Wahconah Tops Mount Greylock in Season Opener

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – After Mount Greylock scored a pair of runs to cut into a 6-0 deficit in the fifth inning, Wahconah softball coach Dustin Belcher exhorted his players to get those runs back.

 

His team went above and beyond.

 

Wahconah exploded for six runs in the top of the sixth to break the game open en route to a 16-5 win on opening day for both teams.

 

Sammie Kaley, who earlier hit a three-run homer to help establish the six-run lead, doubled in a pair of runs, and Marlee Arnhold and Kenadi Arnhold drove in two runs apiece to help balloon the lead to 12-2.

 

Mount Greylock kept its offense cranking in the late innings, but Wahconah hung four runs on the board in the seventh to keep the Mounties at arm’s length.

 

Kaley led Wahconah’s offense, going 3-for-4 with six RBIs.

 

Marlee and Kenadi Arnhold each had a pair of hits in a 10-hit attack for the visitors.

 

“This is our second time, really, on a field,” Belcher said afterward. “We’ve been out a couple of more times on grass. I think being a little bit of a veteran group helps. Situation-wise, we’re able to build off of last year.

 

“We knew that last year was kind of a building year. … I loved the way we were aggressive, too. I thought we did some really good things on the base paths today.”

 

Harper Keay cruised through the first four innings in the circle for Wahconah.

 

She struck out seven and faced just one batter over the minimum to start the game.

 

But in the fifth, Evy Clairmont led off with a double to the wall in left-center for the Mounties.

 

Keay then gave up three walks and a hit batter in the next four at-bats, allowing Mount Greylock to walk home for its first two runs.

 

Marlee Arnhold moved to the circle to close out the inning, and she finished up the game.

 

Mount Greylock generated a run in the sixth with a leadoff double by Bayleigh Tatro and an RBI single from Kimora Melanson.

 

In the bottom of the seventh, Lydia Gaudreau hit a two-out single and Kaleigh Jaros homered to left for the game’s last two runs.

 

“Credit to them and the way they swing the bats,” Belcher said of Mount Greylock. “I said to [my] guys when they got here today: No matter what, year in and year out, Coach [Mark] Perason’s teams always swing the bats. And they did today, and we made the plays for the most part.

 

“And I was happy we swung the bats as well.”

 

Pearson, meanwhile, was happy with his team’s first outing – even before the late-inning power surge from Jaros – against a veteran Wahconah team.

 

“We hung with them good right up until the sixth inning, and then they broke through there,” he said. “Maybe the girls were a little nervous, still, first game. But I was happy with what they did.

 

“I thought [Jaros] pitched well. And we maybe got a little tired at the end. They really come after you with that lineup.”

 

Jaros went 6 and a third innings as the starter in the circle before Pearson decided to give Kyleigh Cooper some work.

 

Mount Greylock (0-1) has three games this week starting with a trip to Hoosac Valley on Monday. Wahconah (1-0) is home on Tuesday against Monument Mountain, the first of three games in five days.

 

Photos from this game to come.