Four runs in the sixth inning, headlined by a two-out, two-run single by Jenna Bobrowski, propelled the South Hadley softball team to a huge 5-4 independent home win over Frontier on Friday afternoon.

Trailing 5-2, the Redhawks fought back to within one thanks to clutch hits from Olivia Machon and Sophia Pinardi and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Skyler Steele, but Tigers ace Ella Schaeffer shut the door in the circle to close things out.

Schaeffer added 13 more strikeouts, and the same week she reached 500 strikeouts for her career, she posted a new school record. The junior now sits at 535 for her career to nab the program mark.

Sophia Butler added two hits, two runs and an RBI at the dish for South Hadley, Grace Matyszewski collected a hit, a run and an RBI while Schaeffer also singled and crossed home plate.

Frontier’s Ashley Taylor tossed six innings, giving up six hits and two walks on seven strikeouts. Taylor also went 2-for-3 at the plate with a triple.

South Hadley (4-1) hosts West Springfield on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m.) in a make up game from earlier this month. The Redhawks (3-4) have the weekend off, then host Wahconah at 4 p.m. on Monday.

Athol 17, Northampton 12 — The Blue Devils erupted for nine runs in the top of the third to take a 9-7 lead, but the Bears responded with eight runs over the next three to jump back ahead for good.

Lily Pelis hit two base knocks and drove in a run, Caroline Riordan tallied two RBI on one hit, while Jada Ne, Ella Subocz, Ella Daillie and Sasha Rodriguez all had one hit and one RBI for Northampton.

Longmeadow 4, Easthampton 2 — The Eagles scored a run in the seventh inning, but their comeback bid fell short in a close two-run loss to the Lancers on the road.

Megan Fickett sprayed two singles and Summer Routhier (RBI), Makenna Slate (run scored), Rosemary Follet, Sophia Faginski and Kayley Downie (run scored) all added hits as well. Follet struck out a dozen Longmeadow batters in the circle.

West Springfield 15, Holyoke 13 — Four runs in the top of the seventh inning wasn’t enough for the Purple Knights to snatch a comeback win from the Terriers on Friday.

Marialis Camacho, Alanna Bonilla, Jayshalee Santos and Jessayra Maldonado each collected two hits for Holyoke, which scored nine runs across the fourth and fifth innings.

Baseball

Amherst 11, Chicopee 2 — Six sixth-inning runs helped the ‘Canes pull away and earn a much-needed win over the Pacers to end a busy week.

Thatcher Rudnik earned the win on the bump, surrendering five hits and two runs over seven innings of work while striking out nine. Matt Vassallo, Neil Cunniffe, Thatcher Rudnik and Elijah Rubinstein each collected two hits, with Vassallo, Cunniffe, Rubinstein and Nate Ziomek each driving in two runs.

 Longmeadow 18, Northampton 5 (5) — The Lancers remained undefeated and improved to 7-0, while the Blue Devils are still searching for win No. 1 as they fell to 0-5. Longmeadow scored 13 runs in the first two innings. 

Matthew Walko racked up three hits (two singles, double) and Bryan Meza Rivera added two (both singles) to lead Northampton’s offense. Aiden Keeling-Lococo drove in two runs with a double in the gap.

Agawam 14, Holyoke 5 — The Brownies scored two in the first, three in the second and four in the third to jump on the Purple Knights early. They would add five more in the fifth to put the game out of reach.

Alexander Robles, Justin Rivera and Jovaughn Rivera tallied two hits each for the Holyoke offense, with Robles coming across to score twice.

Athol 12, Smith Academy 4 — The Falcons dropped to 0-4 with Friday’s loss, as Jake Wilcox’s hit and two RBIs weren’t enough to keep up with a scorching Bears offense.

Garret Willard, Harrison LaFlamme, Robert Slysz and Connor Kowalski each recorded hits as well for Smith Academy.

