Agawam Softball Starts Fast, Downs Pittsfield
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – The Agawam softball team scored 12 runs in the first two innings en route to an 18-6, five-inning win over Pittsfield on Tuesday afternoon.
Kiley Ryan went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and five RBIs to lead a 14-hit attack for the visitors, who led, 14-0, before Pittsfield sent its ninth batter to the plate.
Avery Gordon went the distance in the circle to earn the win for Agawam, striking out 10 and walking none.
The silver lining for the Generals was that the last time they faced Gordon, she posted a 4-0 shutout victory.
This time around, Nevaeh Lopez went 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs to lead a nine-hit attack for Pittsfield, which got the deficit down to 10 runs before Agawam was able to rebuild its lead.
“Everybody in the lineup can hit,” Pittsfield coach Brian MacDonald said. “There was just a lot of doubt in the box for some reason.
“But we did hit the ball well. [Agawam] caught the ball well. The last two outs should have probably been balls dropping for hits, but they made the effort. They caught the ball.”
Agawam ended the fourth inning with a runner on second base when center fielder Payton Malanson tracked down a well hit ball off the bat of Paxton Ebling (2 for 3).
Mia Dejesus led off the fifth with another shot to center that Malanson caught. And after Lopez hit a solo home run with one out in the fifth, Ella Bassi flew out deep to left.
Back in the first inning, Ryan crushed a two-run double in a six-run rally to open the game.
Agawam tacked on six more runs in the second and Ryan hit another two-run double and Taylor Stairs doubled in a run.
After giving up two more runs in the top of the third, Pittsfield’s offense woke up in the bottom of the inning.
Sadie Aitken, Dejesus and Lopez each singled with one out – the last two driving in runs as the Generals hung four on the board to make it 14-4.
Agawam answered with a three-run rally in the top of the fourth to go up by 13, and the teams traded runs from there: Aitken doubling in a run in the bottom of the fourth and Lopez getting her third home run of the season one inning later.
“They came out swinging,” MacDonald said of Agawam. “We put our heads down right away. It was hard to find the energy after that. They’re a well trained team. They’ve got a great coach. They had a lot of energy.
“Our energy was flat until the last couple of innings. And when you’re flat there, it shows.”
Pittsfield (5-7) goes to Westfield on Wednesday looking to avenge a 13-2 loss to the Bombers earlier this season.