WESTFIELD – It’s official – it’s a three-peat!
Westfield sophomore pitcher Shea Hurley scattered four hits, struck out 11 batters and the Bombers won their third straight Western Massachusetts crown with a 9-0 shutout of Agawam in the PVIAC Class A softball championship game Tuesday at Westfield State University.
“It’s great for the program,” Westfield Bombers softball coach Tyson James said. “I’ve been a part of all three which is a great feeling. A lot of different kids contributed for all three of them which is great. To see those three up on the banner ... will be nice.”
It was the second straight year that Westfield and Agawam met in the championship game. A year ago, the Bombers won 7-0. This time around, the Bombers staked Hurley to an early lead with a four-run third inning.
Ciara Toporowski, who had manufactured the game’s only run by scoring on a two-out wild pitch in the bottom of the first inning, hit a well-struck ball past a diving outfielder into the left field corner of the outfield for a lead-off triple in the third. Toporowski scored on a Kenzie Raymond single.
“The rush came, the adrenaline came, and I was just ready,” Toporowski said. “I was just like I’ve got it, I can hit it. We can do this. We can take down whoever as long as we work together. As long as we play our roles and do our part, we’ve got it.”
Toporowski’s two runs were just the beginning.
Kelsey Bouchard moved Raymond over with a sac-bunt. Allie Rehor hit a ball to right field, scoring Raymond. Marlow Murphy singled. Then with two outs, Ali LaPanne drove in two more runs for Westfield, making it 5-0.
“It’s good because my team has my back,” Hurley said. “They’re good at offense and defense and they’re always scoring runs when I’m pitching.”
Hurley started out the game on fire, striking out the first four Agawam batters. Tony Vassalo collected the first hit for the Brownies, a double with two outs in the second inning, but Hurley struck out the next batter to end the inning.
In the third inning, Alexina Lentes and Kylie Circosta reached for Agawam on consecutive two-out singles. Hurley forced a ground out to end the threat. Hurley allowed just one hit the rest of the way, a Vassalo base hit with two outs in the top of the fourth.
Westfield tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Murphy collected her third straight hit of the game, driving a ball through the left side of the infield. The Bombers added three more in the sixth.
Toporowski doubled with one out in the sixth. Raymond reached on an error. Bouchard hit a two-run single to left field. Rehor drove in the team’s ninth run with a base hit to right field.
“We played really well,” coach James said. “Obviously we got great pitching but it was really good to see a lot of different people contribute with the bats today. We had some pretty big hits. …A lot of different people contributed with timely hits, great baserunning – we were aggressive – and we were able to put the runs across. Lately, we’ve been getting runners on but not getting them across. Today, we got them across.”
With the Western Massachusetts championship in the books, Westfield will now look to defending their 2022 state title.
“We really, really want it,” Raymond said of a potential repeat at the state level. “It would just be so amazing. We worked really, really hard in my opinion. I think that every single one of us on this team wouldn’t be here if we didn’t want it.”
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