NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton boys tennis team took its third win in its last four matches after defeating Belchertown, 4-1, at the JFK Middle School Courts on Monday night.
Singles were where the Blue Devils found their most success in the win, with all three players winning their respective matchups over their Orioles counterparts.
Reed O’Connor held down his spot on first singles for Northampton, taking on Luke Dudek. O’Connor maintained his success of late, taking the win 6-0, 6-1.
“We’re really sort of, starting to hit our midseason form,” Blue Devils head coach Ben Lewis said.
At second singles, Ollie Levine was Northampton’s representative, facing off against Mason Pobielgo from Belchertown. Levine was aggressive throughout his matchup, walking away with a 6-1, 6-1 victory.
Wrapping up the third singles spot for the Blue Devils was Kaz Sugihara, with Jake Gormley keeping things competitive for the Orioles. Sugihara won both sets despite a narrow victory in the first, settling in and winning 6-4, 6-0 overall.
“It’s a wonderful group of kids,” Lewis said. “We’ve dealt with a couple of injuries, and so, we’ve had some different lineups throughout the whole season. But the players who are here are really competing, and they’ve been doing great.”
Belchertown’s lone win of the night came on the second doubles court, with Liam Sherwood and Josh O’Connor earning a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Joe Greco and Jaden Bent on the Northampton side.
First singles saw more success for the Blue Devils, as Jackson Briggs-Nye and Caetano Hinososa combined for a 6-3, 6-0 win against the Orioles’ Tyler Burrows and Jordan Kalish.
Briggs-Nye has been a standout for Lewis’ squad this season, with his win on Monday showcasing more of the same success he’s become accustomed to.
“In the last year, [Briggs-Nye has] taken on a role as a sort of doubles specialist,” Lewis said. “He comes to the net, he volleys well. He brings unbelievable energy for his partners, no matter who he’s partnered with. It makes watching his matches very fun.”
With the victory, Northampton improves to 6-3 on the year, with six regular-season matches left on the schedule. The next one comes just 24 hours after Monday’s, hosting East Longmeadow on Tuesday, May 5, at 4:30 p.m.
Belchertown now sits at 6-6 on the season after Monday’s loss, looking to get back in the win column on Wednesday, May 6, at 4:30 p.m., hosting Frontier at home.
PVCICS 4, Pope Francis 1 — The Dragons locked down their sixth consecutive win against the Cardinals on the road.
Lee Ferguson (6-4, 6-1), Derek Ye (6-0, 6-0), Devan Ye (7-5, 5-7, 10-8) and second doubles of James Ferrer and Alexander Rachele (6-1, 6-2) propelled PVCICS.
Girls tennis
Amherst 5, Westfield 0 — The Hurricanes earned a clean sweep for the third straight match in the victory over the Bombers.
Emma Learned-Miller, Mahima Ganesan, Marin Carlyon all won in singles and doubles pairs of Micayla Shefftz and Janaki Ewoton, plus Cynthia Tian and Aliya Nazirova took care of business.
West Springfield 3, Belchertown 2 — The Orioles nearly upended the Bulldogs, taking wins in second singles and first doubles.
Edith Audette won 6-0, 6-3 in singles, before Emma Kornbluth and Allie Randall downed West Springfield 6-1, 6-0 in doubles.
Baseball
West Springfield 8, Belchertown 3 — The Orioles couldn’t hold on to an early lead, giving up a seven-spot in the top of the fifth inning that was too much to come back from.
Ryan Gould and Joey Minnon both went 1-for-2 with one RBI in the loss, with Gould getting the start on the mound and pitching 4.2 innings. Austin Raymer came in for two innings in relief, not allowing a run.
South Hadley 18, Mount Greylock 4 — The Tigers offense found a groove down the stretch in Monday’s six inning victory, scoring three runs in both the fourth and fifth innings, before putting up 10 in the sixth.
Griffin Soderbaum went 3-for-4 at the plate with two doubles, driving in a pair of runs in the process. Gavin Carpenter, Memphis Huertas and Lincoln Belsky each tallied a double with two RBIs in the win as well.
Granby 12, Amherst 11 — The Rams came back from a seven-run deficit to begin the game, despite being out-hit 9-5. Granby was led by Andrew Grabherr, who went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
The Hurricanes were given a great start from Cyrus Arwade, throwing three no-hit innings with seven strikeouts, while adding three RBIs offensively. Brady Klaes showcased his power in the loss, tallying a home run and a triple for Amherst.
Wahconah 11, Smith Voc. 4 — The Vikings struggled defensively to the tune of eight errors in the field, allowing eight unearned runs in a tough loss.
Cayden Dionne led Smith Voc. with two hits, finishing 2-for-4 with an RBI in the loss. He also threw the final 4.2 innings of the game in relief, picking up six strikeouts.
