When the Greenfield baseball and softball teams are hosting games at the same time, there’s a small gap between the two Vets Field diamonds that provides a great viewing angle of both games.
Those seats will be at a premium on Thursday.
Both Green Wave clubs will be in action at 6 p.m., and both games will have major league title implications. The Greenfield baseball team will square off with Frontier in Hampshire League West action while on the softball diamond, Turners Falls will make its annual trip over in what looks to be a matchup between Franklin County League West contenders.
Baseball
Greenfield and Frontier are both 5-1 on the season, with the Redhawks sitting at 3-0 in the league while the Green Wave are 2-1 with its loss coming against Easthampton.
Both teams have shown they can win games at the plate and on the mound thus far. In its six games, Frontier has outscored its opponents 57-25, with its pitching staff of Tyler Baranowski, Sam Schreiber and Liam Skribiski-Banack keeping opponents off the scoreboard. Its lineup has had its way at the plate thus far.
Greenfield on the other hand has outscored its opponents 42-15 through six games. David Carey, TJ Thibeault and Tyler Podolski have been excellent on the hill, making for a great matchup against a talented Redhawk lineup no matter who pitches on Thursday.
Softball
Turners has had Greenfield (and everyone else’s) number the last couple years. The Green Wave haven’t beaten the Thunder since 2018, but this could be the year that changes.
Greenfield (4-2) gave Turners two of its toughest games during its unbeaten campaign in 2021 and the way its been swinging the bats (averaging 10 runs per game) to start the season, it’ll give any team trouble. MacKenzie Paulin has also had a great year in the circle so far.
While it hasn’t been the dominating start to the season the Thunder have been accustomed to, you are what your record says you are, and the young Turners squad is sitting at 4-1. Madi Liimatainen is tough to hit and the lineup is still dangerous throughout as evidenced by averaging over 10 runs per game this season.
Get ready for a good night at Vets Field with these four teams playing.
I don’t think many people believed the Turners Falls baseball team would open the season with a 4-2 record, which is a credit to the hard work the Thunder have put in to turn things around.
Turners didn’t win a game last year, and with COVID wiping out the 2020 season, its season-opening win against Franklin Tech was its first victory of any kind in three years. It was no fluke either. The Eagles have stormed back to win five in a row following the loss while the Thunder have picked up wins over Mohawk Trail, Hoosac Valley and McCann Tech since opening day.
On Monday, the Thunder took Greenfield to the brink, leading 8-2 going into the fifth before the Green Wave stormed back to earn the 10-9 victory. With a young team, Turners is seeing a multitude of young players take a step forward from last year and the results are showing that it’s a program on the rise.
In case 16 consecutive Western Mass. titles didn’t prove it, Sean MacDonald can coach volleyball.
MacDonald and co-coach Courtney Parent were tasked with building up the boys volleyball program at Frontier in its inaugural season, inheriting a roster with zero prior volleyball experience.
So far, they’ve more than exceeded expectations. The Redhawks are yet to lose a match, starting the season 5-0 with wins over Duggan, East Longmeadow, Athol, Ware and Granby, a credit to the players for buying in and the coaching job of MacDonald and Parent to teach and get the basic fundamentals down to win those matches.
• Pioneer’s Hugh Cyhowski tossed his second career five-inning perfect game earlier this season. He had one last year against Turners (as a member of the Greenfield baseball program) and accomplished his second in a win over Sci-Tech last week. Just a sophomore, the future is extremely bright for the Panther, and his team is off to a 4-0 start after outscoring opponents by a 38-2 margin in those contests.
• Kudos to Frontier boys tennis coach Brian Campbell, who, like MacDonald and Parent, has gotten a first-year program off to an unbeaten start, with the Redhawks 3-0 on the season.
• Greenfield’s Liviu Mihailicenco opened the season hoping to break the school record in the high jump and accomplished that in his very first meet of the season. His jump of 6 feet, 10 inches would have been the best in the state last year, and it’s just 2½ inches shy of the state record. Between Mihailicenco and Frontier’s Jack Vecellio, Franklin County may set a pair of state records by the end of the spring campaign.