It was a very pleasant yet somewhat chilly Monday evening at Natick’s Mahan Field as the #24 seeded Hillers took on a very familiar non-league rival #9 Natick in the Division 1 State Tournament Round of 32. The Hillers were very familiar with the venue since they just competed in the annual Metrowest Daily News Rich Pedroli Tournament just over a week ago. After winning the annual Pedroli tournament championship 2 straight seasons, Hopkinton lost to Franklin & Lincoln-Sudbury at Mahan Field this year and unfortunately their luck didn’t get any better Monday night as they fell to Natick at Mahan field by a final of 6 to 3 ending their 2026 season with a record of 14 wins & 8 losses.
The first run of the game was scored in the top of the 2nd following a Calvin Mahon walk to start the inning which was followed up by a Michael Sullivan single, Trevor Hodne hit a sacrifice fly to score courtesy-runner Kuba Reilly and make it a 1-0 game and that score remained to close out the inning.
Junior, Ethan Senseney pitched 3 stable shutout innings for the Hillers but would be relieved by Thomas McCarthy (SR) to start the 4th. In the bottom of the 4th, Natick tied the game courtesy of a Thurston Kiefer sacrifice fly which scored Jack Weierman who previously reached on an error to tie the game at 1-1.
Noah Krammes came into pitch in the bottom of the 5th and Henry Kinchla started the inning reaching and advancing to 2B on an errant throw from Gabe Caffazzo. Natick’s Alan Steinman was then hit by a pitch after an advance to 3B by Kinchla following a wild pitch and would score on another wild pitch. After a Luke Dougherty single, Michael Sullivan came into pitch for Hopkinton with the bases loaded for Natick. A Jack Weierman walk, an Alex Jacques Single & Thurston Kiefer sacrifice fly would score 3 more runs to give Natick the 6 to 1 lead heading into the 6th inning.
It remained a 6-1 game until the 7th inning. Travis Rych started the inning with a single into left field. After a Gabe Cafazzo strikeout, Matt Pedroli walked and Ryan Lang singled to load the bases with one out. Noah Krammes hit into a sacrifice fielders choice which led to Rych plating a run and a questionable throw allowed Pedroli to score on the same play and make it a 6-3 game, but unfortunately there would be no more scoring after that as Natick hung on for the 6-3 win.
The key to the game for Natick was a tremendous pitching performance by Thurston Kiefer who pitched 6 solid innings giving up 1 run on 4 hits and struck out 10. Brauer Malcolm closed it out for Natick to earn the save. Hopkinton finishes their TVL-Large title earning season with a record of 14 wins and 8 losses. Natick improves to 16 and 5 and moves on to the D1 Round of 16.