WESTHAMPTON — The spring sports season is back, and with that so is Hampshire Regional softball. Since 2020, Hampshire has been in every Western Massachusetts tournament championship, and the Raiders have won three of them. They three-peated from 2021-2023 before losing to Pittsfield in last year’s Class B title game.

Under longtime head coach Brain McGan, Hampshire knows how to win. And despite having only two seniors on this season’s roster, the expectation in Westhampton won’t change. The Raiders have plenty of talent to get back to winning a regional final, and it starts up top with those aforementioned pair of veterans.

CC Thayer and Teagan Charles are the lone members of the Class of 2025. Both bring a ton of power to the top-half of Hampshire’s lineup, with Thayer typically in the No. 2 spot followed by Charles in the three-hole. McGan complimented their leadership last season when they were juniors, so now a year older and with another offseason to fine tune their skills, they’re again going to be leading this young Hampshire team both on and off the field.

Outside of Thayer and Charles, the Raiders have a trio of sisters who are capable of taking a game over on their own. It starts in the circle with Ryanne Dubay, Hampshire’s ace who is throwing heat as a sophomore. Behind the place catching for Ryanne is her twin sister, Reagan. They bat fourth and fifth in the order and can do just as much damage offensively as they do in the field. Kalin Dubay is the youngest of the bunch, a freshman who has a steady glove at second base and rounds out the Raiders lineup in the ninth hole. Her combination of speed and softball IQ makes her just as dangerous as anyone on Hampshire, because once she reaches base, she’s a threat to make anything happen.

Seventh grader Lucy Trombley had three hits in Hampshire’s season-opening win over Frontier, and is already showing signs of being the Raiders’ next star on the diamond. Add in Chelsea Vanasse at the shortstop position and several other Raiders reserves that can play softball at a high level as well, and it’s clear this Hampshire team has all the tools to achieve its lofty goals for the 2025 campaign.

“We try to make things happen putting the ball in play, which puts more pressure on the opponent,” McGan said. “Our top of our lineup is usually pretty consistent, but our bottom of the lineup is going to be huge for us this season. If we get everybody rolling one through nine, we could have a pretty good season. I’d like to keep it that way, but hopefully by mid-season we’re there. We’ll see what happens.”

Frontier, South Hadley, Hopkins with strong arms in the cirlce

At the high school level, all a team needs to have a chance is a certified ace. Well, the Redhawks, Tigers and Golden Hawks not only have that, they also have strong teams around their starting pitchers.

Let’s start with South Hadley, which has senior Ella Schaeffer back after a tremendous year throwing in 2024. Schaeffer came into the season with 796 career strikeouts, and after fanning over 300 batters a season ago, she should have no trouble eclipsing the 1,000 career strikeout mark. It all starts with her for the Tigers, which are coached once again by Junior Perez. Behind Schaeffer is senior shortstop Sophia Butler orchestrating the infield and senior center fielder Karli Carmody holding down the outfield. Ryley McMahon moves from third base to catcher, where she will work with Schaeffer this season. South Hadley is eyeing a third consecutive league title.

Frontier and head coach Gary Deane have the perfect combination of offense and pitching. If the Redhawks’ offense is struggling one game, aces Raine Wonsey and Ashley Taylor are capable of shutting down the opposing team. If their pitchers or defense don’t have their best stuff on a particular day, their bats are plenty good enough to win a high-scoring affair. Taylor, a senior, is inching closer to 100 career hits, where she would join sophomore Skyler Steele and senior Delaney Fifield. Steele comes into the year with 103 hits, 30 doubles, 24 home runs and 105 RBIs as just a sophomore, and senior Olivia Machon batted .403 last season with three home runs. Frontier has talent on both sides of the diamond and plenty of veteran leadership to make a deep push in the two postseason tournaments this spring.

Hopkins Academy is quite the opposite from Frontier, having only one senior on its roster in Maggie Potter. But similar to the Redhawks and Tigers, the Golden Hawks (coached by Lindsey Lord, who’s in her second season) have an incredible arm in the circle. Cassandra Dion, a sophomore, is likely to reach the 500 career strikeout plateau with a similar season to the one she had in 2024. Dion shut out Granby 10-0 in Hopkins’ season opener, and she struck out seven while only allowing four hits. Potter is a reliable bat and glove as is junior Lily Ellia, who does the catching for Dion. Ellia had a breakout season at the plate as a sophomore and is looking to expand on that this year. Olivia Earle, Isabella Bramucci and Alayna Bailey are also all terrific players for a well-rounded Golden Hawks roster.

