Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

Mountaineer softball beats Warriors 9-4 at home

FALLS VILLAGE — The Housatonic Valley Regional High School Mountaineers softball team hosted the Wamogo/Litchfield Warriors’ co-op team on April 26. After a hard-fought battle between the two teams, HVRHS prevailed in a 9-4 victory.

Lawn chairs filled with fans from each side lined the foul lines near their respective dugouts as the action got underway. Temps were around 50 degrees when Mountaineer hurler Anne Moran took to the mound.

Moran had two strikeouts to help put the Warriors out in order in the first. Wamogo/Litchfield pitcher Diana Squires threw a pair of Ks as well to keep the first inning scoreless.

HVRHS’ fielders were on the money in the top of the second and secured three putouts. HVRHS’ Abby Hogan got the Mountaineers on the board in the bottom when she brought Daniela Brennan home to go up 1-0.

The Warriors responded in the third with a pair of runs to take a 2-1 lead. HVRHS’ Kaitlyn Cunningham tied it up in the bottom of the inning when she came home on a sacrifice fly from Grace Riva. Moran then retook the 3-2 lead with a colossal home run over the head of the Warriors’ center fielder.

In the fifth, Wamogo/Litchfield evened the score at 3-3, but Cunningham and Riva both found home for HVRHS in the bottom of the fifth to pull ahead to 5-3.

Savannah Dildy logged an RBI for the Warriors in the top of the sixth but then, up 5-4, the Mountaineers turned on the gas in the bottom of the inning.

“No matter what we do with the sticks here, we have three outs and a handshake,” said HVRHS Assistant Coach Peter Foley.

With Hogan and Abby White on base early in the sixth, Cunningham stepped up to the plate and brought them both home with the second home run of the game for HVRHS and an 8-4 lead. Moran scored the game’s final run shortly after.

The Mountaineers put the Warriors out in order in the seventh inning to end it.

“Two home runs. It was beautiful,” said HVRHS Head Coach Kaleigh Selino. “The other pitcher did fantastic. It was a tough strike zone, and she did great.”

“It’s a young team but we’re getting there. We’re figuring it out,” said Wamogo/Litchfield Coach Bill Simmons.

Offensively for HVRHS, Cunningham went 2 for 4 with a double and a three-run home run. Moran hit 3 for 4 with two singles and a solo home run. Abby Hogan went 2 for 3 with two singles. Moran finished with four strikeouts for the Mountaineers.

Squires pitched eight strikeouts for the Warriors and had three putouts. Shea Higgins hit 2 for 4 with two singles and scored once for Wamogo/Litchfield.

HVRHS softball (4-4) will be back on their homefield on May 8 when they host Northwestern at 4:15 p.m.

Anne Moran hit a solo home run against the Warriors.  Photo by Riley Klein

Anne Moran hit a solo home run against the Warriors.  Photo by Riley Klein

Anne Moran hit a solo home run against the Warriors.  Photo by Riley Klein

Anne Moran hit a solo home run against the Warriors.  Photo by Riley Klein

Latest News

A life reshaped by clay in “Matin”

Left to right: Hannah Wheeler, Matin Malikzada and Yonah Sadeh.

D.H. Callahan

On Monday, Oct. 26, a group of students, teachers and local residents gathered at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville for a screening of the new short documentary “Matin.” The film tells the story of Matin Malikzada, a seventh-generation Afghani potter making a new life in New Milford, Connecticut. The film was made by local filmmaker Yonah Sadeh, creator of the Video Wall at the David M. Hunt Library, and Berkshires-based potter Hannah Wheeler, who were both present for the screening, along with Malikzada himself.

As a member of the seventh generation of his family to master the art of pottery, Malikzada had done things the way his family had for over a century. Istalif, the village where his family has lived for generations, was known throughout Afghanistan for its pottery, with wares sent across the country for use as everyday cups, bowls, plates and other vessels. The pottery-making families of Istalif gathered clay from the same mountain, about 30 to 45 minutes away by donkey. Every July, they would head north toward the Uzbekistan border to gather ishkar, a plant they processed by hand to make their signature glazes.

Keep ReadingShow less
Meg Sher finds her calling among the stacks

Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.

L. Tomaino

When Meg Sher came to Falls Village in 2006 from Old Lyme, Connecticut, where she grew up, she never imagined she’d someday be the executive director of the David M. Hunt Library.

Although, in hindsight, perhaps it makes sense.

Keep ReadingShow less
Crescendo’s 23rd season speaks to the heart and mind

Christine Gevert, founding artistic director of Crescendo, conducts the audience at a performance.

Steve Potter

For Christine Gevert, founding artistic director of Crescendo, music from centuries past is anything but a relic. It is a living, breathing art form, full of drama, emotional complexity and, occasionally, surprises. As the regional choral and period-instrument ensemble launches its 23rd season, Gevert is once again bringing forgotten masterpieces into the present.

“Early Music has been my lifelong passion and the focus of my specialization in Europe and South America,” Gevert said. “Bringing this repertoire to our audiences in a nuanced way that does justice to its incredible depth, intensity, and beauty is deeply important to me.”

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

Close Encounters with Music celebrates 35 years of musical discovery

Close Encounters with Music’s 35th season opens with “Saluting the Clarinet” featuring clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein.

Provided

For 35 years, cellist Yehuda Hanani has been inviting audiences to experience classical music in unexpected ways. As founder and artistic director of Close Encounters with Music, Hanani has built a concert series that goes beyond the music itself, exploring connections to literature, history, politics and the human experience.

This year, Close Encounters celebrates its 35th season with “Celebration & Discovery,” a seven-concert series that opens Sunday, Nov. 1, at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington.

Keep ReadingShow less
Shinbone Alley brings spooky songs to Spencertown

Seeing isn’t always believing. Sometimes it’s the lack of a defined picture that can be the most compelling. And when Alex Harvey of Shinbone Alley sings his supernaturally charged sea shanties and street ballads, the unseen will be downright scary. On Oct. 30, the historically inclined storyteller and performer will create a spooky evening of forbidden tales and yarns through a carefully chosen series of songs at Spencertown Academy of Arts.

The repertoire for the performance is a bit fraught. Over the years, Shinbone Alley has explored the world of folklore through music. Though the group usually features two musicians, Harvey, a multi-instrumentalist and singer, will be performing solo. That is, of course, unless you include the spirits.

Keep ReadingShow less
Malian blues and Moroccan Gnawa meet in Sheffield
Vieux Farka Touré
Proivded

Desert winds rarely blow into the Berkshires, but on Nov. 5, they will carry the Malian blues and Moroccan Gnawa music to Race Brook Lodge.

That evening, Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré, often called “the Hendrix of the Sahara,” and Moroccan musician Samir LanGus will play at the lodge’s Event Barn in Sheffield, Massachusetts, at a benefit for the foundation Touré directs.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.