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By GARRETT COTE

WORCESTER — Since the inception of the new statewide tournament format, Joseph Case has been a thorn in Hampshire Regional’s side. The Cardinals knocked off the Raiders in the 2023 state championship game, and again defeated them in last season’s quarterfinal matchup en route to a second-straight MIAA Division 4 crown.

By GARRETT COTE

WESTHAMPTON — A dozen Western Massachusetts titles – including 15 Western Mass. final appearances – in 18 seasons, and two state championships (2015 and 2016) to go along with it. That’s the Hampshire Regional softball program’s resume since head coach Brian McGan took over in 2008. Raiders players of the past two decades only know what it’s like to play in high-leverage games. That’s all they have done under McGan.

By GARRETT COTE

WORCESTER — The Hampshire Regional softball team has played like a No. 1 seed all year, and when it earned the top mark in the MIAA Division 4 state tournament as the brackets were released in late May, the Raiders only elevated their already magnificent play on the field.

By GARRETT COTE

SOUTH DEERFIELD — For the third time in just over two weeks, the Frontier and South Hadley softball teams squared off – this edition coming in the MIAA Division 4 Round of 16 with a trip to the quarterfinals on the line on Wednesday afternoon.

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 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 GARRETT COTE

BELCHERTOWN — Make it seven wins in its last eight games for the Belchertown softball team, which came out of the gates firing with 13 runs in the first inning and cruised to a 16-0 victory over Hampden Charter on Wednesday afternoon.

By RYAN AMES and GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — The Amherst Regional softball team picked up its first win of the season on Tuesday, beating Gateway Regional, 21-2.

By GARRETT COTE

SOUTH HADLEY — The South Hadley softball team’s job seems pretty simple: Score three runs, and you’re probably going to win the game.

By GARRETT COTE

WESTHAMPTON — Becky Dubay could never pack lunches for her four daughters without hearing some sort of complaint. Whether it was her oldest daughter, Josie, her twins, Raegan and Ryanne, or her youngest, Kalin, each of them would always let their mom know if something about their lunch wasn’t right before she shipped them off to elementary school.

By RYAN AMES

HADLEY – A near-milestone performance from Hopkins Academy pitcher Cassie Dion wasn’t enough as the Golden Hawks softball team fell to Franklin Tech, 4-2, on Wednesday. Dion needed eight strikeouts against the Eagles to become the first player in school history to reach 400 for her career, however the Hawks’ ace came up one short to sit at 399 career Ks following the defeat.

By RYAN AMES

The Orioles have taken flight.

By GARRETT COTE

May is officially upon us, and with that, so is tournament season. The Western Massachusetts baseball and softball tournaments will begin later this month. Some teams are over halfway through their regular season schedules, and others have a loaded back-half slate to make up for a handful of rain outs earlier this spring.

By GARRETT COTE

HATFIELD — The Granby softball team has averaged 14.8 runs per game over its last seven contests. The Rams’ bats have been on a tear. That average went up on Friday.

Cassie Flaherty has been starting for four years on the Granby softball team, and on Wednesday, she stamped her name in the Rams record book.

By GARRETT COTE

WESTHAMPTON — Large groups of Hamsphire Regional students and faculty, as well as the families of four student-athletes, piled into the school’s library on Friday afternoon, as Chloe Moynihan, Elijah Picard, CC Thayer and Mary Thibault signed their National Letters of Intent to further their academic and athletic careers at the collegiate level.

By GARRETT COTE

It’s once again that time of the season. Some teams are about a quarter of the way through their spring sports schedules, the cold weather seems to be in the rearview and high school notebooks are back! We began doing a weekly basketball notebook in the winter, as well as an all-winter sports notebook, and both were well received. So, here we are again with a spring edition.

By GARRETT COTE

WESTHAMPTON — As is always the case when western Massachusetts heavyweights Hampshire Regional and Greenfield meet on the softball diamond, high-level pitching was on display Monday afternoon. The Green Wave rely on senior MacKenzie Paulin, a Merrimack commit, while the Raiders typically give the ball to sophomore Ryanne Dubay, who will have her fair share of college offers when the time comes.

By GARRETT COTE

WESTHAMPTON — The spring sports season is back, and with that so is Hampshire Regional softball. Since 2020, Hampshire has been in every Western Massachusetts tournament championship, and the Raiders have won three of them. They three-peated from 2021-2023 before losing to Pittsfield in last year’s Class B title game.

By GARRETT COTE

WESTHAMPTON — Runs were at a premium through five innings between the Hampshire and Frontier softball teams on Friday afternoon, as star pitchers Ryanne Dubay (Raiders) and Raine Wonsey (Redhawks) dueled it out in the circle. Heading into the bottom of the sixth with the game tied at one apiece, Hampshire head coach Brian McGan turned to small ball – the exact way his team scored its first run.