High schools: Northampton softball edged by Pioneer in offensive slugfest (PHOTOS)

Northampton’s Ella Daillie drives in a run with a base hit against Pioneer in Northfield on Thursday.

Northampton’s Ella Daillie drives in a run with a base hit against Pioneer in Northfield on Thursday. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

Northampton pitcher Haly Doucette-Kaplan throws against Pioneer in Northfield on Thursday.

Northampton pitcher Haly Doucette-Kaplan throws against Pioneer in Northfield on Thursday. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

Pioneer pitcher Jacobi Tyminski covers home as Northampton’s Caroline Riordon scores on a passed ball in Northfield on Thursday.

Pioneer pitcher Jacobi Tyminski covers home as Northampton’s Caroline Riordon scores on a passed ball in Northfield on Thursday. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

Northampton’s Lily Pelis waits for a throw as Pioneer’s Laylah Goulston takes second base in Northfield on Thursday.

Northampton’s Lily Pelis waits for a throw as Pioneer’s Laylah Goulston takes second base in Northfield on Thursday. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

Staff Reports

Published: 05-02-2024 9:32 PM

A marathon of a matchup between the Northampton and Pioneer softball teams was eventually claimed by the Panthers – 63 runs later.

Pioneer defeated the Blue Devils 34-29 on Thursday afternoon in Northfield in what was an offensive explosion.

Haly Doucette-Kaplan reached base seven times, scoring on six of them. Caroline Riordan (five), Sasha Rodriguez (five), Jayda Alejandro (four) all crossed the plate at least four times for Northampton as well. The Blue Devils were patient at the plate, walking 17 times on Thursday.

Northampton led 12-2 after one inning of play, but the Pioneer offense stormed from behind to take control.

Smith Academy 4, Holyoke 2 — Emilia Neves tallied two hits and scored a run, Emma Tisdell collected an RBI hit, Alexa Jagodzinski had a hit and a run and Sophia Jagodzinski had an RBI in the Falcons’ win.

Holyoke pitcher Kylie Blaha had three strikeouts. Offensively, Blaha had two hits and scored one run.

Doherty Memorial 4, South Hadley 2 — The Tigers took a 2-1 lead into the sixth, but three Doherty runs in the frame were enough to put the hosts in the driver’s seat and beat South Hadley on Thursday.

Jenna Bobrowski, Ella Schaeffer, Ara Powers, Erin Bullough and Karli Carmody each collected hits for the Tigers.

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Greenfield 5, Hopkins 4 — Sophia Rotkiewicz recorded the game-winning hit, and the Green Wave rallied from a 4-2 deficit with three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to walk off with an independent victory on Thursday at Vets Field.

The Golden Hawks are right back at it on Friday, hosting another Franklin County opponent in Franklin Tech. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Granby 30, Southwick 10 – The Rams bats came alive against Southwick and every starter scored at least once. Cassie Flaherty scored three runs and knocked four in, Kaitlyn Curran scored four and knocked two in and Jordyn Placzek scored three times and also recorded a pair of RBIs.

Grace Roy scored four times and hit two runners in and Mabel Carillon crossed the plate a team-leading five times. Quinn Cook scored three times and drove a pair in and Alexis Lapite scored twice and drove four in. 

Baseball

Southwick 17, Amherst 3 (5) — The ‘Canes couldn’t tame the Southwick offense on Thursday, surrendering 17 runs in a five-inning defeat on Thursday.

Amherst is now 2-9 this season and travels to Hampshire County foe Belchertown on Friday.

South Hadley 6, Ludlow 2 — A three-run fourth inning jolted the Tigers ahead by four, and they would never surrender their lead as Matt Drobiak (nine strikeouts) gave up just two hits in six innings of work.

Gavin Carpenter (RBI) and Jackson Keller (two RBIs) each had two base knocks while Drobiak helped his own cause with an RBI single. John Viola came in to close it out with two strikeouts in a flawless seventh inning on the mound.

Granby 11, Palmer 6 — Eight different Rams hitters tallied a hit, led by Gavin Kennedy (two hits, three RBIs), Anthony Santiago (two hits, two RBIs) and Brodie Funk (two hits, two RBIs). Spencer Labonte added a hit and two RBI of his own.

Brandon Carillon (five strikeouts, five hits, four earned runs) pitched 5 1/3 innings before Labonte and Colin Murdock closed things out for Granby.

Boys lacrosse

South Hadley 16, Amherst 11 — Ethan Roy netted five goals as one of four Tigers players to record a hat trick on Thursday. Owen Dawson (four goals, five assists), Avery Haber (three) and Sly Curto (three) each had big days as well for South Hadley.

Girls lacrosse

Chicopee Comp 8, Granby 7 — The Rams led 5-4 at halftime but couldn’t hold on in a loss on Thursday.

Kalli White led the way with four goals, while Kelly-Lynne Kennedy netted two and Ava Elizabeth Loughman also scored. Faith Ramos made four saves.

Hampshire 22, Central 7 — Anna Puttick scorched the Golden Eagles defense for a game-high six goals as 10 different Raiders found the back of the net in a dominant victory.

Reagan Mott added four  goals for Hampshire while Mary Thibeault (two) and Josie Taylor (two) scored multiple times as well.

Girls tennis

Belchertown 3, Agawam 2 — Ava Shea wasted no time getting to work at first singles, sailing to a 6-0, 6-0 win. Right behind her was Anna Stamp at second singles, winning 6-2, 6-2 for the Orioles..

Mia Corish and Emilee Chaisson grabbed a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 1 doubles to shut the door on Agawam.

