Hopkins Academy’s young guns couldn’t overcome experience in the MIAA Division 5 Softball Tournament Round of 16.
The No. 19 Golden Hawks, fresh off an extra innings upset in the previous round, fell 8-1 against No. 3 West Boylston on the road Tuesday.
The host Lions scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning.
“Part of that was just our youth and how inexperienced we are,” Hopkins Academy coach Paula Cristoforo said. “They were a little bit more seasoned. We were a little nervous at the start, but we settled down.”
The Golden Hawks strung together four straight scoreless innings before West Boylston struck again in the sixth. Hopkins Academy strung together three hits to score its run.
Taylor Barry singled, then Layni Bailey singled behind her. Seventh grader Cassie Dion added a third single to score Barry.
Izzy Palmisano had two hits for Hopkins (11-9), which will only graduate one senior (Gabby Dyjach) and featured a seventh grader pitching (Dion) and an eighth grader catching (Lily Ellia).
“We’ve never gone this far,” said Cristoforo, whose team reached the Western Massachusetts semifinals for the first time in 40 years this season and also won a state tournament game. “We have a lot to look forward to.”
No. 6 Hoosac Valley will visit the Lions next in the quarterfinals Friday.
No. 5 Mount Greylock 14, No. 28 Gateway 2 — Chloe Govoni drove in a run with an RBI infield single with two outs in the third inning, but the Gators (11-7) fell in the Division 5 Round of 32.
Gateway tacked on another run when Stephanie Paiva put the ball in play and caused an error to cut its deficit to 6-2. Olivia Kanner scored the Gators’ first run, while Lexi Bonenfant touched home for the second.
“The kids really busted their tails all season long. They tried to learn something every game,” Gateway coach Matt Bonenfant said. “We played in a more competitive league than in the past, and they rose to the challenge.”
The Mounties scored eight unanswered runs to end the game. They’ll host No. 21 Frontier Regional on Wednesday for a shot at No. 4 Franklin Tech.
No. 5 Martha’s Vineyard 5, No. 28 Northampton 0 — A long trip showed the Blue Devils how far they have to go in the Division 3 Round of 32.
“It was a long day of travel but a fun day. Our team was excited to be in the playoffs,” Northampton coach Ben Lewis said. “Martha’s Vineyard has an excellent team.”
Reilly Fowles pushed the Vineyarders closest to the edge, recovering from a 6-2 loss in the first set against Clyde Smith at No. 2 singles to win 6-3. He ultimately fell 10-5 in the third set tiebreaker.
“Reilly felt like he was able to make some adjustments in that first set and played a really strong second set,” Lewis said.
Aidan Metz fell 6-0, 6-1 against Jacob Riis at No. 1 singles. Zak Potter defeated Northampton’s Ethan Metz 6-0, 6-2 at No. 3 singles.
Martha’s Vineyard won both doubles matches 6-0, 6-0. Teagean Myers and Caleb Dubin beat Max Cahillane and Durrell Patrick at No. 1, while Kart Kleeman and Kyle Levy bested Maitreya Abend and Levi Armstrong.
Fortunately for Northampton (9-9), every member of its state tournament team is returning.
“One of the real exciting things for our team is we’re not graduating anybody,” Lewis said. “Next year we’ll have a team with a bunch of seniors and sophomores. We’re looking to build off of this.”
Martha’s Vineyard will host No. 12 East Longmeadow in the Round of 16 on Thursday.
No. 2 Greater New Bedford Voc Tech 3, No. 15 Holyoke 0 — The Purple Knights’ Division 2 state tournament run ended in the Round of 16.
Holyoke (17-3) fell 25-14, 25-16, 29-27.
The Bears will host No. 7 West Springfield in the quarterfinals Friday.