Lagess Leads Hoosac Valley Past Mount Everett
ADAMS, Mass. – The Hoosac Valley softball team had a 6-2 lead, but visiting Mount Everett had some momentum after scoring a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning on Thursday at Russell Field.
The Hurricanes’ Genevieve Lagess took care of that.
Lagess lofted a leadoff double to left-center field, moved to third on a pitch to the backstop and scored on Izabela Tart’s sacrifice fly to secure a 7-2 win.
“It’s important to respond,” Hoosac Valley coach Mike Ameen said of the insurance run. “It’s important, no matter what the issue is, to see the response. They continue to do that, and that’s why I’m proud of them.”
Hoosac Valley improved to 11-3 this season with three games left until the start of the Western Massachusetts Tournament.
Lagesse leads the Hurricane offense, batting .611 with 17 runs batted in and one home run.
“An eighth grader,” Ameen said. “I say ‘eighth grade,’ and I smile. Four more years of her? My God.
“I told her the other day, ‘You’re a rock. In the middle of our lineup, the No. 3 hitter. You’re a first baseman. And you’re an eighth-grader.’ I said, ‘You’re going to be there a long time.’
“I told her the other day that before she leaves, she’s going to put one in that parking lot. I think that’s gonna happen.”
On Thursday, she went 2-for-2 with a walk to key a six-hit attack for Hoosac Valley.
The ‘Canes got their first run in the first inning when Gracelyn Wright (2-for-2) led off with a single up the middle and moved up on Ella Bissaillon’s sacrifice bunt. Lagess drew a walk to keep the rally going, and with two out, Rachael Wnuk reached on an error that allowed Wright to score from second.
Hoosac Valley then did its real damage in the bottom of the third, scoring five runs to take a 6-0 lead.
Wright started it again, this time with a leadoff double. Lagess and Tart delivered back-to-back singles, and Hannah Lord dropped an RBI triple into left field before scoring on a dropped third strike to end the rally.
Defensively, Wright (six strikeouts) left the bases loaded in the second and third innings, but Mount Everett finally broke through in the top of the fifth.
Julia Devoti reached on an error to start the inning, and Emily Steuernagle was hit by a pitch. Both eventually scored – Devoti on an RBI groundout by Megan Loring and Steuernagle on a two-out single by Tonilynn Smith to get the Eagles within four runs.
But that was as close as they came. Wright got a strikeout to strand a pair. Lagess pushed the lead back to five runs, and Wright allowed no further damage despite back-to-back singles from Devoti and Steuernagle in the sixth.
Devoti went 2-for-3 at the plate and went the distance in the circle, striking out five and allowing four earned runs.
And, despite falling to 4-7 this spring, the Eagles showed flashes of the play that won them two of four games coming into Thursday with two one-run losses in that stretch.
“They’re definitely playing a lot better,” Mount Everett coach Joshua King said. “We had a lot of runners we left on base today. We had a couple of key plays that we didn’t capitalize on that led to a lot of runs.
“A couple of pop flies, a couple of ground balls, situational things. And we had a lot of girls that were on base that we couldn’t put them through. … Based on where we are, we’re probably going to see [Hoosac Valley] again in Western Mass, so we’ve got to be ready to go.”
The Eagles’ next game is Friday at Chicopee Comprehensive.
Hoosac Valley on Saturday goes to PIttsfield.