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By THOMAS JOHNSTON

NORTHFIELD — Not even the pouring rain could slow down the Pioneer bats in the fifth inning on Friday against Greenfield. It was the Green Wave that kicked off the scoring in the fifth, putting three runs on the board in the top of the frame to take a...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

NORTHFIELD — After a big first inning for Pioneer, Riley Giard and the Mohawk Trail softball team shut the Panthers offense down the rest of the way. The Warriors got things going with two runs in the first inning but the Panthers responded by tacking...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

SOUTH DEERFIELD — The Frontier baseball team struggled to solve Pioneer’s Hugh Cyhowski on Wednesday.Cyhowski was dealing from the opening pitch on. He didn’t allow a runner to reach base until the fourth inning (hit by pitch), and through six...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

GREENFIELD — Welcome back to western Mass. baseball, Beau Elson. The Fordham commit who returned to Hopkins Academy from Phillips Exeter this year, made his first start on the mound this season for the Golden Hawks against Greenfield on Tuesday.The...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

Two years ago, Frontier’s Jack Vecellio captured an all-state title in the pole vault while Greenfield’s Liviu Mihailicenco won a state championship in the high jump. On the girls side, Greenfield’s Tess Rancourt placed third at New Englands in the...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

TURNERS FALLS — The Turners Falls softball team’s bats were on fire to open the season on Monday against Hopkins Academy. In a rematch of last year’s MIAA Division 5 semifinal, the Thunder cracked six hits in the opening two innings to race out to a...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

CHARLEMONT — It was a beautiful day at Berkshire East on Saturday for the 2024 Berkshire Highlands Pentathlon. Athletes from all over traveled to Charlemont to compete in the grueling pentathlon, which begins with a 4.3 mile run that starts on...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

Could this be the year a Recorder area tennis team makes it past the MIAA Round of 32? In the two years since the MIAA switched to a statewide format, area tennis teams have done well qualifying for states, but have struggled when getting there. In...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

Not many 9-year-old kids are faced with the type of decision Noah Gamache had to make. Gamache — now a senior at Pioneer Valley Regional — was born with clubfoot, a birth defect in which the foot is twisted out of shape or position. As he grew up, two...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

It would be hard to find a more dominant postseason run than the one the Greenfield softball team had a season ago. After winning the 2022 MIAA Division 5 state championship, the Green Wave came back last spring with a loaded squad and dominated their...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

Is it possible to finish the year with a 21-2 record and not be satisfied with the results? The Pioneer baseball team sure wasn’t. The Panthers won the first 18 games of their season in 2023 and did so in convincing fashion, cruising into the Western...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

TURNERS FALLS — A pair of big early innings offensively got the job done for the Franklin Tech baseball team against Turners Falls on Tuesday at the Bourdeau Fields Complex.The Eagles put three runs on the board in the top of the first inning and...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

It’d be hard to imagine a program getting off to a better start than the Frontier boys volleyball team.Legendary Redhawk girls volleyball coach Sean MacDonald and Courtney Parent started the boys program at Frontier two years ago and in their first...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

SOUTH DEERFIELD — Runs came early and often in the Frontier softball team’s season opener against Agawam on Friday. The visiting Brownies opened the game with four runs in the top of the first but the Redhawks responded by putting three runs on the...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

It’s always an interesting exercise to review the MIAA winter tournament brackets and see how the rating system fared in regard to ranking teams. The MIAA says the rating system is simple and transparent, noting on its website “the benchmark is...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

SPRINGFIELD — When the Massachusetts and Denver hockey teams meet in the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship, 60 minutes doesn’t seem to be enough to decide a winner. After playing to overtime in the 2019 NCAA tournament semifinals, the fourth-seeded...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

While the brisk, chilly weather this week doesn’t make it seem like the spring sports season is here, local high school baseball, softball, tennis and volleyball teams will get their campaigns underway Thursday and Friday.With it being a light winter...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

The 2024 Amo Bessone Western Mass. High School Hockey Awards were announced earlier this week, and a pair of Greenfield players were honored for their outstanding seasons on the ice.Green Wave junior forward Jake Jurek was one of two players to...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

BOSTON — After scoring a pair of goals in the opening five minutes of its Hockey East Playoff quarterfinal game against Providence, the Massachusetts hockey team knew it needed another fast start against top-seeded Boston College in the semifinals at...

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

For the third time in four years, the Massachusetts hockey team finds itself at TD Garden in Boston with a chance to capture a Hockey East championship. Before the Minutemen can begin thinking about lifting the title for the third time in the last...