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Baseball/softball year in review: Taunton girls keep winning

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Baseball/softball year in review: Taunton girls keep winning


The epicenter for softball excellence in Massachusetts has annually been the southeastern part of the state.

This year proved to be no different as three of the five state champions reside there.

Start with Division 1 state champion Taunton, a program which has richly earned the moniker of dynasty. The Tigers rolled to their fourth straight title, defeating five opponents by a 46-3. Central Catholic was the only team able to stay within five runs of Taunton, losing a 1-0 contest in the state semifinals.

The South Coast Conference has always possessed a proven track record in postseason play and this year was no different once again. Both Dighton-Rehoboth and Case reaped the benefits of day-in and day-out spirited competition during the regular season and cashed in to the tune of state titles.

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Dighton-Rehoboth had the reputation as one of the best hitting teams in the state and that continued in the postseason as Falcons averaged more than 10 runs a game. They also showed a flair for the dramatic in the Div. 3 state final as Lucy Latour’s double in the last of the seventh plated Haleigh Kelley with the winning run in a 4-3 triumph over Hudson.

Over in Div. 4, defending champion Case rolled through its first three opponents, outscoring them by a whopping 46-3 margin. The Cardinals, however, proved they were equally adept at winning the close ones as evidenced by a 2-0 win over AMSA and a 1-0 decision over Tyngsboro in the state final.

If pitching is 90 percent of the game in softball, then they surely underestimated Walpole ace Sharlotte Stazinski. The two-time All-Scholastic shut out all five postseason opponents, including back-to-back 1-0 wins in the final two games to claim the school’s first state softball title.

Another team who can lay claim to being a dynasty is Turners Falls. The Western Mass. power became the first MIAA school to win 11 state titles, taking down Georgetown 5-0 in the Div. 5 state final.

One of the best stories of the baseball season was English. The Boston City League power struck a blow for inner-city baseball by becoming the first BCL school in more than four decades to win a state title. They certainly didn’t back into this as they defeated an excellent Georgetown team 7-1 in the Div. 5 state final.

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Pitching and defense were the hallmarks of successful title defenses by Oakmont in Div. 3 and Seekonk in Div. 4. Oakmont made a living out of keeping the opponents off the scoreboard as they allowed just two runs in five games. If you think that was impressive, Seekonk did them one better by permitting one opposing run to score in the tournament.

The never-Catholics certainly were not happy when they saw the Final Four dance card in the Div. 1 state baseball tournament and three of the remaining four teams resided in the Catholic Conference (BC High, Xaverian and St. John’s Shrewsbury). As it turned out, BC High was the last team standing as the Eagles defeated Leominster in the semifinal and St. John’s (Shrewsbury) in the championship game to bring the trophy back to Dorchester.

Plymouth North saved its best for last in the Div. 2 state tournament. The Eagles capped off a fantastic season by rolling past top-seeded Walpole 9-2 to give coach Dwayne Follette another state championship.

Parting shot

I know the MIAA constantly loves to float the narrative that they will look at data before making decisions down the road.

One statistic which bears watching is the lack of success teams ranked outside the top 32 achieved this past season. Yes I am fully aware that one of the key reasons why the statewide tournament was eventually passed a few years back was the fact there was a concession made to allow teams who didn’t finish ranked among the top 32, but possessed a record of .500 or better were allowed into the field.

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That being said, it’s definitely time to give this more than a cursory look starting with the 2024 softball tournament. A total of 43 teams entered the field seeded lower than 32 and just one emerged victorious — No. 34 Marlborough who defeated No. 31 Oliver Ames 13-5 in a Div. 2 preliminary round contest. The Panthers went on to lose to Tewksbury in the next round by 12 runs.

For those scoring at home, that comes out to a 1-42 record for those schools. Those teams were outscored by a margin of 498-132, certainly not what you would expect from the state tournament,

On the baseball front, things were marginally better as 38 teams entered the postseason seeded lower than 32 with eight wound up victorious. Of the eight who advanced, Belchertown was the only one to win a second game before bowing to Sandwich in the Div. 3 Round of 16.

If this trend continues, it might be a prudent course of action down the road to consider limiting the field to the best 32 teams.



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Boston, MA

2024-25 Boston College Men’s Hockey Player Profile: Gentry Shamburger

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2024-25 Boston College Men’s Hockey Player Profile: Gentry Shamburger


The Boston College Eagles men’s hockey team kicks off its season on Friday, Oct. 11 against Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich. 

As the season draws closer, we’re taking a look and profiling each member of the 2024-25 roster. Up next is forward Gentry Shamburger.

Shamburger is entering his fifth season with the Eagles. During his time in Chestnut Hill, he has appeared in 83 games and tallied two goals and one assist for three points. In his sophomore campaign, he won 26 faceoffs and blocked 13 shots.

Prior to joining the Eagles, the 23-year-old spent four seasons with the USHS-Prep program Avon Old Farms School (2016-20) where he appeared in 106 games and tallied ten goals and 24 assists for 34 points. During the 2018-19 season, he recorded the third-most assists (ten) and tied for the sixth-most points on the team. 

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Other stints during his hockey career include the TPH Thunder 14U AAA (2014-15) and 16U AAA (2015-16) teams as well as the Buffalo Regals 18U AAA (2017-18) and the Mid Fairfield Rangers 18U AAA (2018-19) teams. 

Name: Gentry Shamburger

Hometown: Atlanta, Ga. 

Year: Graduate

Position: Forward

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Number: 14

Shoots: R

Measurements: 6’1” 203 lbs

This is an ongoing series from Boston College Eagles On SI. Check out the rest of the men’s hockey Player Profile series here: Eamon Powell | Jacob Fowler | Nolan Joyce | Teddy StigaDrew Fortescue | Aidan Hreschuk | Lukas Gustafsson | Ryan Leonard James Hagens Michael Hagens | Mike Posma.



