ADAMS, Mass. – The first time the Lenox softball team made the trip to Russell Field this spring, it went home with an 11-10 loss on its way to an 0-3 record.
On Sunday, the Millionaires showed that they are not that team anymore.
Evelyn Julieano struck out four and allowed two earned runs in the circle, and Anna Nealon went 2-for-4 with a double and four RBIs at the plate as 21st-seeded Lenox upended the 12th-seeded Hurricanes, 9-3, in the first round of the Division 5 State Tournament.
“In the beginning, we were definitely not as together as a team,” Julieano said. “Some of us were playing for ourselves and stuff. We just have been working so hard in practices.
Sunday’s win was Lenox’s fourth in a row and seventh in its last 10 games as it recovered from a 5-6 start.
“We’ve moved people around and cleaned it up,” co-coach Maggie Rivers said. “Us, too, we’re really honing in and trying to be organized. With every pitch, everyone’s ready all the time. We’re seeing the ball off the bat really well. I don’t think we had an error today, maybe just one. But I mean, everybody’s just doing their job.”
Lenox also is as healthy as it has been this season heading into Wednesday’s Sweet 16 game at Franklin Tech.
“Evelyn [Julieano] was injured quite a few games, so we had to have Cassidy [Flynn] come in and pitch,” co-coach Amy Pires said. “Having Evelyn back and getting into the rotation more is huge. And, then, of course, having Aliza [Munch] back at short. That’s her spot. She’s smooth, and it was great to see her back.
“This was her first game back in that position for a whole game, and I think that helped.”
Flynn and Julieano have similar win totals and ERAs since they started sharing duties in the circle. Flynn had 12 Ks in a shutout win over Fenway in the state tournament’s preliminary round on Saturday.
One day later, Julieano took a 4-0 lead into the third inning.
Lenox’s offense put up three runs in the top of the first. Julieano’s game-opening single to left was the only hit. A couple of errors did the rest.
In the second inning, Lily MacDonald led off with a single and eventually scored on Grace Julieano’s sacrifice fly.
Hoosac Valley got on the board with an RBI double from Izabela Tart in the third and got within two runs in the fourth when Trinity Brackett singled to score Hannah Lord.
But Lenox tacked on a run in the fifth and one in the sixth to go up, 6-3, before getting three in top of the seventh to all but seal the win.
Amber Arseneau started the seventh-inning rally with a two-out walk. Munch and MacDonald then each drew a walk before Nealon dropped a double into right field to clear the bases and give her team a six-run lead.
“We got behind the eight ball, but we fought back,” Hoosac Valley coach Mike Ameen said. “A little dumper with two outs in the last inning, but, you know, with two outs and nobody on base, we have a part of that because we walked a few people in that situation.
“We accept responsibility for our own team and our own efforts. And we give credit for the effort and the quality of [Lenox].”
Ameen said he expects the Millionaires and Hurricanes to continue their rivalry into next year and beyond.
“We just got beat by an eighth-grader [Julieano], and they’ve got a seventh-grader behind her,” he said. “They’ve got a bunch of young kids. We’ve been using this theory that we’re young, but, you know what, next year, Hoosac will bring back eight upperclassmen – a senior and seven juniors next year.
“So, [Lenox] is the young team. … I just think we got beat by a better team. They played hard, and they deserved to win.”
Gracelyn Wright took the loss in the circle for the Hurricanes, striking out three and allowing six earned runs.
Ameen praised his sophomore pitcher for her toughness this season.
“She knew she couldn’t come out of any game,” Ameen said. “She pitched every inning of the entire season. And she got hit in practice by a coach. Matt Witek was hitting fly balls to people, and she was standing on the line, and he hit a ball that he got wrong, and it was a rocket that hit her right on her glove wrist at probably 100 miles per hour.
“And that was the night before a game. She went home with a bruise on her arm that was [5 inches in diameter]. She came in with wraps and everything, and she pitched through that because of whatever is inside her to do that. I give her tremendous credit for that.”
Wright did not pitch, and the Hurricanes did not play for nine days between their Western Mass Class D semifinal loss and Sunday’s state tournament game.
Ameen was not ready to blame the layoff for a lackluster start against Lenox, but he admitted it could have been a factor.
Meanwhile, Lenox took advantage of the chance to play two games in two days – the play-in round win at home on Saturday followed by the short trip north less than 24 hours later.
“We didn’t have too many days off,” Pires said. “We had that [makeup] game, we had our game against Amherst [on May 25] and then the one against Fenway. And I think having those extra games helped us.
“Keeping that momentum from yesterday carried over to today. That’s exactly what we needed. That’s what we played with, and we played a really great game against a really good team.”
Lenox gets a couple of days off before going on the road for the second time in a couple of weeks to face fifth-seeded Franklin Tech, a 17-1 winner over Rockport on Sunday. Back on May 20, the Eagles beat Lenox, 3-0, in the Western Mass Class C Quarter-Finals.
