GRANBY — The Hopkins bats may have gotten off to a slow start on Thursday afternoon, but the Golden Hawks quickly shook off any early-season rust and came alive with seven runs over the final two innings as they went on the road to defeat Granby, 10-0, in the two programs’ season opener.

Alayna Bailey, Isabella Bramucci (two) and Madelei Gallo (two) all ripped RBI hits in as part of a five-run seventh inning that doubled the Hopkins lead from five to 10.

“I think they came out a little hesitant at first, but they got a lot stronger as the game went on,” Hawks head coach Lindsey Lord said of her team’s performance. “They definitely got the bats going about halfway through. A lot of different players picked up RBIs, a lot of players made good contact and they started to get more confidence.”

The Hopkins offense only told one half of Thursday’s story, as Golden Hawks ace Cassandra Dion picked up right where she left off a year ago. Dion, a sophomore, gave up a pair of hits through two innings, but didn’t surrender another the rest of the way. She never faced more than four hitters in every frame after the second en route to a seven-strikeout, complete-game shutout.

Even when the game was within reach in the early stages (tied after two, 1-0 through three), Dion slammed the door shut on the Rams.

“Cassie has always been a very consistent player,” Lord said. “She always puts on a strong face even if the game isn’t going well, and she goes out there and does her best. I think she’s a great role model for the younger kids on the team to look up to.”

A year ago, Dion recorded double-digit strikeouts on many occasions. Granby put the ball in play time and time again on Thursday, and only struck out seven times against Dion. Rams head coach Mike Afflitto was pleased with his team’s approach at the plate, especially considering it was the first game of the season.

They just happened to run into one of the best pitcher’s in western Massachusetts.

“I thought we had a nice hustle double early, and Cassie [Flaherty] just missed bringing in a run on a ball that barely went foul,” Afflitto said. “We got ourselves in some good counts and worked hard to battle with [Dion]. But that’s a really quality arm. I liked our approach; I think we could’ve done better with two strikes. But again, you have to credit a good arm. I think we can build on a lot of this. We wanted to see some of these better arms early on.”

Hopkins’ Maggie Potter reached base in the third inning and came home on a Granby miscue that resulted in an Olivia Earle single, which broke a scoreless tie. After Dion made quick work of the Rams in the home half of the inning, Hopkins was back at it in the fourth.

Lily Ellia led off with a single, and Potter brought her home with a single of her own two batters later. Bailey then smashed a double to plate Potter as Hopkins added two more in the inning to make it 3-0. Neither team scored in the fifth, then Cora White added a 2-run base knock in the sixth that scored Dion and Potter. Potter scored a total of four runs in the win.

In the seventh, all five of Hopkins’ runs came with two outs.

“I think we did a great job base running, keeping our heads up and running everything out,” Lord said. “Not only did they get good hits, they also came through with smart running.”

On the mound for Granby was Mabel Carillon, who tossed six solid innings before Meredith Bartosz came in to relieve her. Carillon pitched well, walking only two batters on the day.

Her performance, along with several other positives Afflitto saw, is the most important thing to take away from Thursday.

“Mabel pitched six strong innings against a quality opponent,” Afflitto said. “We’ll take that. We can build off that. We made a lot of really good, smart plays that shows a lot of maturity. We have a lot of girls back from last year. It’s the first game, so you don’t want to overreact. We did a lot of great things today, and the bad things we know we can clean up.”

Granby (0-1) next travels to Springfield International Charter School on Monday afternoon, while Hopkins (1-0) hosts Wahconah next Tuesday.

South Hadley 3, Agawam 1 — Sophia Butler’s two RBIs were all Tigers ace Ella Schaeffer would need as South Hadley earned a low-scoring victory in its home and season opener on Thursday.

Ryley McMahon, Karli Carmody, Sevilla Kinney and Butler all tallied hits in the win, while Schaeffer fanned 11 Agawam batters and only walked one.

Baseball

Frontier 11, Southwick 2 — The Redhawks came out firing to open the season, putting six runs on the board in the opening two innings to walk away with a victory over the Rams in Southwick on Thursday. 

Freshman Henry Drinker went 3-4 with a double and three RBIs, Austin D’Urso knocked a pair of hits and scored twice, Jack Cusson doubled in a pair of runs, Ben Caron knocked a hit and drove in a run while Kaden James and Joey Hutkoski added hits in the victory. 

Max Skribiski-Banack got the start and struck out three in three innings work while Carter Miller got the Redhawks out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth to keep Frontier in the lead. 

Boys tennis

PVCICS 5, PVCA 0 — The Dragons traveled to Springfield to start their 2025 season with a solid win over an undermanned PVCA squad.

At first singles, Lee Ferguson continued where he left off last year, winning 6-0, 6-0 over Gabe Malloy to be first off the court. Derek Ye (second singles) made his singles debut and defeated Alejandro Rodriguez 6-0, 6-0, while Gabe Loinaz (third singles) won over Quinn Keegan 6-0, 6-2, to round out singles play.

The Dragons’ first doubles team of Teddy and James Scott handled Angel Ranero and Andrew Griffith 6-0, 6-0. Jack Herman and Ethan Wang (second doubles) won by forfeit.

Amherst 5, Agawam 0 — Brock Walkdman earned a hard-fought first singles win (6-3, 6-1) while Elias Katsaros cruised to a second singles victory, only losing one game.

Amitav Dhingra and Alex Pobezinskiy teamed up to win 6-1, 6-2 in first doubles and Noah Magnus and Eli Ferris grabbed a second doubles win, 6-1, 6-1.

Boys volleyball

Granby 3, Commerce 0 — Jake Gagnon’s 10 kills, nine assists and seven aces pushed the Rams past the Raiders 25-12, 25-19, 25-18 Thursday at Granby.

Nathan Walsh registered nine assists while Braeden Gallagher led the Rams with three digs in the victory.

Chicopee Comp 3, Frontier 0 — Nate Rivera and Tegan Dexter both put down seven kills for the Redhawks, who fell to the Colts 25-22, 25-17, 25-13 on Thursday in Chicopee. 

Tavo Vincent-Warner dished out 14 assists to go along with 11 digs while Will Reading added three kills in the loss.