Unbeaten Hurricanes Post First Shutout of Season
ADAMS, Mass. – The Hoosac Valley softball team gave up six runs per game in its first four outings this season.
And it was 4-0 in that stretch thanks to an offense that averaged 21 runs per game.
The Hurricanes’ bats are still producing, but now their defense and pitching have caught up to make Hoosac Valley even more formidable.
Gracelyn Wright allowed one hit in Monday’s complete-game, five-inning, 12-0 win over McCann Tech as Hoosac Valley ran its record to 7-0.
Izabela Tart continued to tear the cover off the ball, going 4-for-4 to raise her batting average to .800 and hitting her second home run of the spring to lead a 15-hit attack for the ‘Canes.
Wright, meanwhile, lowered her earned run average to 3.50 as Hoosac Valley posted its first shutout after giving up just two runs apiece in each of its last two games.
“Early in the season, you’re feeling your oats, or whatever you want to say,” Hoosac Valley coach Mike Ameen said. “You’ve got to get through the beginning of the year. Gracelyn, the last couple of games, has been right around the plate and has been throwing great.
“She’s tough. She’s tough out there. They had bases loaded a couple of times. They couldn’t get through. And she made that play at the end there.”
Wright fielded a hard hit ball through the middle and threw the batter out at first from her knees to strand a runner on second and end the top of the fifth.
Stranding runners was the order of the day.
McCann Tech had the sacks full in the first with two out and the fourth with one out with the game still within reach.
“It’s a totally different ballgame if they score,” Ameen said. “Give credit to McCann. They’re good kids. They’re a bunch of great kids. … They put the ball in play, they got people on bases. We just kid of bent but didn’t break, I guess they say.”
Hoosac Valley got all the offense it needed with a run in the bottom of the first.
Rachael Wnuk singled with one out and came all the way around on Tart’s double to make it 1-0.
Hoosac Valley doubled its lead in the second on Wright’s sacrifice fly to score Ashyn Lamke.
In the third, Tart’s solo home run and Alayna Shears’ two-run single pushed the margin to 5-0.
But in the top of the fourth, McCann Tech’s GAbby Driscoll hit a one-out single and advanced when Aiden Champney reached on an error. Emma LeMire then worked a walk to load the bases.
Wright got a swinging third strike and a fly ball to shortstop Gianna Witek to leave three runners on.
“We’re struggling to string hits together right now, and I think that’s definitely affecting being able to gain that momentum in games,” McCann Tech coach Aubrey Thurston said. “We can’t keep leaving girls on base. I mean, three on base here, two left on base there, you’re not going to score that way.”
After the offense could not produce in the top of the fourth, a McCann Tech error in the bottom of the frame helped open the door to a five-run Hoosac Valley rally to put the game out of reach at 10-0.
In the fifth, back-to-back doubles from Tart and Hannah Lord made it 11-0, and Witek’s RBI single ended it.
McCann Tech got a combined four strikeouts and six walks from pitchers Avery Lane and Emma LeMire. Lane got the start and went three innings, giving up five runs.
“She’s a freshman here at McCann and doing great,” Thurston said. “We started her against Lenox on Saturday, and she’s been doing really well for us. Very impressed with her.
“We have a game on Wednesday, and we have a double-header on Friday. … We’ve got four pitchers on varsity that we’re trying to utilize and have a strategy to plug them in and pull them out to kind of save their arms.”
The Hornets (2-3) host Chicopee on Wednesday at Disanti Field before going to Ludlow to play two on Friday.
Hoosac Valley (7-0) hosts Ludlow on Wednesday.