PITTSFIELD — Missed opportunities early can come back to bite a baseball team. And nobody’s got sharper teeth than Taconic.
Visiting Easthampton left the bases loaded in the top of the first inning, and faced a six-run deficit by the time the Eagles got back to the plate on Thursday afternoon. No. 1 Taconic had 12 hits, nine for extra bases and plowed its way into the Western Massachusetts Class B finals 15-1.
The Thunder will take on No. 2 Pittsfield High with hardware and city bragging rights on the line Monday afternoon. The Class B title match is slated for Memorial Day at 2 p.m. at Wahconah Park. That’s the same Wahconah Park where Taconic beat Medfield 14-10 to win a state title last July.
“I know these guys are going to be pumped for it,” said Stannard after finding out the Generals had dispatched Monument Mountain across town in the other semifinal. “And it’s right back where we won a state championship last year. … Really good vibes.”
Sam Sherman got the start for Taconic on the hill Thursday, and the senior Merrimack-commit imposed his will on the Eagles on both sides of the ball. He struck out seven over five complete innings, walked one and scattered four hits. He didn’t give up a run until it was 15-0 in the top of the fifth and Nick Lloyd hit a ball to the warning track in left field for an RBI double with two outs. Sherman came back to strike out cleanup hitter Justin Colpack on three pitches to end the game.
At the plate, Sherman was 3-for-3 with a walk, a double, a triple and a home run. He drove in four runs and scored four times.
Sherman got the first two batters of the game, one swinging and one looking, before Easthampton catcher Lloyd beat out an infield single. Colpack followed up with a single of his own through the left side of the infield. Drew Thompson reached on an error, bringing Nick Jolicoeur to plate with the bases loaded.
With the count 1-2, Sherman missed twice setting up a payoff pitch and an early turning point in the game. The Taconic standout spun a 2-seamer by Jolicoeur for the third out.
Bo Bramer led off the home half with a frozen rope up the middle, and quickly stole second. Colpack then walked Sherman, but bounced back to put Taconic junior Nick Guachione in an 0-2 hole. The big first baseman turned on the next one, though, and sent it sailing over the fence in left field for a three-run homer.
It took just two more pitches for Taconic to leave the yard a second time. Cleanup hitter Evan Blake got all of a 1-0 pitch and hit a towering solo home run onto the hill beyond center field.
The parade didn’t stop there either, as Adam Lazits followed with a double to right-center and Antonio Scalise walked. Stevie Zuccalo singled Lazits in and went to second on the throw home. Christian Salzarulo grounded out to score Scalise, but Zuccalo was doubled up at third to end the inning on a quick decision by Jolicoeur at first base.
“Huge. Maybe that turns the ballgame into a different vibe,” Stannard said of Sherman’s 3-2 pitch. “He hasn’t pitched in a little while, so I don’t think he was sharp early. But, as the game progressed, he got stronger.
“But huge getting out of that inning and then us coming up. I knew with the wind blowing out there, how we’ve been swinging the bats, it was going to help us.”
Easthampton got a single baserunner in the second and third on a leadoff error and walk, respectively, but couldn’t capitalize as both were followed by fielder’s choice ground outs.
Sherman struck out the side in the fourth, he also blasted a solo home run that bounced to the upper track at Taconic to lead off the bottom of the second inning. Blake singled a batter later, and two batters later was singled home by Scalise for the 8-0 edge.
In the third, against Easthampton reliever Andrew Thompson, Salzarulo was issued a leadoff walk and stole second. From there, Sherman’s opposite-field triple was more than enough to score him. Sherman came home on Blake’s sacrifice fly and it was 10-0 through three.
Easthampton’s third pitcher, Jolicoeur, walked Scalise and hit Matt Lee with a pitch to start the fourth. Salzarulo reached on an error and both runners came home. Back at the top of the order, Bramer singled to right and Sherman followed up with his two-run double. Guachione went back-to-back with a two-bagger of his own to pick up his fourth RBI and make it 15-0.
Otis Follet hit a one-out single in the fifth for Easthampton. Winter Roske swapped places with him on a grounder to third the Thunder couldn’t spin for two. Roske scored on Lloyd’s double to left.
Wahconah 9, Easthampton 1 – The Eagles managed just one run against Wahconah pitcher Avery Vale-Cruz, who struck out 10 batters in the Class B semifinal contest in Dalton.
Rosie Follet threw six innings for Easthampton, allowing seven hits and striking out two in the loss.
Abigail McClaflin picked up two hits, including a triple, and scored once for Easthampton. Ana Growhowski and Kayley Downie finished with a single apiece.
Hoosac Valley 8, Smith Academy 0 – Rylynn Witek tossed a shutout and belted a three-run homer in an 8-0 win over Smith Academy in the Class D semifinal at Russell Field in Adams.
Hoosac had already built a 4-0 lead through five innings on Thursday afternoon when Witek crushed a low line drive over the fence in right-center to all but put the game out of reach with her second home run of the year.
The Hurricanes scored once in the first inning, twice in the third and once more in the fifth, while Smith’s bats struggled to solve Witek.
The Falcons threatened in the top of the first when Amanda Novak reached scoring position with a two-out double. Smith, though, was unable to capitalize.
Novak notched two hits for the Falcons as she singled and reached third on an error in the fourth in addition to her double in the first. First baseman Emilia Neves also singled and doubled on the day.
“We’re young and have some inexperience and made some mental mistakes but we keep getting better and better so that’s our focus and to keep learning, that’s important,” Smith coach Phil Genovese said.
Turners Falls 12, Hopkins 10 – The Golden Hawks gave the defending state champion Thunder all they could handle in the Class D semifinals on Thursday night.
Trailing 10-8 going into the sixth, Hopkins scored twice to tie the game at 10. Turners answered with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning and the Golden Hawks were unable to get those runs back in the seventh, with the Thunder moving onto the finals with a 12-10 victory.
The Golden Hawks took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third off an error but Turners came back with five runs in the bottom of the frame to take a 5-2 lead. The Thunder made it 7-3 going into the fifth but Hopkins put up five runs in the frame behind a pair of errors and RBIs from Izzy Palmisano and Lily Ellia to take an 8-7 lead.
Turners rallied to score three in the bottom of the fifth to go up 10-8 before the Golden Hawks tied the game back up. Cassidi Mushenski singled, Anna Dyjach walked, Jess Markowski walked, Palmisano walked to bring in a run and Dyjach scored on a passed ball to knot the game 10-10.
Baseball
Ware 8, Smith Academy 4 – Down 8-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh, Smith Academy managed three runs but couldn’t pull off the comeback against Ware.
Sam Dobson threw three innings for the Falcons, allowing two hits and two runs while striking out six and walking six. Will Dobson threw the remaining inning, allowing six hits and six runs with one strikeout.
Will Dobson picked up a double and three RBIs and Logan Graves, Cam Graves, Griffin Smiarowski and Shannon Whitcomb all singled in the loss.
Longmeadow 16, Amherst 1 – The Hurricanes fell in five innings to Longmeadow.
Bella Kochan scored the lone run for Amherst in the loss.
Boys lacrosse
Northampton 9, Belchertown 6 – Though Northampton and Belchertown kept it a relatively low-scoring affair in the first half tied 2-2 at halftime, both teams combined for 11 goals in the second half.
Daniel Huntley made seven saves for the Blue Devils, and Connor Tobin recorded a hat trick in the win. Jack Carpenter also finished with two goals for Northampton, and Jacob Cancel (1G, 1A) and Vinny Fahey (1G, 1A) had two points apiece.