Os, Rams to be competitive once again

Both Granby (15) and Belchertown (11) won double-digit games a year ago, and each team is planning on similar success this time around. The Rams are led by Cassie Flaherty, who will certainly reach the 100-hit milestone this spring. Mabel Carillon steps into the circle as Granby’s ace this season while Katie Grabherr and Kaitlyn Curran are expected to have big years both at the plate and in the field, according to head coach Mike Afflitto. Alexis Lapite is another emerging bat for Granby as well.

Belchertown is led by Julianne Cozine, a senior who is attending the University of Maine-Farmington next season – where she will play softball. Cozine is a four-year starter and led the Orioles with four home runs a season ago. Lila Roy threw a no-hitter against Putnam last year and is back to do a little bit of everything for Belchertown, whether that be leading the team in doubles (eight) and triples (four) like she did last spring or continue to stymie teams with her arm. Emily Waller is another strong all-around player for head coach Mike Lafeyette, who has a small team of 11 but has everything he needs to be successful.

Quick-hitters on the rest of Hampshire County

Amherst

In head coach Mia Ely’s first season, she’ll have more players in middle school (5) than seniors (2) to work with. Amherst won 10 games last season, but lost ace Sofia Holden to graduation. Eve Jacoby and Alana Texidor-Melendez are the two seniors and both are players to watch, as is sophomore Corinne Charlebois, who recorded two hits and two runs in a loss to Monument Mountain on March 31.

Holyoke

It may be Edeni Colon-Rivera’s first season coaching the Purple Knights, but she has seven seniors to work with in 2025 – a nice influx of veteran players that will help lead the way. Alanna Bonilla, Jade Maldonado, Kylie Blaha and Lily Tapion are a quartet of players that Colon-Rivera tabbed as talents to watch this spring.

Gateway

After three seasons as head coach of the Gators junior varsity program, Abbey Keeler takes over the varsity gig in Huntington. Gateway has a combined nine seniors and juniors on the team this season, some of which Keeler coached at one point – which may help ease the transition. Amy Fisk, Grace Renauld and Erica Madru are the “big 3” for the Gators in 2025.

Smith Vocational

The Vikings only won two games last season, but they scored a whopping 23 runs in their season opener on March 31 to get off to a 1-0 start. Alicia Carter is Smith Voc’s new head coach and she’ll be leaning on eight seniors for their leadership. Carter coached many of them in soccer last fall so there is plenty of familiarity there. There are several all-around athletes on Smith Voc’s 13-player roster, starting with Makayla Tatro.

Northampton

The one thing absent from the Blue Devils’ roster last season was a player with years of pitching experience. Head coach Chase Every-Giroux had to piece that puzzle together in year No. 1 as head coach. Now, in year No. 2 this spring, Northampton has two steady eighth-graders in Greta Lepore and Emily Kajka who will both rotate the starting pitching job. Sasha Rodriguez, one of only two seniors on the team, will do the catching. Every-Giroux has high expectations for Rodriguez, Lepore, Jayda Alejandro and Haly Doucette-Kaplan this season.

Smith Academy

The Falcons may only have two seniors, but those two seniors are terrific talents in Caitlin Graves and Alexa Jagodzinski. Junior Marissa Belina is another returner who had a big year in 2024. Smith Academy finished 5-11 last season, but with the addition of four players from Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School as part of a new co-op, the Falcons have a new opportunity to reach the postseason under third-year head coach Moira Pitrat. Lily Harrington, Sofia Cestero, Quinn Carlson and Olivia Bodzinski are the four athletes from PVCICS.

Easthampton

Things are going to look a lot different in Easthampton on the softball diamond this season. The Eagles not only have a new head coach in Joe Roy, who replaces Corey Robinson, they’ve also lost eight starters from 2024 – seven to graduation and one to an ACL injury. Roy only brings back three returning varsity players as he has a very young team to work with this spring. Nine of the 12 players on the roster are in ninth or 10th grade. Summer Routhier and Madison Urban are two key players to keep an eye on.