GREENFIELD — A pair of teams with state title aspirations met at Vets Field on Wednesday. 

Hampshire Regional made the trip to Greenfield for its final regular season game of the season and going into the fifth inning, the Green Wave appeared to be in position to hand the Raiders just their second loss of the season, holding a 2-0 lead. 

Raegan Dubay had other ideas. 

Caroline Payson opened the inning with a single, Rachael Hickox reached on an error before Teagan Charles beat out an infield single to score Payson and put Hampshire on the board. With two runners on, Dubay came up and smashed a home run over the left field fence to give the Raiders the lead. 

Hampshire kept Greenfield off the scoreboard the rest of the way to pull out a 4-2 independent victory. 

“I say all the time if you can keep it within reach you have a chance,” Raiders coach Brian McGan said. “We kept it within two [runs] and one swing of the bat was able to get us back in the game.” 

The loss snapped a three-game win streak for Greenfield (11-5), though coach Ray Dodge said he was proud of the fight his team showed. 

“It was a good game,” Dodge said. “They’re always a battle [with Hampshire]. We tried to battle as hard as we could and I thought we did that tonight. We played well but sometimes you play well and don’t win.” 

McGan was complimentary of Green Wave pitcher MacKenzie Paulin — who recorded her 1,000th strikeout on Tuesday — saying she is one of the best pitchers his team has gone against during his long tenure leading the Raiders. 

Getting to face a pitcher of Paulin’s caliber is something he hopes will help Hampshire (17-1)  in the postseason. 

“You always want to see pitchers like that before the postseason,” McGan said. “She battled hard. We just caught her in a couple right pitches. Sometimes you get that. We have good hitters and they have a very good pitcher. I give her a lot of credit. I’ve been here a long time and she’s one of the better pitchers I’ve seen since being here.” 

The Greenfield defense came up big in the third inning. The Raiders put two on to open the inning but Grace Laurie caught a bunt and threw to first to get the runner for a double play. With Hickox still on second, CC Thayer drilled a single to left field but Bianca Reynolds rocketed a throw home that beat Hickox, keeping the game scoreless. 

The Green Wave scored twice in the bottom of the frame. Anna Bucala got it going with a double, Paulin was intentionally walked before Gloria McDonald bashed a single up the middle to score Bucala. 

Paulin later scored on a wild pitch to give Greenfield its 2-0 lead. The Green Wave put runners on in the fifth and sixth but were unable to tally another run. 

Payson recorded two hits, Hickox singled, Mariah Pacinella added a base hit while Ryanne Dubay doubled and added 10 strikeouts and surrendered six hits in the circle for Hampshire. 

Charles singled in the seventh for the Raiders, the 100th hit of her career. 

Paulin struck out nine for the Green Wave and added a base hit in the first inning. Carson Farrell singled twice and Olivia Lemay added a base hit for Greenfield. 

The Wave have two more games to go before the postseason, going on the road to face Westfield Thursday before hosting Agawam on Friday. Greenfield is feeling good heading into the final stretch, with Dodge noting the progress made from the first time his team played Hampshire this season – a 4-0 loss. 

“I think they feel pretty good,” Dodge said. “We’re a much better team now than we were when we faced them the first time. I thought we’d battle them pretty good today and we did. It basically came down to one swing.” 

Turners 5, South Hadley 1 — Mia Marigliano cracked a single, a double and drove in a run for the Thunder, which defeated the Tigers in Turners on Wednesday. 

Madi Liimatainen hit an RBI double, Marilyn Abarua and Janelle Massey both doubled while Maddie Dietz hit safely in the win. Liimatainen struck out 14 and gave up just one hit in the circle for Turners. 

Franklin Tech 10, Northampton 0 – Hannah Gilbert fired a 16-strikeout no-hitter, lifting the Eagles to a dominant victory at Nancy Gifford Field in Turners Falls on Wednesday.

Gilbert walked four in the complete-game shutout, as she continued to rack up no-hitters in a dominant senior season.

She more than helped herself at the plate, belting two home runs as part of a 3-for-4 outing. Kylee Gamache also went deep for Tech and finished with two hits. Alison George, Lindsey Taylor and Shelby O’Leary slashed two hits apiece to pace the Eagles offensively.

It was the 11th-straight win for the Eagles, which closed out their regular season 15-3 overall and earned a share of the Franklin County League East title with Hopkins Academy – the fifth year in a row the program has won a league crown. Tech, which hasn’t lost since April 17, honored seniors Gilbert, Gamache, Cordelia Guerin, O'Leary and Gianna DiSciullo prior to the game.