TURNERS — The Turners Falls softball team finds itself in a familiar position. After squeaking out a 1-0 win over eighth-seeded Mount Everett in the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Thunder hosted No. 4 Hopkins Academy with a spot in the Western Mass.
Class D championship game on the line on Friday. The Thunder’s bats came to life, as the hosts scored five runs in the second inning and that proved to be enough. Madi Liimatainen didn’t allow a run in seven innings work, with Turners advancing to the finals with a 5-0 triumph at Gary Mullins Field.
The Thunder advanced to play No. 2 Lee in the championship game on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
at Westfield State University. Turners (15-5) will be looking to defend the Class D title, winning it last year over Hopkins. “It’s nice getting to another Western Mass.
final,” Thunder coach Gary Mullins said. “We’ve been trying and working hard. The kids have been putting in extra time hitting.
Before and after practices the kids have been putting extra work in and it showed up today. We made good contact.” With six eighth graders on the roster, Hopkins coach Lindsey Lord noted how impressed she was of the improvement of her team throughout the season.
The Golden Hawks (14-6) opened the season against Turners and suffered a 12-0 defeat. Friday’s loss showed how far Hopkins has come this year. “I’m very happy,” Lord said.
“Our defense was much better. We could have found the ball a little more at the plate but overall, we .