East Granby/Granby wins District 6 title with dominating win over Simsbury

East Granby/Granby shortstop Julia Tetreault (6) celebrates with third baseman Jenna Pyrzenski after throwing out a Simsbury runner at third base in Thursday night’s D6 championship game.

SIMSBURY, June 26, 2025 – The East Granby/Granby Major Division softball team (ages 10-12) can be a bit relentless on the base paths. They always seem to be running and taking big leads off bases.

They stole four bases Thursday night in the District 6 championship game and advanced on several wild pitches and passed balls as East Granby/Granby won their first D6 title since 2019 with a 10-1 win over Simsbury at Memorial Field.

East Granby/Granby (3-0) will advance to the Section I tournament against the District 5 and District 3 champion beginning next Tuesday here at Memorial Field.

In the first game of the District 6 tournament against Simsbury on Tuesday, East Granby/Granby trailed by five runs going into the sixth inning, 6-1 but rallied with five runs in the sixth to tie the game and won the game in the seventh inning.

There was nothing so dramatic on Thursday night. East Granby/Granby pitcher Lucy Catter allowed just four hits, walked just two batters and struck out three. She let the defense behind her do the work with eight assists and six individual putouts on fly balls or line drives.

“What is most impressive is they practiced for two weeks and they built and built and built on every single practice through the heat and the rain,” East Granby/Granby manager Phillip Tetreault said. “We taught them what to do and they came out here and executed it.

“They did what they had to do,” he said. “It was awesome.”

East Granby/Granby put the pressure on right away. Jenna Pyrzenski walked to lead off the game and immediately stole second base. With one out, she scored on Elizabeth Burns’ RBI triple to center field. Burns scored on a wild pitch to give East Granby/Granby an early 2-0 lead.

It was Burns who had a bases-loaded double in the sixth inning of Tuesday’s win over Simsbury that cut the lead to two runs, 6-4. Ella Hallam followed with a single to put two runners on base.

Burns stole third and scored on an error while Hallum scored from first base on the same play to tie the game at 6-6.

East Granby/Granby third baseman Jenna Pyrzenski (3) tags out a runner trying to steal third base in Thursday night’s D6 championship game in Simsbury.

On Thursday night, Simsbury (1-2) responded in the bottom of the first inning. Lila Saadat, who was 2-for-2 with a pair of singles and three stolen bases, led off the game with a single. She stole two bases and scored on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 2-1.

East Granby/Granby extended their lead to 3-1 in the second inning. Naomi Aviles led off the inning with a double, moved to third base on a wild pitch and scored on a throwing effort when teammate Abby Lynch bunted and reached first base on an error.

East Granby/Granby seized a commanding 7-1 lead in the third inning, scoring four runs on two hits and an error. Emily Leitao had a sacrifice fly, driving in a run. She also had a RBI single in the sixth inning.

Aviles had two hits for East Granby/Granby, including a double while Burns had a triple and one RBI.

In 2023, East Granby/Granby fielded a team in the Under 10 tournament that included a majority of these players. They won a District 6 title and made it to the finals of the Section I state tournament.

“It’s really cool to see them grow up and get better,” Tetreault said. “They’re starting to understand the game better. It’s not just about hitting. It’s about patience, bunting, hitting, stealing, taking a pitch.”

Sasha Saczawa and Catter each had singles for East Granby/Granby.

It was the fourth District 6 championship for East Granby/Granby since 2015. East Granby/Granby did play in three consecutive D6 finals from 2021-23 and lost them all.

East Granby/Granby 10, Simsbury 1
At Simsbury
EG/Granby (3-0)           214  003  — 10-6-0
Simsbury (1-2)               100  000  — 1-4-2
Lucy Catter and Abby Lynch; Luccia Koob and Lily Fiore; WP: Catter (1-0); LP: Koob (0-2); 2B: Naomi Aviles (EG); 3B: Elizabeth Burns (EG); Highlight: East Granby/Granby advances to the state tournament for the first time since 2019

District 6 Major Division (ages 10-12) 
Monday, June 23
East Granby/Granby 7, Simsbury 6 (7)
Tuesday, June 24
East Granby/Granby 17, Avon 5
Wednesday, June 25
Simsbury 11, Avon 4
Thursday, June 24
Final: East Granby/Granby 10, Simsbury 1

Recent District 6 Major Division championship games
2024: Avon 3, Simsbury 0
2023: Avon 9, East Granby/Granby 5
2022: Simsbury 6, East Granby/Granby 4
2021: Simsbury 9, East Granby /Granby 4
2020: Avon/Simsbury (only entrant)
2019: East Granby/Granby 13, Avon/Simsbury 1
2018: Torrington 12, East Granby/Granby 1
2017: Torrington 3, East Granby/Granby 2
2016: East Granby/Granby 13, Burlington 2
2015: East Granby/Granby 14, Simsbury 0