By HANNAH BEVIS

WORCESTER – As they huddled under the dugout to avoid the downpour of rain on Friday, the No. 2 Hampshire Regional softball team had to take all the adrenaline and energy that came with playing for a state championship and pack it away for a couple of days. 

A rain delay halted the MIAA Division 4 softball final, which was originally hosted at UMass on Friday evening. The atmosphere felt much like a Raiders home game, close enough to Westhampton for the Hampshire fan contingent to make the short drive. 

The game was moved to central Massachusetts at Worcester State University’s Rockwood Field on late Sunday afternoon, and Hampshire struggled to get that energy back when the game resumed. The Raiders fell 7-2 in the final to No. 1 Joseph Case, which got redemption from last season after falling in the state championship game to Amesbury. 

“I think it was hard because we picked off where we left off, it was kind of a bad start due to rain and stuff like that,” Joss Mettey said. “That kind of killed us a little bit.” 

A senior, Mettey threw everything she had at Case, striking out three batters and walking three, with two of those walks coming during the early innings of Friday’s rain-drenched game before action was halted in the bottom of the second.

The difference-maker for Case came in the third inning, when Brooke Orton blasted a grand slam with the bases loaded to give the top-seeded side a 4-0 lead.

Megan Smith singled, stole second and then moved over to third on a bunt from Alexandria Yost that Hampshire couldn’t scoop up in time. After Yost stole second, the Raiders chose to intentionally walk Olivia Silva to load the bases and give them a force play to get an out. Orton put an end to that with her home run, clearing the bases and giving Case a huge momentum boost. 

Despite being in a 4-0 hole, Hampshire wasn’t going to give up easy. The Raiders answered back immediately in the top of the fourth, notching a pair of runs to pull within 4-2. 

“I told them when they came back in, if we get two [runs] out of this inning, it's only 4-2 and we're halfway home,” Hampshire coach Brian McGan said. “And we did, so that momentum swung back to us.” 

Mettey drilled a line drive single to open the two-run fourth, with pinch runner Kalin Dubay subbing in for her on first. Teagan Charles brought the Hampshire dugout alive with a blast to right field that sent the Case right fielder tumbling over trying to follow it, and Dubay scored to get Hampshire on the board. Charles scored on a single from Emma Czarniecki with smart base running, but a double play on Raegan Dubay’s at-bat ended the inning. 

Case pitcher Hailey Berube finished with one walk and three strikeouts, but while she didn’t rack up a ton of Ks, the Hampshire batters had a hard time putting the ball on the ground. Many of the hits that the Raiders got were high pop-ups that, for the most part, Case was able to safely haul in for easy outs. 

“We knew she was good. We got to see her – that was kind of a good part that we played ahead of time [on Friday], we got to see her a little bit,” Czarniecki said. “We had a game plan… but I'd say she out-threw us.”

Case added to its lead in the sixth inning, starting off with a double from Skye Dupre and not looking back from there. A pair of doubles, a single and a walk gave Case enough to notch three more runs, two of them driven in by Jamie Moniz, who also scored the third run of the inning on a single from Yost to make it 7-2.

With their backs against the wall, the Raiders looked like they might get something going in the seventh. With two outs, eighth-grader Ryanne Dubay sent the ball soaring into center field, picking up a double and breathing new life into the club. Fellow eighth-grader Rachael Hickox came within a step of a single in her last at-bat, but a speedy play from Case’s shortstop was too fast even for the speedy lefty, and Case walked away with the state title. 

Though the outcome wasn’t what they wanted, the Raiders will remember this season for a long time. They went into the spring with a lot of question marks surrounding their younger team, but the talent and heart they’ve displayed has shown everyone that they’re still a team to be reckoned with. 

“I had a lot of fun this year. It's definitely a senior year I’m gonna remember forever, so I’m thankful for that,” Czarniecki said. 

Hannah Bevis can be reached at hbevis@gazettenet.com. Follow her on Twitter @Hannah_Bevis1.

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