The Amherst Regional girls tennis team has enjoyed a stellar start to the spring, and that continued on Thursday afternoon at the JFK Middle School tennis courts. Behind lights-out singles play, the ‘Canes cruised to a 5-0 win over Northampton to improve to 6-1 with their fourth consecutive victory.

Katie Gromacki defeated the Blue Devils’ Bess King-Pollet at first singles, 6-2, 6-0. Gromacki got better as the match went on to pick up the win. Emma Learned-Miller knocked off Emmi Warren at No. 2 singles by a score of 6-2, 6-2, and Mahima Ganesan bested Northampton’s Ruth Pollin-Galay, 6-0, 6-1, at third singles.

Both doubles matches were very competitive, but Amherst proved to be too much. The Hurricanes’ first doubles duo of Elena Ruiz and Aliya Osman survived a close first set against Casey Barber and Giselle Ohm en route to a 6-4, 6-1 triumph while Cynthia Tian and Janaki Ewoton of Amherst outlasted Ana-Lucia Ohm and Sofie Cosme at No. 2 doubles, 6-2, 6-4.

Amherst (6-1) is off until next Wednesday, when it hosts Belchertown at 4:15 p.m. Northampton dropped to 3-5 with the loss.

Frontier 3, PVCA 2 — The Redhawks swept doubles, as Esther Ehle and Aylen Shaw won in No. 1 doubles (6-1, 6-1) while Brooke Charest and Hailey Fernandez came away with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep in No. 2 singles to help Frontier earn a win in South Deerfield Thursday. 

Kayla Fagan sealed the victory with a 6-2, 6-2 win in No. 2 singles for the Redhawks.

Belchertown 3, Westfield 2 — The dominant season the Orioles are having continued with a close win over the Bombers on Thursday afternoon.

Belchertown is now 8-1, including a perfect 4-0 on its home courts after beating Westfield in Belchertown.

Boys tennis

Longmeadow 5, Belchertown 0 — Tyler Burrows and Mason Pobieglo played the closest match of the day for the Orioles, dropping their first doubles match 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday afternoon.

Belchertown fell to 2-4 on the season with the loss.

Ludlow 4, Amherst 1 — After starting the season 2-0, the ‘Canes have now lost three in a row – the most recent at the hands of the Lions on Thursday afternoon in Amherst.

Elias Katsaros picked up the lone win for Amherst, defeating Ludlow’s Ryan Gomes 6-3, 6-1 at first singles. Every other match was competitive as well, especially the ‘Canes first doubles duo of Alex Pobezinskiy and Timothy Sun – who lost 7-6, 3-6, 10-2 (tiebreak).

Softball

Hopkins 5, Franklin Tech 3 — A three-run fifth inning helped the Golden Hawks erase a 2-0 deficit and defeat the Eagles in a competitive Franklin County League East bout on Thursday afternoon in Turners Falls. The win stood as Hopkins’ fifth in a row.

Olivia Earle recorded an RBI single to get the Hawks on the board in the fourth, scoring Alayna Bailey. Cassandra Dion then smacked an RBI double and Maggie Potter and Bailey drove in runs as part of the game-changing fifth frame. Potter tallied another RBI base knock in the seventh to give Hopkins a much-needed insurance run.

Dion fanned 12 Franklin Tech batters in a complete-game effort.

Southwick 13, Smith Academy 1 (5) — Caitlin Graves (run) and Marissa Belina hit safely for the Falcons in their Thursday afternoon defeat.

Quinn Carlson tallied the lone Smith Academy RBI while starting pitcher Sophia Jagodzinski struck out six in the circle.

Chicopee 14, Granby 9 — The Rams offense managed nine runs, but three errors defensively plagued them in a close loss to Chicopee on Thursday afternoon at home.

Rowan Cook blasted a solo home run and Sydney Chateauneuf (two runs) singled twice and doubled while Ellie Szlosek (one run), Kaitlyn Curran (two runs, RBI), Katie Grabherr (one run, two RBIs) and Alexis Lapite (two RBIs).

Hampshire 17, Douglas 0 (5) — Six runs in the third and seven more in the fifth made the trip out Douglas well worth it for the Raiders, which made quick work in their independent matchup Thursday afternoon.

CC Thayer collected four hits, three runs and three RBIs, Kalin Dubay tallied three hits and Ryanne Dubay and Chelsea Vanasse had two hits apiece. Thayer and Teagan Charles blasted home runs for the Raiders as eight different players recorded hits.

Ryanne Dubay allowed just two base runners on one walk and one hit. She struck out a dozen Douglas batters to earn the win in the circle.

Holyoke 8, SICS 6 — Heading into the fifth inning behind 4-1, the Purple Knights put up four runs to storm from behind and take the lead 5-4. They stayed in front the rest of the way for a Suburban League West win on Thursday.

