Maynard Stops Lenox in State Semi-Finals
WESTFIELD, Mass. – The last Berkshire County high school team standing this year was one of the ones who least expected to be in the state semi-finals.
“Six of our 11 players are freshmen and younger, you know,” Lenox coach Amy Pires said after Wednesday’s 5-1 loss to Maynard in the Division 5 Final Four at Westfield State.
“Right now, in this game, we had two eighth-graders at the corners. … We were just hoping for maybe five or six wins. We knew we didn’t have as strong a team as we did the previous year, and we knew it was going to be a tougher league.
“I’m happy we got this far. Not a lot people had confidence in us.”
Lenox, which went to the title game of the Western Massachusetts Class C Tournament, was down by just two runs through five innings of Wednesday’s semi-final.
Unfortunately for the Millionaires, they were not able to break through for a run against Maynards’s Maddy Karlon (14 strikeouts, four walks, three hits) until the top of the seventh.
And, after Cassidy Flynn (1-for-2) provided an RBI single to put Lenox on the board with two out, Karlon got the next hitter to roll over to the shortstop for a groundball out that ended the game and sent the Tigers to this weekend’s state title game against Hopedale.
Ninth-seeded Lenox (15-8) earned two road wins in the state tournament to make it to Wednesday’s game.
And it put pressure on the Tigers right out of the gate.
Grace Julieano (2-for-4) hit a single to left with one out in the first, and after Flynn worked a walk, Lexi Witherell laid down a sacrifice bunt and reached first on an error to load the bases with one out.
But Karlon closed the door, getting the next two hitters on swinging third strikes to start a run of six straight strikeouts that went into the third inning.
Lenox loaded the bases again in the fifth, this time with two out, thanks to a pair of hit batters and a fielders’s choice, but Karlon got another inning-ending strikeout to leave the bases juiced.
“I would say probably Wahconah has good pitchers,” Pires said, looking for an opponent this season to compare to Karlon. “This pitcher reminded me a lot of Bri Lynch from Lee. She had a very good rise ball, and Bri had a very good rise ball. So that was very similar to what Bri would pitch.
“But I would say Wahconah was probably the best pitching that we’ve seen all season.”
Karlon’s offense gave her support with a pair of runs in the third.
Emmie Giroux got things started with a one-out single, and Ryleigh Raschi tripled to center field to drive in the game’s first run. Raschi then scored on Elizabeth Schmidt’s single to right to give Karlon all the support she needed.
In the sixth, Sadie Poulin hit a two-run double down the line in right in a three-run rally that put Maynard up, 5-0, with one more turn at bat for Lenox to turn things around.
Lenox’s first hitter reached on a walk but was caught trying to steal second, and Karlon notched her 14th K to make it two out and nobody on for Lenox.
But Evelyn Julieano took ball four on a full count to keep the game going, and her big sister Grace singled to left to move Evelyn to third. Flynn then singled to center to make it 5-1 before Karlon and the Tigers ended things.
Grace, who plays shortstop and led Lenox this spring in hits (42), batting average (.538) and RBIs (34), is the lone senior from the softball team who is graduating this weekend at Tanglewood.
“She’s been playing on this team for five years,” Pires said. “She couldn’t play in seventh grade because she was recovering from a broken leg. … She would have absolutely played and played all three sports starting in seventh grade, but she started in eighth.
“To have accolades and the recognition she’s received, I’m just very proud of her. When she goes to college, she’s not going to be playing sports, but I know she’s going to try to get into some kind of club league or intramural or something. Because she’s one of those kids who … she can’t just not play. I’m proud of her, and we’re going to miss her next year.”