Hornets Bow Out in Division 5
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Sophia Delvalle singled to left to drive in a run in the top of the seventh that sent the David Prouty softball team to a 5-4 win over McCann Tech in the Division 5 State Tournament on Monday.
On a day when the 14th-seeded Hornets turned two double plays and committed no errors in the field, the biggest defensive play came from the visitor’s Ava Rossik.
McCann Tech had a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the third with runners on second and third with two out.
Addison Pause hit a shot to left-center that appeared destined to break the game wide open. But Rossik charged hard and made the catch to end the inning.
“We struggled a couple of times this season leaving girls on base, and that’s probably one of our biggest downfalls, leaving them out there,” McCann Tech coach Aubrey Thurston said. “You know, I had some downfalls as a coach being really aggressive on the bases to get them to second and third. Sometimes it paid off, and sometimes it didn’t.”
McCann Tech (11-6) started the game with a run in the bottom of the first.
Avery Lane led off by reaching on an infield single, stole second and third bases and came home on an errant throw.
In the second inning, the Hornets earned a couple of runs with a two-out rally.
Aiden Champney got things started with a single up the middle and scored all the way from first when Addison Pause lined a double down the left-field line. Pause came home on the Panthers’ second error of the game to make it 3-0 going to the third.
In the bottom of the third, Shaylee Lawson led off with a single. She stole second and took third on a wild pitch before Ryleigh Rathbun lifted a sacrifice fly to bring her home with two out.
Gabby Driscoll and Chanplney (3-for-3) hit back-to-back singles and were standing on second and third when Rossik ran down Pause’s flyball to end the rally.
The Hornets still led by four runs until David Prouty strung together five hits, including a double from No. 9 hitter Callista Clark to score four runs and tie the game.
It stayed 4-4 until the seventh, which started with the first two Panthers being hit by pitches.
With one out, Delvalle delivered the game-winning single, giving the visitors their first lead of the game and sending them to the Round of 16 to face eighth-seeded Hopedale, an 8-3 winner over Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon.
The Hornets got five strikeouts and one walk from Avery Lane, who went the distance in the circle.
Like most of the McCann Tech players, Lane, a ninth-grader, figures to be back in 2026.
The lone exception is captain and first baseman Paige Rochelo
Thurston said Rochelo has meant everything to the program.
“She’s a great player, but she’s an even better teammate,” Thurston said. “I’ve been lucky to see her grow over the past three years, not only as a player but as a role model for the younger girls.
And she’s held us together the last couple of games, defensively. If you’ve seen any of the games, she’s always stretching or laying out or doing what she has to do to get us into that next inning. And her at-bats this season have been great.
“It’s going to be a really big hole to fill when she leaves.”