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By CAROLYN BROWN

A new vegan food festival is about to take root in the Pioneer Valley.

By GARRETT COTE

SPRINGFIELD — A frantic pace filled the third quarter of the Western Massachusetts Class C girls lacrosse championship on Tuesday evening at Berte Field. Only 10 total goals were scored in the first half between No. 1 South Hadley and No. 3 Wahconah, and the two teams erupted for a dozen in the third frame alone.

By GARRETT COTE

WESTFIELD — The Hampshire Regional softball team is back where it belongs.

By GARRETT COTE

Just a week ago, the South Hadley and Frontier softball teams met in their regular-season finales, knowing that there was a strong possibility of meeting in the Western Massachusetts Class B semifinals a handful of days later. And after the No. 3 Tigers and No. 2 Redhawks earned decisive wins in their respective quarterfinal bouts, sure enough, they were back on the diamond on Sunday – battling it out for a spot in the Class B championship.

By GARRETT COTE

WILLIAMSTOWN — Conditions were less-than-ideal at the Western Massachusetts Div. 2 Track and Field Championship on Saturday at Mount Greylock Regional High School, but Hampshire County athletes persevered and shined through the heavy fog, clouds and occasional rain to turn in some terrific performances.

By GARRETT COTE

SOUTH HADLEY — The pouring rain didn’t seem to slow down the No. 1 Northampton boys lacrosse team on Thursday afternoon at South Hadley High School, as the Blue Devils used goals from seven different players and a monster defensive effort to cruise past No. 4 South Hadley in the Western Massachusetts Class B semifinals.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — When the Northampton and Longmeadow boys tennis teams met for the first time this season, the Lancers grabbed a 4-1 victory back on April 10. Three weeks ago, the two sides matched up again – this time the Blue Devils earning a 5-0 win. The rubber match just so happened to be in the Western Mass. Class A finals at Smith College on Wednesday afternoon that felt more like fall than spring.

By RYAN AMES and GARRETT COTE

HADLEY — Trailing 6-0 entering the sixth inning, the Granby softball team gave its best shot at a comeback by rattling off a pair of runs and putting base runners on, but Hopkins Academy’s ace Cassandra Dion shut the door. The Golden Hawks added one more insurance run in the bottom half of the frame and went on to win 7-2 in the Western Massachusetts Class D quarterfinals on Wednesday afternoon.

By RYAN AMES

AMHERST — The Amherst girls tennis team outlasted Ludlow, 4-1, in a marathon match on Monday at the Amherst Middle School Courts during the Class A semifinals of the girls tennis Western Mass. Tournament. The second-seeded Hurricanes took two pivotal points against the No. 3 Lions with match wins in second singles and first doubles — matches that took about two hours — to advance to the Class A championship against top-seeded Longmeadow.

By SAM DRYSDALE

Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday nominated two new Superior Court judges, both of whom her office pointed out live in western Massachusetts, after a group of 20 lawmakers called on the governor to fill several vacant seats in the area.

By KEVIN HODGSON and LESLIE SKANTZ-HODGSON

All politics is local, so goes the adage, often attributed to Massachusetts’ own, “Tip” O’Neill.

By ANDREW MOREHOUSE and CHARLOTTE BONEY

The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts recently received troubling news: the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has canceled a portion of its food deliveries through August — an estimated $440,000 worth of food we were counting on. While this represents only 1% of our total distribution last year, it’s a serious shortfall that will force us to draw on emergency reserves to purchase food. Even more concerning are the proposed federal cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). These cuts would deepen food insecurity across western Massachusetts and further strain our already overburdened food assistance network.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — More than a half-dozen restaurants in Hampshire County are partnering with survival centers in Northampton and Amherst to provide free meals to those facing food insecurity in the region as part of a larger initiative taking place statewide.

By EMILEE KLEIN

SOUTH HADLEY — As a former Girl Scout, Celia Overby hoped her 6-year-old daughter would find a sense of self, responsibility and community with a local troop just as she did during her childhood, but no troop in the area was accepting new scouts her daughter’s age.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

CHESTERFIELD — Kate Reid, formerly the assistant director of the town’s Council on Aging (COA), will be stepping in as interim leader and says she will use the time to “hold place.”

By GARRETT COTE

WESTFIELD — It will go down as the greatest comeback in Granby boys basketball program history.

By GARRETT COTE

WESTFIELD — It wasn’t a secret that the No. 2 Northampton girls basketball team would have its hands full against top-seeded Springfield Central in Saturday’s PVIAC Class A final. The Blue Devils had lost 10 straight to the Golden Eagles coming in, including a pair of decisive defeats already this winter.

By GARRETT COTE

A trio of Hampshire County basketball programs have made it to championship Saturday, as the Northampton and South Hadley girls teams and Granby boys team will compete in their respective title games looking to raise hardware. These same three squads all competed in the Western Mass. finals last winter and are once again back in the big game.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — The third quarter of Wednesday night’s Western Mass. Class A semifinal between No. 2 Northampton and No. 3 Minnechaug marked the most points the Blue Devils had surrendered in a frame in the sectional tournament. Northampton led by 10 at halftime, and a Bri Heafey triple boosted its advantage to 25-12. But the Blue Devils watched their once 13-point lead slip to six as a stretch of defensive lapses allowed the Falcons to go on a 10-3 run.

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

NORTHFIELD — After pulling out a 53-50 win in the opening round of the Western Mass. Class D Tournament against Monson on Monday, the Smith Academy boys basketball team ran into a buzzsaw in the semifinals. 

By GARRETT COTE

GRANBY — Prior to Tuesday’s tip off between the No. 1 Granby boys basketball team and No. 4 Mahar in the PVIAC Class C semifinals, Rams head coach Dylan Dubuc only had one thing on his mind — and if his team could execute it, he didn’t see an upset happening.