Sofia Holden stole the show both in the circle and at the plate on Tuesday afternoon.

The Amherst softball senior struck out 21 Pope Francis batters and reached base three times while driving in two runs as the Hurricanes defeated the Cardinals 4-1 on the road to improve to 1-1 on the season.

Heading into the seventh inning, Amherst held a 2-0 lead. The Hurricanes added two key insurance runs for Holden, and they were able to hold on despite surrendering a run in the bottom half of the frame.

Rosalee Davis went 1-for-2 with a single and a walk, scoring half of Amherst’s four runs on Tuesday. Mia Shaw added the only other hit for the ‘Canes, and Nina Holden drove in a run as well.

Amherst drew nine walks in the win while Holden only awarded three free passes to Pope Francis.

The Hurricanes (1-1) host St. Mary’s on Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m.

SICS 9, Granby 3 — The Rams grabbed a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but it wasn’t enough against a hot Bulldogs offense, which scored the game’s next six runs en route to an independent victory on Tuesday afternoon.

Kaitlyn Curran recorded two singles and scored a run, Jordyn Placzek ripped a double and reached base with a walk, and Scarlett LaRose added a single to pace Granby’s offense.

Girls tennis

Frontier 3, Greenfield 2 — Redhawks Araceli McCoy and Esther Ehle earned a 6-0, 6-1 victory at No. 2 doubles over Greenfield’s Maddie Mosher and Adele Bross, helping Frontier pull out a close win over the Green Wave on Tuesday in South Deerfield. 

Hashini Ratnatunge picked up a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 triumph at No. 1 singles over Amy Mihailicenco while Ella Sibley earned a 6-3, 6-4 win over Karinna Kostov at No. 3 singles for Frontier. 

Baseball

Amherst 15, Ludlow 6 (6) — The Hurricanes brought hot bats to their game against the Lions and erupted for 15 runs in a win on Tuesday afternoon. The game ended an inning short due to weather and daylight.

Thatcher Rudnik allowed one hit and two runs over four innings of work, and Spencer Waite finished things off in relief.

At the plate, Elijah Rubenstein, Aryeh Rubenstein and Nate Ziomek collected two base knocks apiece, with Aryeh Rubenstein adding two RBIs.

Pioneer 11, Easthampton 0 (5) — The Eagles were limited to just two hits by Pioneer’s Ben Werner in a season-opening loss on Tuesday at Nonotuck Park.

Jason Sigda and Christopher Gallagher each had a hit for Easthampton.

Wahconah 5, South Hadley 2 — A three-run fifth inning opened the game up for the Warriors, as the Tigers couldn’t generate enough offense to get past Wahconah in an opening day loss on Tuesday afternoon.

Logan Carpenter was the only South Hadley hitter to record multiple hits, while Matt Drobiak, Jack Maziarz and Ryan Netkovick added base knocks. Drobiak recorded six strikeouts in four innings on the mound in the loss.

Boys lacrosse

South Hadley 11, Pope Francis 6 — Owen Dawson’s seven-point day led the Tigers to a convincing win over the Cardinals on Tuesday afternoon. Dawson scored three goals and tallied four assists in the win.

Ethan Roy (three assists) and Sly Curto notched hat tricks of their own, while Avery Haber and Gavin Losty each scored a goal apiece. Bennett Allen grabbed nine saves in the cage for South Hadley.

Girls lacrosse

Agawam 12, South Hadley 7 — An impressive four-goal outing from Margaret Watkins wasn’t enough for the Tigers on Tuesday, as the Brownies rattled off a dozen goals to drop South Hadley to 0-2 on the early season.

Eliana Britton (two goals), Rachel Yabra (one goal), Ava Asselin (two assists) and Raquel Losty (one assist) all recorded points for the Tigers as well. Riley Nestor stopped 10 shots in the cage.

Boys volleyball

Granby 3, Chicopee 1 — After dropping the first set on Tuesday, the Rams turned their game up a notch and didn’t let the Pacers get past 15 points over the next three sets en route to a gentlemen’s sweep.

Set scores were 23-25, 25-14, 25-11, 25-14.

Michael Swanigan put down a team-high for 11 kills while adding seven digs, five assists and two aces. Jake Gagnon recorded eight kills, 12 assists, seven digs and six aces in a stat-sheet-stuffing performance.

Weekend results

Amherst girls ultimate

It was a winning weekend for the Amherst girls ultimate team, which went 4-2 overall in action at the Northeast Classic Tournament in Middletown, N.Y.

The Hurricanes picked up wins over RPI (13-1), Colgate (7-3), Connecticut College (9-3) and Colgate again (6-4), while suffering losses to McGill (7-1) and Temple (7-5).