SOUTH HADLEY – The South Hadley boys lacrosse team scored five unanswered goals in the fourth quarter to get within striking distance of Agawam (5-3), but the Tigers (4-5) comeback fell short in a 10-6 Valley League home loss on Friday afternoon.

Solid defense and a few really nice saves from Bennett Allen kept Agawam right at its season scoring average, but South Hadley struggled to keep possession and get shots on goal for most of the game. Time and time again, the Tigers made defensive stops only to lose the ball on the clear with an errant pass over the middle of the field.

South Hadley scored early in the second quarter to make it 3-1, but didn’t score again for 25 minutes of game time as the Brownies built a 9-1 lead through three quarters.

The Tigers finally came alive in the final frame. Owen Dawson, who recorded his 200th career point last week, dished it to Ethan Roy at the doorstep, and the senior attack snuck it in at the 9:40 mark. Two and a half minutes later, Roy snaked in between five defenders across the face of goal to make it 9-3.

“After that, everyone’s like ‘wow, look what we can do,’” South Hadley head coach Jeff Marion said. “And then they start to do it. It’s really having confidence in themselves and in their teammates.”

The Tigers went on a tear across the next few minutes of game time, spurred by Noah Marion’s faceoff success. After five faceoff wins in the first three quarters, he won five in the fourth quarter alone. 

A minute and change after Roy’s second goal, Sly Curto got on the scoresheet. A minute after that, Dawson followed Curto’s goal with his first goal of the game. And a minute after his first goal, Dawson scored again, this time on a deep shot into the top left corner to cut Agawam’s lead to 9-6. 

“That’s how we can play,” Marion said. “I’ve seen that fourth quarter and us play that way, but it’s in spurts.”

South Hadley had two more great chances in the final minutes to add to their tally, but Agawam scored with two minutes left to stretch the lead to four and then held the ball to the final whistle to take the win.

Roy, Curto and Dawson each finished with two goals. Roy also finished with two assists and Dawson recorded one. Allen saved 13 shots in goal.

West Springfield 14, Amherst 6 — Skyler Ferro netted five of the Hurricanes’ six goals on Friday, with Tre Bowman tallying the other.

Sawyer Ferro added an assist for Amherst in the loss.

Pittsfield 15, St. Mary’s 6 – Liam Ramos (four goals) and Chris Rowbotham (two goals) made up all of the scoring for the St. Mary’s-Hampshire co-op.

Baseball

Monument Mountain 11, Amherst 2 – Thatcher Rudnik and Elijah Rubinstein each drove in a run and Matt Vassallo went 2-for-3 at the plate. Rubinstein and Spencer Waite toed the rubber for the ‘Canes.

Monson 11, Easthampton 5 – The Eagles played their first seven-inning game but fell to 1-6 after allowing seven runs in the second inning. They got one back in the third and two each in the fourth and fifth. Anthony Incampo scored twice and Jason Sigda reached base three times.

Hampshire 13, Granby 2 (5) — Nine runs in the top of the second inning set the tone for the Raiders, as they breezed by the Rams in five innings on Friday.

Drew Thompson’s three-hit, four-RBI day paced Hampshire, and he also stepped on the hill to fan 10 batters in five innings of work to earn the win.

Brandon Carillon, Nik Misiaszek, Anthony Santiago and Jaedyn Pike each tallied a hit for Granby, with Santiago driving in the two runs.

Smith Voc 10, McCann Tech 3 – Smith Voc piled on four runs in the second inning and five in the fourth to win its fifth straight after a loss in the season opener. Patrick Millin scored three runs on three hits and James Lavalee knocked in three runs on a pair of hits. In six innings of work on the mound, Lavalee allowed three earned runs on seven hits and four walks while striking out 12.

Softball

Turners Falls 6, Frontier 3 — The Redhawks took a 3-1 lead into the seventh, but the Thunder stormed back with five runs to gain control of the contest on Friday.

Frontier out-hit Turners Falls but left 12 runners on base, including bases loaded on two separate occasions. Skyler Steele had a two-run double to help the Hawks take the lead in the sixth.

Smith Academy 12, Ware 11 (8) — The Falcons are finally in the win column, with their first win of the season coming in dramatic fashion in eight innings.

Caitlin Graves and Meghan Bell each hit a home run, Emma Moynihan scored three runs and ripped two hits including a double while Emilia Neves collected two hits two runs one RBI. Marissa Belina added three hits, three RBI two runs in a strong effort offensively in the win.

SICS 17, Granby 10 — Katie Grabherr drove in three runs and Cassie Flaherty drove in two while scoring twice in the Rams’ loss.

Jordyn Placzek drew three walks and scored two runs for Granby, while Flaherty, Grabherr and Sophia Gagnon each recorded two hits.

Pittsfield 2, South Hadley 0 — The Tigers only recorded two hits on Friday, with Ara Powers and Ryley McMahon accounting for one apiece.

Ella Schaeffer had another dominant day in the circle for South Hadley, striking out 11 on one walk and two runs – but South Hadley couldn’t generate any run support for the junior ace.

Girls lacrosse

Amherst 18, Lee 7 — Offensive outbursts are becoming second nature for the ‘Canes, and 18 more goals on Friday catapulted them to an easy win over the Wildcats.

Kiko Bhowmik’s six goals and two assists paced Amherst, while Talia Sadiq (four goals), Francesca Sloan (three goals, three assists) and Abi Como (three goals) tallied hat tricks of their own for the victors. Amherst is 7-0.

