For the first time since April 18, 2008, the Amherst Regional softball team lost a regular season game on Friday afternoon.
The Hurricanes allowed two unearned runs in the first inning and fell to Agawam 2-0 on the road.
Amherst (10-1, 0-1 Valley) had won 65 straight regular season games, dating back to a 5-1 loss to Westfield back in 2008. That squad won 15 straight to end the regular season and eventually won the WMass title. The team posted back-to-back 20-0 regular seasons and had won 10 straight before Friday’s loss.
Since the Westfield defeat, Amherst had won 59 straight games against teams from the Pioneer Valley. The team also had a 30 game winning streak against all WMass squads snapped with the loss.
“They were certainly ready for us and we didn’t play well,” said Amherst coach Kacey Schmitt, whose team last loss to a WMass squad when it was shocked by Pittsfield 3-2 in the first round of the 2009 tournament. “I told them after the game that this showed that we have to show up and be ready to play. We can’t just expect to win. We’ll see how we respond.”
Emma Mendoker suffered her first career regular season loss after allowing two unearned runs on four hits and one walk while striking out 10.
The senior also had one of the team’s two hits. Athena Donta added a single in the loss.

*We'll have more high school coverage posted later tonight.