With the regular season winding to a close and the Western Mass. Tournament about to kick off, let’s take a look at league title winners from this spring. 

Multiple Recorder area teams will be hanging league championship banners after stellar seasons, led by the Pioneer baseball team, the Turners softball team and the Frontier boys and girls track teams winning outright titles. 

It’s been a year to remember for the Panther athletic program. The Pioneer boys soccer team won a Western Mass. title in the fall, the Panther boys basketball team went unbeaten to win Western Mass. and state titles, and the Pioneer baseball team has followed suit, holding a 16-0 record and 9-0 record in the Suburban League West going into Friday’s contest against Easthampton. 

No matter what happens on Friday, the Panthers have already done enough to take home the league title, with Frontier and Hopkins finishing in a tie for second with 6-4 records in the league. 

A historically tough league, this year was no different. All six teams will comfortably qualify for and play in the state tournament though Pioneer has gotten through it unscathed as it has outscored its league opponents, 71-19. In its 16 games, the Panthers have outscored their opponents, 142-27. 

With a stable of pitchers, a lineup 1-through-9 that can produce, and a senior core led by Alex McClelland, Braeden Tsipenyuk, Ethan Quinn, Ethan Mauthe, Ben Werner and Jackson Campbell, it’s no surprise to see Pioneer have success this spring. A veteran team with loads of postseason experience, this was just one of the many goals the Panthers set for themselves to start the year as they look to bring some trophies back to Northfield in the postseason. 

Following a Div. 5 state championship a season ago, a letdown of a regular season wouldn’t have been out of the question for the Turners Falls softball team. 

That was far from the case for the Thunder, which closed out their campaign with a 14-4 record and went 9-1 in an always-challenging Franklin County League West to take home the league title. 

That lone league loss came in its first FCL West game of the season against Frontier. Turners then needed a walk-off to take down rival Greenfield later that week. That win over their rivals  helped propel the Thunder the rest of the way, as it won its next eight league games to take the crown. Greenfield took second with a 7-3 record in the league. 

Turners finished with a 74-17 run differential in the league and on the season, has a 141-37 run differential with its senior core of Madi Liimatainen, Mia Marigliano and Marilyn Abarua helping lead the way. The Thunder sit at No. 1 in the MIAA Div. 5 power rankings, as they are positioned to make a run at back-to-back state titles. 

Another year, another unbeaten season for the Frontier boys and girls track teams. 

The Redhawks captured Intercounty League titles every year since the return from COVID and that didn’t change this spring, as both went an unbeaten 6-0 in league meets. 

There were two crucial meets Frontier needed to have to win the title. For the Redhawk girls, that came against then unbeaten Mohawk Trail, though Frontier pulled away with a 90-55 victory behind a pair of wins from both Lilly Novak and Hannah Davis. 

For the Redhawk boys, it came down to a meet against Greenfield earlier this week as both entered with 4-0 records. It was a tight meet throughout and came down to the 4x400-meter relay, where the Frontier team of Gus Radner, Garrett Dredge, Adrien Pazmandy and Ian Paciorek were able to earn a victory to propel the Redhawks to a 77-68 victory. 

It was a close battle throughout the year between the Hopkins Academy and Franklin Tech softball teams to see who could win the Franklin County League East. 

The Eagles won their opening three games in the league before suffering a 5-3 loss to the Golden Hawks on April 17. With the two teams separating themselves from the pack early — for example, Franklin Tech outscored all non-Hopkins FCL East opponents 148-19 — it was going to come down to the second showdown between the two to decide whether the Golden Hawks would win the league outright or if the Eagles could grab a share of the title. 

Tech senior Hannah Gilbert stuck out 13 and held Hopkins to just three hits as the Eagles pulled out a 4-2 victory. Both teams won out to finish 11-1 in the league and share the title. Like the other teams that have won league titles, Tech is led by seniors Kylee Gamache, Cordelia Guerin, Gianna DiSciullo, Shelby O’Leary and Gilbert on its way to a share of the crown. 

There will be one final league winner in the Recorder area, but it won’t be decided for another week. The Franklin Tech and Athol baseball teams are both 6-1 in the Bi-County North with one to go. 

That last game happens to be against each other, and was scheduled to be played in April at Dunkin’ Park in Hartford. Rain forced the game to be rescheduled for May 23 in Hartford, where the two will square off with the winner taking home the outright league title. The Bears defeated the Eagles, 5-1, in the opening contest between the two.