in the last inning, I saw them have some fire under them… Everybody got a little more excited. It got a little louder. So that was nice to see.”

After setting down the next three batters in order, Granby survived through the late comeback attempt, improving to 6-1 on the season. The Rams will be right back in action just 24 hours after this one on Thursday, April 16, at 4 p.m. to host Ware.

Hopkins drops to 2-6 with the loss, but will look to build off its impressive seventh inning. The Golden Hawks will take the field next on Monday, April 20, at 4:30 p.m. on the road against Minnechaug.

Pope Francis 7, Easthampton 3 — The Cardinals picked apart the Eagles on Wednesday.

The fourth inning gave Easthampton issues, surrendering five runs which proved to be the difference.

Boys Volleyball

SICS 3, Belchertown 0 — The Orioles dropped a tough matchup in three sets, putting an end to their two-game winning streak.

Gavin Couchon tallied five kills and five digs in the loss, while Shea MacLean led with a team-high six kills and Dara Mao finished with a team-high eight digs.

Baseball

Northampton 11, Amherst 9 — Johnny Nields-Duffy led the Blue Devils to an impressive comeback victory, going 3-5 with a double and a triple along with five RBIs, three of which came in his team’s six-run seventh inning.

Cyrus Arwade tallied a team-high three hits in the loss for the Hurricanes, with Oscar Reich leading the team with three RBIs.

Smith Academy 12, Libertas 0 — Callan Payne’s dominant, five-inning, 12-strikeout one-hitter led the Eagles to a substantial victory.

Darren Caney led the team at the plate, going 1-3 with a double, two RBIs and a pair of runs scored.

Westfield 6, Smith Voc. 1 — After scoring a run in the first inning, the Vikings offense went cold, leading to a tough loss.

Kaleb Jorritsma got the start on the mound, throwing five innings and allowing three earned runs while going 1-3 with a walk and the team’s lone run scored at the plate.

Gateway 6, Lee 4 — Jacob Maynard’s 11-strikeout night on the bump led the Gators to a close victory where he retired the final 12 batters in a row.

At the plate, Maynard continued his big night, going 1-for-4 with a double and a team-high two RBIs.

Hampshire 6, Ware 4 — The Raiders broke the game open with two outs in the bottom of the sixth on doubles from Colin Hogan, Riley Florek and Joe Moro.

Jonny Angers took the win for Hampshire, throwing seven innings while giving up six hits, three runs and walking three and striking out five.

Boys Tennis

PVCICS 3, Northampton 2 — The Dragons singles players led them to a narrow victory over the Blue Devils on Wednesday night.

At No. 1 singles, Lee Ferguson (PVCICS) defeated Oliver Levine 6-0, 6-0, while at No. 2 singles, Derek Ye (PVCICS) beat Reed O’Connor 6-3, 6-2 and at No. 3 singles, Devan Ye (PVCICS) grabbed a win over Joe Greco 6-1, 6-0.

In doubles, Eli Wool and Caetano Hinojosa (Northampton) defeated Simon Speek and James Ferrer 6-0, 6-0, and Jackson Briggs-Nye and Jude McCutcheon (Northampton) won 6-1, 6-1 over Ethan Wang and Alexander Rachele.

Pope Francis 3, Amherst 2 — The Hurricanes grabbed one win in both singles and doubles on Wednesday, narrowly walking away with a loss.

Elias Katsaros (Amherst) won a back-and-forth battle against Marcus Tran 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) in No. 2 singles. Noah Magnus and Dawson Wu (Amherst) defeated Case Mackintosh and Jack Scheller 6-1, 7-5 in No. 2 doubles.

Boys Lacrosse

Agawam 16, Amherst 5 — The Hurricanes couldn’t complete a comeback after facing a 10-goal deficit to end the first quarter.

Sawyer Ferro led the team with four goals in the loss, with Brian Sibrian Cruz tallying one of his own along with an assist.

Late Tuesday results

Boys Volleyball

Longmeadow 3, Granby 1 — The Rams dropped a tough battle in four sets, with Jake Gagnon filling the statsheet, tallying 16 kills, 15 assists, four digs and three blocks.

Braeden Gallagher finished with 12 digs and nine kills in the loss, while Nathan Walsh added 24 assists, six kills, five digs, two aces and a block.

Girls Tennis

Holyoke 3, Springfield Central 2 — The Purple Knights narrowly took home a team victory with wins in two singles and one doubles match on Tuesday night.

Madison Bruso (Holyoke) defeated Jestina Fay-Meade, 6-3, 6-0 in No. 2 singles, while Nora Proulx and Elena Carpentier (Holyoke) grabbed a win over Crismar Polanco & Chelsea Lam, 6-3, 6-1 in No. 2 doubles. Holyoke won the No. 3 singles matchup due to a forfeit.

Outdoor track

The Raiders and Tigers split a dual meet on Tuesday, with the Hampshire girls winning 97-48 while the South Hadley boys won 88-57.

Bethany Tobiasz led the Hampshire girls with two first-place finishes (100, 200) while Matt Gillis claimed four events (javelin, triple jump, high jump, 400).