Softball
Northampton 11, Ludlow 2 — The Lions are undefeated no more as the Blue Devils dispatched the visitors to hand Ludlow its first loss of the season.
Northampton never trailed in this one, jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, before extending it to 4-0 by the third.
Rosie Simmons belted two hits for Northampton, while Talia Garretson and Emily Kajka each tallied two RBIs.
Greta Lepore surrendered just five hits and two runs in the complete game effort, while adding six strikeouts and four walks.
Easthampton 3, Belchertown 2 (eight innings) — Lucy Grahm’s two-RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning gave the Eagles a massive win over the Orioles.
Easthampton lost the first meeting between these two teams, 13-1, back on Apr. 13.
“The win gave the team confidence, especially beating a team like Belchertown,” Eagles coach Joe Roy said. “The key was keeping Belchertown off the bases and making key defensive plays by putting out advancing Belchertown runners.”
The Eagles were also supported by Noey Ryan (3-for-4) and Summer Routhier (11 strikeouts, two hits).
Belchertown pitcher Madeline Williams turned in a respectable outing in the circle, concluding with nine strikeouts, one walk and 10 hits allowed.
Hopkins 11, South Hadley 6 — The Golden Eagles got back into the win column thanks to strong games from Lily Ellia, Allison Skwisz and Louannie Gonzalez.
Hopkins’ trio all had two hits and all three scored during the pivotal fifth inning in which it plated four runs.
Violet Carillon and Corrine Charlebois each cracked a hit and scored twice for the Tigers.
Smith Academy 14, Commerce 2 (five innings) — The Falcons eased to their seventh win of the season in the run-rule shortened affair.
Quinn Carlson struck out 13 batters in the circle for Smith Academy.
At the plate, Emma Tisdell and Millie Barszcz each registered three RBIs and combined for five hits for the Falcons.
Girls lacrosse
Wahconah 17, Granby 6 — Mylin Laliberte scored her 100th career goal in a three goal performance for the Rams in Monday night’s loss.
Brenna Moreno scored two goals of her own, with Kalli White rounding out the team’s sixth.
Amherst 10, Mount Greylock 7 — The Hurricanes rode a huge offensive first half, scoring all of their goals before the third quarter even started.
Kiko Bhowmik tallied three goals and an assist in the win, with Claire Kennedy recording a hat trick as well. Eden Polak was solid on the backend for Amherst, finishing her night with 13 saves in goal.
South Hadley 13, Pope Francis 7 — Ella Haber’s four-goal and one assist performance helped lead to a big win for the Tigers.
Nora Vaughn also had a huge night for South Hadley in the victory, finding the back of the net four different times. Dee Haber made five saves at her goalie spot in the win.
Boys volleyball
Belchertown 3, Holyoke 1 — The Orioles overcame a slow start to come out on top against the Purple Knights.
Set scores read 19-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-15 in favor of Belchertown.
Gavin Couchon (20 kills, 10 digs), Arda Cayan (42 assists) and Brian Burns (10 kills) powered the Orioles attack.
Outdoor track
The Hampshire boys and girls outdoor track teams raced past Palmer in Westhampton on Monday.
The boys won by a score of 135-10, while the girls were victorious with a score of 133-11.
The Raiders took podium finishes in all running events, save for the girls’ 100-meter hurdles.
Weekend Results
Outdoor track
The Amherst girls outdoor track team repeated as champions at the MSTCA Steele Relays at West Springfield on Saturday.
The Hurricanes totaled 75 points in the victory, just ahead of second-place Frontier, which finished with 58.
Four relay wins highlighted Amherst’s performance on the oval as it took first in the 4×200 (1:46.12), the sprint-medley relay (4:15.51), the distance-medley relay (13:39.74) and the 4×100 shuttle hurdles (1:14.08).
Elsewhere, Hampshire’s 4×400 relay snagged first in 4:20.93 and South Hadley’s Natalie Rios earned first in the javelin with a toss of 119 feet, three inches.
The Amherst boys took fourth overall as a team and were led by its 4×400 and 4×800 relay squads that claimed first.
Matt Gillis of South Hadley also won the triple jump at 44 feet, nine inches.
Softball
Nipmuc 2, Hampshire 1 — The Raiders hung tough, but the hosts scored twice in the seventh to earn the walk-off win.
Raegan Dubay’s solo shot in the sixth scored Hampshire’s lone run.
In the circle, Ryanne Dubay racked up nine strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings while allowing seven hits, two runs and four walks, in the process.
Boys tennis
PVCICS 3, Boston Latin 2 — Singles wins secured the Dragons’ victory in Beantown on Friday as Lee Ferguson, Derek Ye and Devan Ye all came out on top.
