Published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette on June 22, 2015
AMHERST
For the last two weeks, it hasn’t been a secret that the Hampshire Regional softball team enjoys playing at UMass’ Sortino Field.
After Saturday’s 2-1 win over Reading for the program’s first state title, the Raiders might like it more than the Minutewomen.
The win took place only 16.4 miles from their actual home field and when they feel at home, the Raiders are undefeated.
“This is like our second home and it has been,” shortstop Savannah Waters said after catching a line drive for the final out and driving in the first run in the fifth inning.
Hampshire went 11-0 in Westhampton and 4-0 at UMass this season.
Possibly more remarkable than the Raiders’ record when feeling at home is the fact they won the state title without leaving western Mass., as UMass hosted the tournament for the first time.
Turners Falls also kept the Division 3 state trophy in western Mass., with a 5-3 win over Millis in the first game Saturday.
“Kudos to Turners Falls too … keeping two state titles in western Mass., because those eastern and central teams are pretty good,” Hampshire coach Brian McGan said.
If there was ever an indication that the tournament site could play into a championship, it was this year and it was in the Raiders’ favor given their recent success at UMass.
The program has been on the rise since its first sectional title in 2009. Since then, it has been in every Western Massachusetts final except in 2013, with wins in 2012, 2014 and earlier this month. The three previous sectional championship seasons ended at Worcester State in the state semifinal round.
Waters and her teammates were vocal during the state tournament that they liked playing in Amherst, feeling comfortable with the field, short commute and overall atmosphere. That only continued while celebrating under the scoreboard on Saturday.
“We’ve been here for two weeks, on top of the past four years, and I think that helped significantly,” Waters said.
The dirt in Amherst is harder, but the Raiders adjust to it like riding a bike. The defense over the last four games, including an error-free title game, has made it look effortless.
“The plays that you saw that they made that are incredible, to me they are routine,” McGan said.
With a new field comes unknowns — how balls bounce, how hard the grass is, how much foul territory there is — but none of that was the case for the Raiders.
While Reading didn’t necessarily look uncomfortable at UMass, it was clear the Hampshire defense knew the field. When grounders bounced hard, a Raiders were able to handle it.
Waters and second baseman Chelsea Moussette continued to shine in the middle infield. Each made plays on the run, in opposite directions to take away potential bloop hits from Reading.
“Very clean, my dynamic duo in the middle,” McGan said. “I can’t say enough about that.”
In the fifth inning, after putting the Raiders up, Waters made a running catch on the back of the infield dirt near third base. In the sixth, it was Moussette on the move in the opposite direction, making a sliding catch on the right-field foul line.
“It felt really good,” Moussette said. “Me and Katy (O’Connor in right field), didn’t really call it so I kind of just kept going and it landed in my glove.”
From defense to a seven-strikeout, three-hit performance by junior Alexis Ferris in the circle and a seven-hit, two-run attack by the offense, the Raiders left more than a mark at Sortino Field. Coupled with Turner’s championship on the same field hours earlier, the Indians and Raiders gave western Mass. softball new branding — state champions.
“The past two weeks, being here every other day, just like one more (game), just one more,” Waters said. “Now finally I think we’ve definitely proved ourselves.”