Kylie Blaha, Grace Bechard, Jade Maldonado, Samantha Rodriguez and Alanna Bonilla all recorded hits for Holyoke.

Smith Voc 13, Westfield Tech 1 — The Vikings picked up win No. 3 on the season in convincing fashion. Makayla Tatro went 3-for-4 at the plate with two home runs and three RBIs to power Smith Voc’s offense. Maggie Lauder (double) shined inside the batter’s box as well, going 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

In the circle, Grace Sampson was superb, striking out 10 Tigers batters. Sampson gave up one hit and one run while walking five.

Greenfield 16, Frontier 4 — Frontier got out to a fast start, loading the bases in the first after Ashley Taylor walked, Skyler Steele singled and Olivia Machon put down a bunt. Sophia Pinardi doubled to score all three and give the Redhawks an opening 3-0 lead, but not much else went right for the visitors at Vets Field in Greenfield on Thursday.

Taylor, who recently recorded her 100th hit, doubled in the fourth and scored on an error to round out Frontier’s scoring.

Pope Francis 19, Belchertown 0 (5) — The Cardinals’ offense came alive, smacking 15 hits against the Orioles on Thursday in Springfield.

Sophia Mitus, Kina Roy and Emily Waller earned base knocks for Belchertown (2-2).

Baseball

Holyoke 15, Chicopee 2 (5) — Everything was working for the Purple Knights in their five-inning win over the Pacers on Thursday, including Justin Rivera’s bat as the junior had three hits, scored four runs and drove in a pair.

Aiden Robinson (three runs, two hits) and Jovaughn Rivera (two walks) tallied two RBIs as well and Holyoke pitcher Arhtur Mazzu struck out 10 on the mound to give Holyoke its first win of 2025.

Mount Greylock 9, Amherst 2 — The ‘Canes couldn’t slow down Mount Greylock’s offense enough to stay in the game as they fell to 1-6 on the season Thursday afternoon.

Pittsfield 14, Northampton 1 (5) — Matthew Walko recorded the lone hit for the Blue Devils, driving in J. Nichols to score, but it wasn’t enough as the undefeated Generals looked every bit the part on Thursday.

Northampton gave up 10 runs in the fourth inning, putting the game out of reach.

Smith Vocational 3, St. Mary’s 0 — James Lavallee was dealing on the mound for the Vikings in the complete-game, two-hitter. Lavalle fanned 10 St. Mary’s batters as Smith Voc moved to 5-0 this season. Lavallee also mashed a two-RBI triple at the plate.

Smith scored twice during the bottom of the third, then added an insurance run in the fifth to hand the Saints their second loss.

Boys volleyball

Granby 3, Duggan 0 — Daniel Santiago’s five kills and 13 assists apiece from Jake Gagnon and Nathan Walsh helped the Rams to a 25-17, 25-13, 25-14 sweep of Duggan on Thursday.

Gagnon added eight aces and three kills, Brandon Chatel recorded three aces and Ty Jones put down three kills for Granby.

Westfield 3, Belchertown 0 — The Orioles suffered a straight-set defeat on Thursday in Belchertown, their seventh straight loss in the gauntlet that is the Eastern Division.

Set scores were 25-17, 25-12, 25-15.

Colin Mullen recorded nine assists, bringing him to 100 on the season, while Shea MacLean put down seven kills for Belchertown. Noah Yankson and Gabriel Ibekilo each recorded three kills in the loss.

Ware 3, Holyoke 1 — The Purple Knights’ up-and-down season continued Thursday in the defeat.

Holyoke hasn’t won or lost more than two consecutive contests this season through eight matches.

Agawam 3, Frontier 1 — Tavo Vincent-Warner distributed 17 assists and added two kills for the Redhawks in a 25-10, 16-25, 25-10, 25-10 loss to the Brownies in Agawam on Thursday. 

Nate Rivera recorded seven kills and nine digs, Tegan Dexter put down nine kills to go along with three digs while Will Petrin had one kill and three aces in the loss.

Youth baseball

Amherst 16, Frontier 9 — Amherst (1-1) was able to pull away from Frontier in a middle school contest on Thursday afternoon at Herlihy Field in South Deerfield. After five innings, the game was tied 9-9 thanks to timely hitting from Amherst’s Tristan Feeley, Jonah Sommers, Daniel LeBron, Jesse Drinker and an intentional walk issued to slugger Oliver Howard.

Nick Stinson controlled the middle innings for the ‘Canes from the mound, pitching clean third and fourth innings. Gus Garrett-Peltier held the Frontier attack at bay in the fifth and sixth while the Amherst offense went to work. Cyrus Arwade slammed the door with a four-strikeout seventh (including a drop-third in which a Frontier batter reached base), adding to his 2-for-4 night at the plate, including a triple.