Frontier Offense Too Much for Mount Greylock
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Less than 24 hours after beating one of Berkshire County's best pitchers the Mount Greylock softball team Saturday ran into a potent offense out of the Pioneer Valey.
Frontier pounded 19 hits, including a first-inning home run, en route to an 11-6 win over the Mounties.
McKenzie Patterson and Natalie Denkiewicz each went 4-for-5, and Sarah Meunier hit a two-run homer for Frontier (6-9), which killed the momentum Mount Greylock had after Friday's 3-2 win over Ashlee Keegan and Taconic.
"They did hit the ball well," Mount Greylock coach June Blake said. "They put the ball in play. They had the two-run home run in the first inning and a couple of good contacts there.
"I thought [Fiona Kelley] threw pretty good. I thought she got ahead of batters quite a bit but wasn't able to finish them off. They were aggressive. I felt like they hit some good pitches, too."
Kelley struck out three and walked none in the loss.
The Mounties' offense also battled to keep pace.
Mount Greylock matched the visitors with two runs of its own in the bottom of the first, but one of those runs came at a cost.
Starting catcher Olivia DiNicola turned an ankle sliding into home plate to score on a wild pitch. She had to leave the game, forcing left fielder Rachel Voller to don the tools of ignorance the rest of the way.
The veteran Voller did a good job behind the plate, but the Mounties could have used DiNicola's presence in the two hole in the high-scoring game.
"Olivia has been great for us in the lineup," Blake said. "For her to go down in the first inning, Rachel stepped up and go behind home plate -- I think she did a great job for us. But it is a big bat that we lose out of our lineup.
"I thought the kids who did fill in did a great job -- Kat Hoffstedt and [JV callup] Jordan Codding.
"We're going to be dealt hands like this occasionally. It's how you deal with them."
Frontier scored a run apiece in the second and third to regain the lead and opened up a 7-2 lead with three runs on four hits in the top of the fourth.
Mount Greylock rallied for four runs of its own in the bottom of the frame. Elena Cerveira and Kayla Cerveira each had a hit and scored a run in the inning, which brought the Mounties back within a run.
But Frontier got one run back in the fifth and scored three on five hits in the top of the sixth to put the game out of reach.
Mount Greylock (8-9) goes to Great Barrington on Monday to face Monument Mountain.
"I think after playing a great game yesterday we certainly wanted to get ourselves one step closer to Western Mass," Blake said. "We were kind of hoping to do that today, and in that aspect, it's a disappointing loss. But we are going to regroup and regather ourselves.
"We have three games next week - Monument Mountain, Pittsfield and Drury - and we need to win two of those games to get in. That's where we're headed."