Greenfield 3, Frontier 2 — Isabella Semonelli walked away with a 6-2, 6-1 triumph in No. 2 singles while Rebecca Covalenco earned a 6-3, 7-5 win in No. 3 singles, helping the Green Wave pick up a victory at the Davis Street Courts on Thursday. 

Hashini Ratnatunge won 6-4, 7-6 in No. 1 singles while Esther Ehle and Kayla Fagan picked up a 6-1, 6-0 win in No. 2 doubles for Frontier.

Amherst 3, East Longmeadow 2 – Sofia DaSilva-Askew won 6-0, 6-1 in first singles and the ‘Canes won both doubles matches to take the win.

Janaki Ewoton and Elena Ruiz won 6-4, 6-2 in first doubles and Mahina Ganesun and Cynthia Tian came back to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 in second doubles.

Northampton 5, Pope Francis 0 – Ursula von Goeler didn’t drop a game in her first singles win and Bess King Pollet also won 6-0, 6-0 in third singles.

Summer Sorensen won 6-1, 6-1 in second singles. In first doubles, Giselle Ohm and Margaux Galvin won 6-0, 6-1 and in second doubles, Casey Barder and Ruth Pollin-Gay won 6-1, 6-3.

Chicopee Comp 4, South Hadley 1 – Grace O’Shea and Madison Bruso won first doubles 6-3, 6-2.

Boys tennis

Pioneer Valley Christian 3, Frontier 2 – Donovan Vichi and Noah Nichols won their second doubles match 6-3, 6-3.

Longmeadow 3, Northampton 2 – Galen Fowles (6-3, 6-1) and Durrell Patrick (6-2, 6-2) earned wins at No. 2 and 3 singles, respectively.

Boys volleyball

Longmeadow 3, Belchertown 0 — Zach Dragon (five) and Noah Yankson (five) combined for 10 kills while Shea MacLean put down five as the Orioles fell to western Mass. power Longmeadow.

Set scores were 25-21, 25-14, 25-18. Rainer Kristensen dished out 17 assists, and Colin Mullin nothced eight digs and three assists.

Central 3, Frontier 1 — Aleks Carey put down 19 kills and two aces for the Redhawks in a 25-17, 25-21, 23-25, 25-17 loss to the Golden Hawks on Thursday at Goodnow Gymnasium. 

Will Petrin recorded three kills and two aces, Will Reading and Jack Carey each had two kills and an ace while Tavo Vincent-Warner distributed 23 assists for Frontier. 

Granby 3, Putnam 0 — Michael Swanigan’s 14 kills and an all-around performance from Braedan Gallagher (eight aces, eight assists, five kills, four digs) led the Rams to an easy sweep on Thursday.

Set scores were 25-15, 25-13, 25-15.

Jake Gagnon (six kills, 10 assists, three aces) and Nicolas Grandmont (four kills, two blocks) also posted strong outings.

Late Wednesday results

Boys lacrosse

Amherst 12, Lenox 11 — It was a Ferro clinic on Wednesday afternoon, as Skyler Ferro recorded a game-high five goals to go along with three assists and Sawyer Ferro netted four scores of his own to pace the ‘Canes in a close win.

Brian Cruz (two) and Silas Hazen rounded out the scoring while Jason Kim stopped 15 shots in the cage for Amherst.

Agawam 8, Belchertown 7 — With eight minutes to go in the game, the Orioles scored to tie it up at seven. The rest of the game went scoreless until the 40-second mark, where Riley Jorgensen won the game for Agawam.

Nico St. George (two goals, three assists), Charlie Fijal (two goals) and Vincent Ting (two goals) all had big days offensively for Belchertown.

Girls lacrosse

Minnechaug 19, South Hadley 6 — The Tigers couldn’t withstand a potent Falcons attack in a one-sided loss on Wednesday afternoon.

Emily Piligian scored twice while Raquel Losty, Ava Asselin, Margo Watkins and Rachel Yabra all tallied for South Hadley. Riley Nestor collected nine saves.

Girls tennis

Pope Francis 4, Holyoke 1 — Ava Tellier and Gracie Chesmore picked up the lone victory for the Purple Knights at first doubles.

Holyoke dropped to 0-8 and is still in search of its first win of the season.

Track and field

South Hadley 83, Hampshire 63 (girls); Hampshire 89, South Hadley 54 (boys) — Abby Gelinas led the Tigers to a win on the girls side, claiming first in the 100m (12.9), triple jump (32-8), long jump (16'0.5") and 4x100m relay (52.4) with Gracie Leverault, Ally Fleury and Arianna Melendez. Emma Leverault snagged first in the discus (70'3") shot put (28'7.25") and 4x400m relay (4:34.8) with Mikayla Weaver, Maggie Crawford and Gwen Marion.

On the boys side, Matt Gillis earned first place in both the 400m (54.5) and high jump (5'6"), while Jameson Webber took first in the 400m hurdles (61.4), 110m hurdles (15.7) and 4x400m relay (3:50.4) with Ari Alatalo, Nathan Hutchinson and Ben Gillis.

Girls ultimate

UMass 10, Amherst 9 — The ‘Canes nearly notched a huge upset over their Division 1 collegiate neighbors, losing on the final point, 10-9, in a hard-fought close contest. 

Amherst was led by Felix Goeckel (4 goals) and Phoebe Young (4 assists), and a balanced attack of five other players recording assists with four other players finding the end zone in the match.

Youth baseball

Amherst Red Sox 14, Amherst Royals 5 – Johnny Siano pitched three shutout innings with nine strikeouts while Jonah Sommers led the way with three hits for the Red Sox. Colin Smith and Bobby Wells each contributed two hits, and Sam Adams-Margotta and Julian Park each played well defensively.

For the Royals, Emmett Owens collected two hits while Grant Charlebois allowed only two hits and recorded three strikeouts over two innings.