Pope Francis 20, Granby 13 — The Rams notched a baker’s dozen goals, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace with the whopping 20 piece the Cardinals put up on Friday.

Kalli White found the back of the net a game-high eight times, and Ava Loughman, Mylin Laliberte and McKenna Zumbruski each tallied twice for Granby. Faith Ramos added four saves in the cage.

Girls tennis

Mohawk Trail 3, Frontier 2 — The Warriors won two of the three singles matches, led by Palmer King’s 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles over Frontier's Ella Sibley on Friday in South Deerfield.

Hazel Foucault took a 6-4, 6-0 win at second singles for the visitors, getting past Frontier’s Thanushi Ratnatuge. Frontier’s Esther Ehle was a 6-0, 6-3 winner at No. 3 singles over Mohawk Trail’s Kiera Taylor. The Redhawks won second doubles via forfeit.

Chicopee Comp 4, Holyoke 1 — Lily Lawrence picked up the lone Purple Knights’ win in what was the match of the day.

Lawrence won a 6-1, 6-7, 13-11 three-set marathon at third singles to pick up a victory for Holyoke. Allison Jourdan (6-3, 6-3) fell in a hard-fought match at first singles as well.

Amherst 5, Westfield 0 — The ‘Canes secured their second win in as many days with a sweep of the Bombers. Sofia DaSilva-Askew recorded a 6-0, 6-0 win for the second match in a row in first singles. Daniella Sherman won 7-5, 6-2 in second singles and Aliya Osman won 6-1, 6-0 in third singles.

First doubles pair Emma Learned-Miller and Mahima Ganesan didn’t drop a game en route to a victory and second doubles pair Janaki Ewoton and Elena Ruíz won their match 6-3, 6-3.

PVCICS 5, Chicopee 0 — Elisa Shinn won 6-1, 6-4 in first singles, Nina Zozri won 6-1, 6-1 in second singles and Lien Powers-Moran won a thriller in third singles, 6-1, 0-6, 10-2.

In first doubles, Eloise Tolejo and Sabine Loinaz won their match 6-1, 6-1, and in second doubles, Chelsea Chartier and Kendall Christenson won 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

Boys tennis

Northampton 5, Ludlow 0 — Reilly and Galen Fowles dominated at first and second singles, with Reilly earning a 6-0, 6-0 win and Galen grabbing a 6-2, 6-0 victory.

Elsewhere, Durrell Patrick won 6-1, 6-1 at third singles while Oliver Levine and Reed O’Connor (first doubles) won 6-0, 6-0 and Kaz Sugihara and Eli Wool (second doubles) were 6-1, 6-1 victors.

Boys volleyball

Granby 3, Ware 2 — The Rams came back from down two sets to beat Ware 23-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-12, 15-10.

Michael Swanigan led Granby with 23 kills, Jake Gagnon contributed 10 and Braeden Gallagher added in five more, in addition to seven aces. Gagnon paced the Rams with 18 assists.

Longmeadow 3, Frontier 0 — The Redhawks fell in straight sets 25-21, 25-20, 25-17, but co-head coach Courtney Parent said she was “proud of how hard the guys worked.”

Tavo Vincent-Warner tallied 21 assists and Aleks Carey  led Frontier with 14 kills.

Late Thursday results

Boys tennis

Belchertown 4, Agawam 1 — It was just another day at the office for Trevor Weiss at   first singles, as the Orioles star sailed to a 6-0, 6-0 sweep on Thursday.

Other Belchertown winners included Jake Gormely at third singles (6-1, 6-0), Cam Kaczowka and Tyler Burrows at No. 1 doubles (6-1, 6-1) and Liam Sherwood and Mason Pobgielo at second doubles (6-1, 6-1), as the O’s only dropped a combined five games across the four winning matches.

Softball

Gateway 7, St. Mary’s 6 (9) — After surrendering three runs in the top of the seventh to go down 6-3, the Gators responded with three  runs of their own to tie the game and send it to extras.

Kaitlyn Maynard tallied her second hit in the ninth inning to bring home the winning run in walk-off fashion for Gateway. Willow Hicks added three hits, while Angela Magyar struck out 13 in the circle in the win.

Boys volleyball

South Hadley 3, Baystate Academy 2 — All five sets were necessary in the Tigers’ win on Thursday afternoon, as they crawled out of a 2-1 hole and won the next two sets in dominant fashion.

Set scores were 25-21, 17-25, 16-25, 25-5, 15-9.

Beau Briere led a balanced attack with nine kills, while Christian Aponte (seven), Connor Racine-Rocheleau (seven) and Jonathan Grim (six) all put down a handful of kills as well. Junoon Giridhar added 20 assists and 17 digs.

Youth sports

Softball

Northampton 8, Gateway 3 — The 12U Blue Devils improved to 2-0 as Avery Hicks pitched four innings and fanned seven Gators batters in the win.

Sadie Muszynski hit a double that plated three runs, while Annalia Palladino, Julia Lloret and Lucy Gillett each connected for hits for Northampton.

Baseball

Amherst 12, Northampton 1 — The ‘Canes handled the Blue Devils on opening day of the Koufax Division on Thursday, as Cyrus Arwade struck out nine batters in three innings while only giving up one base runner.

Amherst had a balanced offensive attack led by Brady Klaes, who had two hits and an RBI. Kai Feldstein also tallied a pair of base knocks and scored two runs.

Northampton’s Ryan Michna ripped a double as part of his two-hit day, while Aiden Hodges drove in the Blue Devils’ lone run, which was scored by Chase Dionne.