The 2025 North Adams Lady Devils softball squad finished their season at 1-13, 8-5 in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference. (Photo by Tim Daulton)
Finish season at 10-13 after two conference wins
North Adams freshman Riley Woods (8) slides safely into third base in action from the Lady Devils’ 3-2 district tournament loss at Eastern Brown. (Photo by Tim Daulton)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The 2025 softball season for the North Adams Lady Devils came to a close last week in up and down fashion, sort of a mantra for their season as a whole. On May 14, in the completion of a suspended game from the previous day, the Lady Devils dropped a heartbreaking 3-2 decision to the Eastern Brown Lady Warriors in the quarterfinal round of the Division V district tournament. Often times it is tough to motivate a team after a tourney loss that usually ends a season, but in this strange spring there was still softball to be played for the Lady Devils.
After the tough tourney loss, the Lady Devils rebounded to close their season with a pair of conference wins on consecutive days, taking down Whiteoak 11-1 on May 15 and coming back the next day to get by West Union 12-5 to finish their season with an overall record of 10-13, includinga very respectable 8-5 in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference.
The tournament match up at Eastern Brown began on May 13, but because of severe weather that arrived, was suspended in the fourth inning and completed the next day. Carlee Garrison has had the hot hand in the center circle in recent weeks and she got the starting nod in the district quarterfinal. The Lady Warriors scored one in the bottom of the first when Tabby Schumacher singled with one out and later dashed home on a wild pitch.
In the bottom of the second, Eastern added another run on a double off the bat of Emmery Simpson and a run-scoring single from Raylee Brummett. With senior Allie Grooms in the center circle for the home team, the North Adams offense was stymied until the weather delay in the fourth sent both teams home for the night.
On the following day when play resumed, the Lady Devils rallied to tie the game with single runs in the sixth and the seventh. In the top of the sixth, consecutive singles by Garrison, Paige Evans and Marley Whalen loaded the bases and a Riley Woods ground out brought home Garrison with the first North Adams run. Karis Tumbleson reached on an infield hit to again load the bases but the Lady Devils let a golden opportunity slip away when Evans was picked off third base and Lilly Parker went down swinging.
In the top of the seventh, the Lady Devils drew even when Anna Armstrong reached on an error and Evans redeemed herself with a run-scoring base hit that tied the game at 2 apiece. In the bottom of the seventh with two outs, one away from extra innings, a throw to second to attempt to cut down an Eastern runner was wild, as was the throw to third, which the umpires ruled rolled into the dugout and that allowed the winning run to score in a disappointing North Adams loss. “Just a terrible way to lose,” said North Adams assistant coach Andrew Garrison.
Kudos to head coach Paula Armstrong and her squad, who bounced back from that devastating loss to finish their season with wins in two conference outings, beginning with an 11-1 run rule win at Whiteoak. In that win, the Lady Devils pounded out 12 hits in five at-bats, led by a 3 for 4, three-RBI performance from freshman Marley Whalen, Paige Evans, Jerzi Tong and Riley Woods each added two hits, while Garrison and Tong combined to pitch five innings for the win.
The Lady Devils’ season came to a close on Friday, May 16 with a 12-5 win at West Union. The North Adams bats were again on fire as they banged out 13 hits by seven different hitters. Evans was 3 for 5 with four runs batted in, complimented by two-hit days from Garrison, Parker, Tong and Tumbleson as the Lady Devils picked up there 10th win of the season. West Union was led by two hits each from Lylah Adams and MacKenzie Stout.
“Our season ended earlier than we expected,” said Coach Armstrong in summing up the spring. “I am pleased with the way our team came together and worked hard. We set goals at the beginning of the season and we met many of them. However, we are still in the hunt for North Adams’ first ever league championship in softball. We lose just one senior (Anna Armstrong) who was a very dependable center fielder for us, but with 10 returning players and the group of freshmen we have coming in, we are excited for next season.”
“Overall, I am proud of this team. They showed up and played some great softball this season.”
