NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – One rough game in the field does not erase the 5-0 weekend that came before.
And it certainly won’t wipe out the 18-4 summer that preceded it.
But it was a major factor in costing the Greylock Thunder 14U travel softball team the title game of its home tournament.
The Thunder committed six errors in a four-inning, 14-0 loss to Greenfield’s Valley Storm Hurricanes in the finale of the second annual Summer Storm tourney.
Valley Storm pounded out 11 hits, including five extra base hits, and it got a four-inning no-hitter from pitcher and tournament MVP Olivia Lemay.
But it was the defensive miscues, including three in the second inning, when the visitors scored three times to take a 4-0 lead, that set the tone.
“The early miscues, they just got us down,” Thunder coach Mike Ameen said. “We started out slow, and good teams take advantage of that. That was it.
“They’re a good team, well coached, and we just tanked it, defensively, really. Once they get down, it snowballs from there.”
Valley Storm rolled into the championship game on a high after beating the Dutchess (N.Y.) Debs, 8-4, in an eight-inning thriller that saw Valley score six runs in extra innings.
And the No. 2 seed in the tournament bracket got all the offense Lemay needed in the top of the first.
Mia Shaw led off with a double, moved up on Carson Farrell’s sacrifice bunt and scored on a ground ball off the bat of Sami LaFlesh.
Thunder pitcher Avery Lane (two strikeouts) ended the half inning with a line drive out to Gianna Witek at short.
But Lemay set down the Thunder in order to get her team back to the plate, and the Storm started putting up crooked numbers: three in the second, four in the third and six in the fourth.
Bella Bramucci went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs, and Lemay was 2-for-3 with a double in the win.
The 14 runs scored by the Storm was one more than the 13 Greylock allowed in its first five games this weekend: four pool play games and a 13-1 win over Elite Fastpitch of Greene County, N.Y., on Sunday afternoon.
“We’re having a great summer,” Ameen said. “We’re 18-5 now for the summer. We played in four tournaments, and we finished third twice, first and second. So I’ll take that. Throw out this game, and we’ll move on with our lives.
The Thunder continues its season next weekend in Dalton for the CRA Tournament.
“Then we’re going to Rhode Island, and we’re going to New York and then we’re done,” Ameen said. “So we’ve got three more tournaments. We’ve played four already. … I tell them all the time, we’re 18-5, so that’s 23 games. I only played 22 games in the high school season, right? And we’ve got another three tournaments to go. So we’ve already played a full high school season in three or four weeks.
“That’s a lot of softball, a lot of heat. But they’re great kids.”
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.
Your Comments
iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.
No Comments
Q&A with State Representative Challenger Andrew Fitch
By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — On Sept. 1, voters in the First Berkshire District will decide whether they want to send a new representative to Beacon Hill in Boston.
Andrew Fitch, currently a city councilor in the district's largest municipality — and the commonwealth's smallest city — is challenging former North Adams Mayor John Barrett III, who won the First Berkshire seat in a 2017 special election, in the Democratic Party primary.
There is no Republican on the primary ballot for the First Berkshire seat so the primary will effectively be the election for the seat.
The two candidates met for their only debate on Aug. 13 at Williams College. iBerkshires.com reached out to both candidates to follow up on some of the points raised in the debate and get their thoughts on some other issues facing the district.
Below are excerpts from a conversation with challenger Andrew Fitch:
Question: From the very beginning, you talked about the campaign as a listening experience, and this week you're continuing that with the bike tour …
Andrew Fitch: Knocking on doors that have never been knocked on before. … I was riding through, I believe it was Hinsdale coming into Windsor, and they started to yell at me, 'No!' And then the guy was like, 'Wait a second. That's Andrew Fitch.' They actually knew who I was, and they were actually wanting to chat with me.
Andrew Fitch, currently a city councilor in the district's largest municipality — and the commonwealth's smallest city — is challenging former North Adams Mayor John Barrett III, who won the First Berkshire seat in a 2017 special election, in the Democratic Party primary. click for more
In preparation for the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Fire Department wanted to clean up the side yard where it typically holds a remembrance ceremony. click for more
Gov. Maura Healey took some time out of her campaign swing through the Berkshires on Monday to tour the under construction $65 million Greylock School project. click for more