Greenfield 10, Easthampton 0 (6) — Arthur Fitzpatrick tossed a six-inning no-hitter for the Green Wave in a Suburban League West contest on Friday in Greenfield.

Girls lacrosse

Amherst 20, Chicopee Comp 4 — Four hat tricks paced the Hurricanes to a blowout win on Friday afternoon, as Talia Sadiq (four goals), Abi Como (four goals), Kiko Bhowmik (three goals) and Francesca Sloan (three goals) all had impressive outings.

Zoey Candito and Ivorie Arguin each notched two goals while Evie Donte and Mars Leonard added one goal apiece in the Amherst win.

Hampshire 11, Chicopee 9 — Ryleigh Fennessy paced a balanced Raiders offensive attack on Friday. Fennessy tallied a hat trick while Rylie Simmons, Anna Puttick, Mary Thibault and Dana Warren all scored twice.

Reese O’Connell added an assist and Abby Hennessy collected nine saves in the win.

Boys tennis

PVCICS 3, Palmer 2 — The defending Class C Western Mass. champions were tested on Friday, but the Dragons escaped with a win over the visiting Panthers.

Lee Ferguson (6-0, 6-0) was the only singles winner for PVCICS, but victories at No. 1 doubles by Clayton English and Jack Herman (6-1, 6-0) and No. 2 doubles from Asa Taggert and James Ferrer (forfeit) buoyed PVCICS to victory to improve to 5-0.

Boys volleyball

Westfield 3, Belchertown 0 — The reigning Division 2 state finalist Bombers handed the Orioles a straight-set defeat on Friday evening.

Shea MacLean and Brian Burns each put down four kills and Rainer Kristensen passed out 14 assists for Belchertown.

Agawam 3, Frontier 0 — Tavo Vincent Warner dished 19 assists for the Redhawks in a 25-14, 25-19, 27-25 loss to the Brownies in Agawam on Friday. 

Aleks Carey put down 12 kills, Jack Carey tallied five kills while Will Petrin smashed three kills for Frontier.

Longmeadow 3, Granby 2 — For the first time in 2024, the Rams suffered a loss – but it took one of the best programs in all of western Mass. to hand them it. Granby dropped the first two sets, came back to steal the next two before falling in the fifth.

Set scores were 25-14, 25-16, 23-25, 24-26, 15-8.

Michael Swanigan once again excelled with 16 kills, seven digs and four dimes, while Jake Gagnon (six kills, five digs, 19 assists) and Braedan Gallagher (four kills, seven digs, three assists) also impressed on Friday.

Late Thursday results

Boys lacrosse

Northampton 13, Monson 3 — The Blue Devils are rolling this spring, and yet another offensive outburst helped them to a lopsided win over the Mustangs on Thursday night.

Jackson Oravec and Jack Carpenter posted identical statlines with four goals and one assist apiece, Minti Peterson added three goals and a dime, and both Gabe Grohowski and Keller Mahoney found the back of the net once to round out Northampton’s scoring. Henry Fallon was sharp in the cage, collecting a baker’s dozen 13 saves in the win.

Girls lacrosse

Amherst 7, Hampshire 4  — A four-goal day from Francesca Sloan catapulted the ‘Canes to victory on Thursday.

Abi Como and Thea Binzen each tallied a goal as well for Amherst, while goalie Cedar Conrad collected six saves.

For Hampshire, Anna Puttick put up a hat trick, and Ryleigh Fennessy netted a goal as well. Abby Hennessy stopped nine shots in the Raiders loss.

  Boys volleyball

Granby 3, Duggan 0 — It was smooth sailing for the Rams on Thursday, as they held Duggan to less than 15 points in all three frames in a straight-set sweep on the road.

Set scores were 25-11, 25-13, 25-9.

A dozen more kills from Michael Swanigan led the way, while Braedan Gallagher (six kills) and Jake Gagnon (four kills, 16 assists) combined for 10 kills. Seven different Granby players recorded aces in the win, led by Gallagher’s game high of four.