Hoosac Rallies to Beat Greylock in Eighth
ADAMS, Mass. -- The Mount Greylock softball team had Hoosac Valley on the ropes on Monday, loading the bases in the top of the eighth inning of a tie ballgame. Hurricanes starter Amanda Meczywor escaped the inning by only allowing one run, however, and her Hoosac teammates picked her up by scoring two runs in the bottom half of the eighth to walk off with a 5-4 win at Russell Field on Monday afternoon.Morgan Shafer's club improved its record to 10-2 with the win, assuring the Hurricanes a spot in the Division 2 Western Mass. tournament.
Senior Samantha Howe started things off in the eighth with a single to center field. Junior Tanelle Ciempa followed with a dribbler for an infield single before a sacrifice bunt by sophomore Ashley Ciepiela placed runners on second and third base. Classmate Tori Rumbolt next came through with a clutch sacrifice fly to left field to score Howe and tie the game. Hoosac then walked off with the win when junior Sabrina Sommer's hard-hit grounder to third base was bobbled for an error, allowing Ciempa to come home with the winning run.
Meczywor pitched all eight innings to improve her season record to 8-2. The senior captain only allowed one earned run on a day when her defense made four errors in the field. She hung tough, though, getting out of that bases-loaded jam in the top of the eighth on her way to finishing with seven strikeouts and three walks.
"Amanda did a great job pitching today," Shafer said. "She was battling to find a strike zone, which seemed to be a bit inconsistent. She hung tough, though, and pitched a great game. She knows how to place the ball when pitching to get batters to make outs. She trusts her defense to make plays and when you put it all together, you have a one of a kind player who leads her team to victory."
Rumbolt and Ciepiela each finished with two runs batted in for Hoosac, while Howe and Ciempa made an impact by collecting two hits and scoring two runs apiece.
Sophomore Alexis Bushika took the loss for the Mounties (4-7), who next host Monument Mountain at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Next up for Hoosac is a road game against rival Drury at 4 p.m. on Thursday.