SOUTH DEERFIELD — Seven innings wasn’t enough to decide a winner in the season opener between the Frontier and Amherst baseball teams on Friday.

The Hurricanes led 2-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh but the Redhawks rallied, putting a run across to force extra innings. Neither squad scored in the eighth and Frontier was able to prevent a run in the top of the ninth, giving it another opportunity to go win the game.

Nico Fasulo led off the bottom of the frame by blasting a double to right field. He then stole third before Eathon Bryant came to the plate and the senior came through, grounding the ball to short and the throw home wasn’t in time to get Fasulo, with the Redhawks walking away with a comeback 3-2 independent victory.

“The guys sucked it up in the cold,” Frontier coach Chris Williams said. “Liam Skribiski-Banack had a gutsy performance on the mound. He threw a lot of pitches in his first start of the year and Grayson Loos came in and shut things down to keep us in the game. With our defense and pitching, we were always right there. It was about if our offense was going to provide for us.”

In a game in which hits and runs were hard to come by, Skribiski-Banack tossed the opening 5⅔ innings for the Redhawks, striking out six and allowing just two hits. Loos went the rest of the way, striking out seven and giving up one hit.

Amherst ace Thatcher Rudnik was a tough case to solve for the Frontier lineup, giving up a mere three hits and striking out nine in 4⅔ innings work before being pulled with an injury. Elijah Rubinstein came in in relief and finished the game, striking out four.

“Anytime you play a Chris Williams team you know they’re going to be well coached and prepared,” Hurricane coach Jeff Gladu said. “We worked on it with our defensive coverages for them trying to swipe bags and things you don’t see from many other teams. The performance I got from Rudnik today was the best I’ve seen the kid. He was dominant the first half of the game. Give my kids credit, they battled through losing their ace. Elijah came in and was nails the rest of the game. I’m very proud of the way we played today.”

It was a pair of errors that got the Redhawks going in the bottom of the seventh. Freshman Austin Durso reached on an error to open the frame, with Gabe Solecki coming on as a pinch runner for Durso.

Alex Gochinski then reached on an error, putting Solecki on third. Fasulo then knocked a sac fly to center field that brought Solecki home, tying the game 2-2.

Bryant reached on an error to load the bases but Rubinstein got back-to-back strikeouts to force extra innings.

“We came in as a group and said when Durso gets on base, Solecki is going to pinch run, Solecki is going to steal and he’ll get in and tie this ball game,” Williams said. “It was perfect execution. It was extremely disappointing to have bases loaded, one out and have back-to-back looking strikeouts. We should have won it there.”

Amherst took the opening lead of the game in the third inning. Neil Cunniffe reached on a walk, stole second and third and was brought home after Rubinstein singled to center to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead.

Frontier tied the game back up in the fifth, rallying after two outs to open the frame. Gochinski got things started with a walk, stole second and was brought home after Fasulo singled to knot the game at one.

The Hurricanes regained the lead in the top of the sixth. Rubinstein drew a walk and stole second and third before Charles May walked. May then stole second, with Frontier unable to throw him out. Rubinstein was able to reach home in the process, giving Amherst the late lead.

The Hurricanes were aggressive on the base path all game, swiping 13 bases. It wasn’t for a lack of effort from Redhawk catcher Kaden James, who threw three runners out at second.

“We stole a lot of bases and that’s how we’re going to have to play,” Gladu said. “We don’t have that power hitter in the middle of the lineup outside of Elijah Rubenstein. I told them today that we were going to put the pressure on them by stealing as much as we could. We left some outs on the base paths but it wasn’t exactly the best running conditions on the wet field. Give their catcher credit. He made some big throws in timely spots.”

While happy with the win, Williams says he is hoping to see his team perform better at the plate as the season progresses.

“We have to get the bats going,” Williams said. “We have no ceiling for our offensive potential. We have huge guys who we know can come up big throughout the game. Today wasn’t it. 14 strikeouts is unacceptable. I give credit to [Rudnik] but we have to put the ball in play if we’re going to keep winning ball games.”

Boys volleyball

Frontier 3, Granby 0 — Tavo Vincent-Warner was spreading the ball around for the Redhawks, finishing the game with 28 assists as Frontier walked away with a 25-21, 25-21, 25-15 victory over the host Rams on Friday in both clubs’ season-opener.

Aleks Carey had 13 of those kills, with Brady Burch smashing seven kills, Jack Carey tallying five kills while Owen Babb put down four kills and Ngawang Deter came up with 13 digs in the victory.

“It was a great first match,” Redhawk co-coach Sean MacDonald said. “Brady Burch and Owen Babb got to make their volleyball debuts. Deter stepped into the libero role today and helped our ball control on the first contact.”

Girls track

Frontier 131, Greenfield 14 — The Redhawks had the winner in 16 of the 17 events on Friday, with Caroline Crocker winning the long jump (15 feet, two inches) and 100 hurdles (16.5 seconds), Abigail Howard taking the mile (6:10) and 800 (2:46) and Sophia Leone earning first in the 100 (13.6) and 200 (29.3) as host Frontier earned a win over the Green Wave in South Deerfield.

Other Redhawks winners were Cadi Wells-Robinson in the shot put (28-6), Lilly Novak in the javelin (76-4), Brooke Davis in the triple jump (29-7), Summer Sobieski in the high jump (4-10), Ayla Starr in the pole vault (8-6), Claire McFarland in the 400 (69.4), Nicole Plasse in the 400 hurdles (83.4) and Sylvie DiBartolomeo in the 2 mile (13:39). Leone, Eve Dougan, Anna Petrin and Crocker won the 4x100 relay (54.6) while McFarland, Plasse, Maddie Antes and Howard won the 4x400 relay (4:51.5).

Lillia Kachelmeyer was the lone winner for Greenfield, taking first in the discus (91-4).

Boys track

Frontier 119, Greenfield 26 — Ian Burt took first in the long jump (17-2.5) and triple jump (38-0) while Ben Cachiguango earned first in the 110 hurdles (18.3) and the 200 (24.9) and Adrien Pazmandy won the pole vault (9-0) and 400 (55.4) to help lead the Redhawks to a victory over the visiting Green Wave on Friday in South Deerfield.

Other Frontier winners on Friday were Alex Schreiber in the discus (103-9), Aiden Dredge in the javelin (133-4), Ian Paciorek in the 100 (12.6), Luke Howard in the mile (5:04), Erich Brown in the 400 hurdles (69.0), Aidan Valderrama in the 800 (2:13.5) and Evan Hedlund in the 2 mile (10:24). Brown, Valderrama and Howard tied for first in the high jump (5-0) while the Redhawks won the 4x400 relay (4:09.4).

Greenfield’s Deion Brewington won the shot put (42-10) while the Green Wave took the 4x100 relay (51.8).

Ultimate

PVCICS 8, Four Rivers 5 — Sylvia Guillaume had a goal and two assists while Eve Macek and Sophia Slade both had a goal and an assist as the Otters fell to PVCICS in a girls Ultimate contest on Friday.

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