Mount Greylock Secures Tourney Berth on Senior Day
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Rachel Voller and Fiona Kelley made sure Senior Day would not be their final day in a Mount Greylock softball uniform.
Kelley scattered six hits and allowed just one earned run, and Voller delivered a one-out, two-run single in the bottom of the third inning to lift the Mounties to a 4-2, come-from-behind win over Drury on the final day of the regular season for both teams.
The win gave Mount Greylock 10 victories this spring, securing the Mounties a berth in this week’s Western Massachusetts tournament.
Kelley helped her own cause with a 2-for-3 day at the plate, and Taylor Cornell drove in a run as Mount Greylock (10-10) won for the fourth time in its final six games.
“We had a team discussion at the beginning of the year, and we talked about the goals that we wanted to set,” Voller said. “Most of the girls said they wanted to make Western Mass. That’s been a huge goal for us since the beginning of the season.
“We’ve gone through a lot of adversity with our catcher being injured. We had to move a lot of people around. And everyone stepped up in a really big way, which helped us.
“Because we wanted this.”
Mounties coach June Blake wanted it for the senior class, her biggest at the school, which also includes injured catcher Olivia DiNicola along with Hailey Guest, Grace Dodig and Carly Munzer.
“This is just huge for them,” Blake said. “For us to not make it last year in a very similar situation, coming down to the last two games, for them to bounce back and this to be their number one goal is great for this senior class. It says a lot about them.”
Drury (5-14) came very close to playing the spoiler’s role and winning its second straight to go .500 over its last 10 games after starting the year 1-8.
The Blue Devils struck first in the top of the first when Abby Lear singled, stole second, moved up on Caitlin Tatro’s base hit and scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Cassandra Crosier to make it 1-0.
Mount Greylock tied it in the second on back-to-back doubles from Munzer and Taylor Cornell.
In the third, Kelley started the winning rally with a one-out single to right.
Elena Cerveira then reached on a bunt single, and Kayla Cerveira drew a walk to load the bases for Voller.
She ripped a single to left to score Marley Buffis (running for Kelley) and Elena Cerveira.
Kayla Cerveira came home on Hailey Guest’s infield single to make it 4-1.
In the fifth, Jacqueline Moulton reached on an error attempting to sacrifice Kendra Gallagher to second. After Gallagher was erased after getting hung up between third and home on a play that sent Moulton to third, Maya Howland’s infield single brought home Drury’s second run.
Kelley got the final out on a grounder to Elena Cerveira at shortstop, and she recorded 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh to seal the win.
“The last time we played [Drury], I thought they hit the ball very well,” Blake said. “They had a couple of extra-base hits. Today, we were trying to get ahead of batters, get them off balance. And Fiona does a great job of doing that.
“She also doesn’t walk anybody. I think she had a couple of 3-2 counts, and battled back to get them on either ground balls or pop-ups. It was good to see a solid performance from her in the circle.”
Kelley struck out three and walked one in the win. Howland struck out a pair for Drury.
Mount Greylock learns Tuesday when and against whom it will open play in the Western Mass tourney.