NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The McCann Tech softball team Monday rallied for eight runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to earn a 19-18 win over Mount Greylock in the quarter-finals of the Western Massachusetts Class C Tournament.
In a game where the teams combined for 29 walks and four hit batters, the winning run came home in the most appropriate way possible, when the Hornets’ Miranda Ranzoni was hit by a pitch to plate Nora Kondel, who herself was hit by a pitch three batters earlier.
The Hornets got just two hits in the game-winning rally, but they were big ones.
Aidan Champney (3-for-4) led off the inning with a triple to give McCann Tech a jolt with the score 18-11.
Ranzoni hit an RBI single up the middle in the middle of the rally.
Emma Lemire and Alexis Lemanski split time in the circle for the Hornets, combining to walk nine and strike out three.
Mount Greylock did most of its damage with the 14 hits it generated, including RBI doubles from Mila Marcisz (2-for-5) and Malia Koffi (1-for-3).
The Hornets made the most of their seven hits on a day when the McCann Tech bench was preaching patience at the plate.
“[Assistant coach Lou Moser] and I kept telling them, ‘You are seeing a strike before you swing,’ “ McCann Tech coach Robin Finnegan said. “And a few of them didn’t listen to us. That’s what frustrates us.
“I have a great bunch of kids. I love them all, But sometimes, they’re just like, ‘La de da.’ [Mount Greylock] didn’t have the pitching, unfortunately for them. But they can hit the ball. I knew that was gonna happen.”
Mount Greylock scored double digit runs for the ninth time this year – and the third time in a loss.
“The walk thing has really been what’s held us back this year,” Mount Greylock coach Mark Pierson said. “And we have all new pitchers. So they’re doing great so far. We just keep working on it.”
The Hornets had a 7-4 lead through two innings after answering two-run rallies by Mount Greylock in their first two trips to the plate.
In the second, Ryleigh Rathbun and Champney each drove in a run in a four-run rally to put the Hornets up by three.
Mount Greylock answered in the top of the third with a six-run rally keyed by Koffi’s two-run double to go up, 10-7.
The Mounties scored seven more in the top of the fifth to take a 17-8 lead. A.J. Pelkey had a two-run single, and Kayleigh Jaros and Kelsey MacHaffie each drove in a run during that stretch.
McCann Tech hung around, getting a run on Champney’s bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the fifth to make it 17-9 and an RBI single from Paige Rochelo in a two-run sixth to get within seven runs at 18-11.
Lemanski pitched around a leadoff error in the top of the seventh to get her team back in the dugout with a seven-run deficit.
Ten different Hornets reached base then reached base in the winning rally as they scored eight runs before they made their second out.
Fourth-seeded McCann Tech (11-4) moves on to the regional semi-finals against either No. 1 Greenfield or No. 8 Westfield Tech, who play on Tuesday.
Mount Greylock (8-11) finishes the regular season later this week against an opponent to be announced.
