WESTFIELD – Fantastic. Epic. Historic.
There is literally no one word to describe what happened at Tuesday’s postseason championship game.
Westfield freshman second baseman Jaylianie Santiago left fans either speechless or wildly cheering as she clubbed three home runs to help the top-seeded Bombers blast No. 2 East Longmeadow, 15-5, in the Pioneer Valley Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class A softball finals Tuesday evening at Westfield State University.
It was Westfield’s fifth straight Western Massachusetts championship.
“It feels great to be part of this team,” Santiago said. “It’s a great community and everybody is very positive on the team, so it helps me to be here. … I was nervous because I’ve never played here before but I was very happy though.”
Santiago was all smiles after homering in each of the second, third, and sixth innings. She could have finished the night with four homers had East Longmeadow not intentionally walked her in the fifth.
“I was very anxious in the box … [but] my team helps hype me up,” Santiago said.
Santiago jumpstarted Westfield’s offense in the bottom of the second inning with a lead-off homer over the left field fence into the trees in left field. Her second home run, also a solo shot, which traveled a bit higher, and a bit further, made it 3-0 in the third. Sydney LaPanne manufactured the second run of the inning, smacking a single through the left side, stealing second base and advancing to third on an errant throw to the bag before eventually scoring on a Sophie Svantesson sacrifice fly RBI.
Westfield increased its lead in the fourth inning. Grace Gauger hit a one-out double and moved up a bag on a Hayley Krupienski sacrifice bunt. Two consecutive miscues on balls put in play by Adyson Rowell and LaPanne gave the Bombers a 5-0 advantage.
Westfield put the game out of reach in the fifth with six more runs. Krupienski provided the highlight of the inning with a two-run single to center field. The Bombers led 11-0.
Westfield pitcher Shea Hurley shut down East Longmeadow’s offense for five innings, retiring the first 10 batters (five by strikeout) and 15 of the first 17 batters on seven strikeouts.
East Longmeadow pinch hitter Mia Houser broke up Hurley’s no-hit bid in the top of the sixth inning with a first pitch single up the middle. After a force play at second base on a ground out to the shortstop, the Spartans loaded the bases with a hit-by-pitch and a walk. Reilly McCauley drove in the team’s first run with a single to left field.
East Longmeadow continued to pile up some runs.
Amaya Carrion drew a walk, forcing in East Longmeadow’s second run. A fielder’s choice made it 11-3. Sophia Baughn followed with a two-run single. Hurley struck out the next batter to end the half inning.
Earlier in the fifth inning, East Longmeadow issued an intentional walk to Santiago. The Spartans probably wished they had walker her again as the freshman phenom blasted another ball, her third, over the left field fence to begin the bottom of the sixth. Alejandra Strange and Hurley followed with consecutive walks. Gianna Capua and Krupienski hit back-to-back run-scoring singles, and Rowell plated another run on a fielder’s choice to cap the scoring.
Hurley closed the door on East Longmeadow in the seventh, retiring the side in order. She struck out the first two batters of the inning and finished the game with 10 Ks.
“It’s amazing,” Hurley said of the five-peat. “Not many teams can do that. It’s history now. It feels awesome being a part of a team like this. We worked so hard.”
The Bombers head coach echoed those sentiments.
“It’s definitely special,” Westfield softball coach Tyson James said, mentioning alumni who returned to watch the title game. “It’s not easy to win one, never mind five in a row.”
While the Western Mass portion of their postseason is now complete, the tournament season is just ramping up with the opening round of the state tourney up next.
When asked what the Bombers have in store for an encore, Santiago said, “You’ll see when it happens.”
