MIAA tourneys: Hopkins Academy baseball, softball both advance to Round of 16

Staff Reports

Published: 06-05-2023 9:20 PM

The Hopkins Academy softball team needed just five innings to earn its spot in the MIAA Division 5 Round of 16 on Monday.

Cassidi Mushenski hit a walk-off single to drive in the winning two runs in a 13-1 final against No. 26 Academy of Notre Dame in the Round of 32 in Hadley.

No. 7 Hopkins will host No. 10 Maynard on Thursday at 4 p.m. for a spot in the quarterfinals. 

Kaelyn Zakaitis threw five innings for the Golden Hawks and struck out seven batters in the win. She also went 2-for-3, drilling a double and a single. Taylor Barry went 3-for-4 at the plate and snagged three RBIs, and Izzy Palmisano also finished with three hits for the Golden Hawks. 

Baseball

Div. 3 Round of 32

No. 2 Medfield 9, No. 31 Belchertown 0 – Five different batters got hits for the Orioles, but they couldn’t solve No. 2 Medfield in a shutout loss in the Round of 32. 

Aiden Torna had one hit and a walk and Brady Perkins, Joseph Mankowsky, Josh Misiaszek and Derek Gould also got a hit each. 

Pitcher Perkins struck out one batter and walked six while allowing three hits in 1.2 innings. Evan Ferguson struck out six and walked five in 4.1 innings. 

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Div. 4 Round of 32

No. 9 Northbridge 4, No. 24 South Hadley 3 – With the game knotted 1-1 going into the seventh inning, the Tigers scored twice in the top of the seventh to take their first lead of the game. 

But South Hadley couldn’t stop a Northbridge comeback, and the No. 9 seed scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to earn the walk-off win and a spot in the final 16. 

Jack Maziarz had a hit and two RBIs for the Tigers and Logan Carpenter notched a double and an RBI. 

Pitcher Matthew Drobiak struck out seven batters on the mound for South Hadley. 

No. 14 Tyngsborough 5, No. 19 Hampshire 1 – The Raiders had the bases loaded in the fifth inning but couldn’t bring home enough runs against Tyngsborough. 

Jack Boyle threw eight strikeouts and allowed three earned runs. Drew Thompson pitched 1.1 innings in relief, allowing no runs. 

Edward Przybyla finished with an RBI single and Liam Pond, Mikey Thompson, Zach Phakos, Jacob Sicard and Cody Gaida also had a hit apiece. 

Div. 5 Round of 32

No. 9 Hopkins Academy 6, No. 24 McCann Tech 3 – It took both teams awhile to get going, but Hopkins scored all six of its runs in the final three innings to secure a spot in the Round of 16. 

The Golden Hawks will travel to face No. 8 Douglas on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. 

After McCann Tech scored twice in the top of the fifth, Hopkins answered with four runs of its own in the bottom of the inning. The Hawks notched two more runs in the sixth inning to put the game out of reach. 

“We came alive as soon as they scored,” Hopkins head coach Dan Vreeland said.

Patrick Fitzgibbons went 1-for-2 with two walks, two runs and an RBI and Chace Earle knocked in two runs with a single in the sixth inning. 

Alex West also hit a two-run single in the fifth to give Hopkins the go-ahead run to take the lead. 

Girls lacrosse

Div. 4 Round of 32

No. 1 Ipswich 17, No. 32 Belchertown 2 – Adrien Wise scored both of the Orioles goals and goalie Lana Krol made five saves in a loss to top-seeded Ipswich. 

Youth sports

Baseball 

Northampton 2, Amherst 1 – Northampton had a walk-off win in the Suburban Koufax division on Monday evening. 

Charlie Agostino-Pierce had a sacrifice fly that brought in Gus Frey for the game-winning run. 

Chris Wisemore threw four innings for Northampton, striking out four and allowing no hits. Corey Kirkendall came on in relief, allowing one run and a walk in three innings with three strikeouts. 

Amherst’s Greg King threw four innings, allowing no hits. Oscar Reich had Amherst’s only hit of the night. 

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