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.”
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North Shore Shuts Out SteepleCats
iBerkshires.com Sports
LYNN, Mass. -- John Hegarty gave up one hit in five innings of work on Saturday to led the North Shore Navigators to a 4-0 win over the North Adams SteepleCats in New England Collegiate Baseball League action.
Nklas Pavia went six innings on the mound for the SteepleCats, striking out six and allowing three runs.
Nelphie Lopez' double and Evan Meier's single accounted for North Adams' offense.
The SteepleCats (4-13) are home on Sunday for a double-header against Navigators (8-11) starting at 2 p.m.
It's too late to get tickets — the event's sold out! — but you can hear some of the performances in the downtown area. Or, you can listen for free on NEPM (New England Public Media) 88.5.
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On Tuesday, June 16, Moulton was recognized by Superintendent Timothy Callahan during a Drury High School faculty meeting. She was presented with a commemorative certificate and a gift certificate for $200 for school classroom supplies. click for more
Northern Berkshire Community Coalition celebrated a community hero, its 40th anniversary and kicked off its $10 million campaign drive for a new home on Thursday.
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The college community bid farewell to President Jamie Birge last week as he ended his 10-year tenure at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. click for more
The School Building Committee was updated on the progress on Tuesday night by Todd Ashford, project manager with Collier's International, the city's owner's project manager.
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