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Young Red Sox starters have shown they can handle a full season’s grind

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Young Red Sox starters have shown they can handle a full season’s grind


For the last few years one of the biggest questions surrounding Boston’s young starting pitchers was whether or not they could survive a full 162-game season. Guys like Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford and Brayan Bello had shown they could compete against big league hitters, but could they maintain their stuff deep into August and September?

The answer, it turns out, is a resounding yes.

This weekend Houck, Crawford and Bello wrap up successful seasons in which each will exceed 30 starts for the first time in their careers. Houck and Crawford will both approach 180 innings, and while an early-season injury will prevent Bello from nearing that mark, he has also made every start since mid-May and gotten better as the season’s gone along.

Even if the season ultimately fell short of expectations, the trio’s emergence as legitimate rotation anchors has massive implications for the club’s future.

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“We felt like they were capable of it,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “They worked hard in the offseason to get to this point physically. Bello, you see the evolution of the body. Kutter put some weight. And Tanner, he’s Tanner. He’s very consistent in everything he does on the field, in the weight room and in the training room.”

Crawford, who is scheduled to make his 33rd and final start on Saturday, comes into the weekend with a 4.17 ERA over 179.1 innings. Barring a change of plan, he will become just the fifth Red Sox pitcher in the last decade to make 33 starts in a season, and probably also the third to top 180 innings since 2019.

Reaching those totals is particularly gratifying for Crawford after he spent his first two full MLB seasons bouncing back and forth between the rotation, bullpen and injured list. He said his goal was to make at least 30 starts and throw 162 innings, but while he’s happy to have accomplished that, there’s still more work to be done.

“I feel good about my ability to stay healthy and make the starts and post every five days, but there are also other stuff that needs to be worked on,” Crawford said. “I’m not satisfied with where my velo is at, I’m obviously not satisfied with how many homers I’ve given up this year. I haven’t given up necessarily as many hits, but when I have gotten hit it’s been hit hard.”

Pitching coach Andrew Bailey, who praised Crawford’s progress and work ethic, offered a similar assessment of what it’ll take to reach the next level.

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“Obviously the long balls hurt him,” Bailey said. “So finding ways to stay off barrels, whether that’s increasing velo, honing in on some of the more intricacies of the shapes, specifically the splitter.”

With nothing to play for and having battled shoulder fatigue over the past few weeks, Houck won’t make his final scheduled start on Sunday, wrapping up a breakout year in which the 28-year-old earned his first career All-Star nod and established himself as a front-of-the-rotation guy. Houck finishes with a 3.12 ERA over 178.2 innings in 30 starts, all by far the best totals of his career.

And even Bello, who got off to a rocky start, finished the year on a high note. The 25-year-old missed three weeks with lat tightness in April and May and boasted a 5.32 ERA heading into the All-Star break, but from July 20 onwards he recorded a 3.47 ERA over 72.2 innings, a stretch that included one of the best outings of his career, an eight-shutout-inning gem against the Toronto Blue Jays on Aug. 28.

“l learned a lot this year,” Bello said via translator Carlos Villoria Benítez. “I was able to finish strong, I gave everything my last few outings so to be able to start pretty much every outing since May was a huge accomplishment for me.”

With the core of the starting rotation now firmly in place, the Red Sox should be much better positioned to supplement the group with additional up-and-coming arms along with new external additions this coming winter. But even if the Red Sox are happy with the steps their young pitchers have taken, the hope is this is just the start of their journey, not the ultimate destination.

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“For me moving forward it sets the bar for these guys,” Bailey said. “On what we expect and continuing to drive performance.”



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Mass. Gov. Healey seizes Steward-run hospital in Boston in bid to keep its doors open

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Mass. Gov. Healey seizes Steward-run hospital in Boston in bid to keep its doors open


The Healey administration said Friday that it had seized a Boston hospital most recently operated by bankrupt Steward Health Care.

The Democratic governor’s office said it used eminent domain to seize St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in the city’s Brighton neighborhood, a move that will allow it to take control of the property and transfer the hospital’s operations to Boston Medical Center.

  • Read More: St. Elizabeth’s landlords fight state takeover of Steward-owned hospital

As part of the legal process to take the hospital, Healey’s office argued that a potential shutdown for St. Elizabeth’s would create a public health emergency.

That’s because of the large number of patients the hospital now serves, and the knock-on effects to medical services across the region, the administration said.

The firms that controlled the hospital’s real estate had fought the takeover, rejecting what they say is the state’s low-ball offer for the property, State House News Service reported last month.

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On Friday, Healey said that while one of the firms, Apollo Global Management “continues to put its greed ahead of the health and wellbeing of the people of Massachusetts, we are taking action to make sure St. Elizabeth’s remains open.”

“By transferring operations to Boston Medical Center, we will protect access to care for tens of thousands of patients and save thousands of jobs,” Healey said in the statement.

Healey’s office had previously announced that it had found new operators for five of Dallas-based Steward’s seven hospitals in Massachusetts.

Lawrence General Hospital will become the new operator for both campuses of Holy Family in Haverhill and Methuen, Lifespan will assume operations of Morton and Saint Anne’s, and Boston Medical Center will take over Good Samaritan.

These transfers of ownership are expected to go into effect on Oct. 1, Healey’s office said.

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Two Steward-run hospitals, Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, and Carney Hospital in Dorchester, closed in August after Steward said it failed to find “qualified” bidders for the property.

Earlier this week, Healey’s office said it had convened a pair of working groups aimed at addressing the impact of those shutdowns.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate approved a resolution intended to hold Steward’s CEO, Ralph de la Torre, in criminal contempt for failing to testify before a Senate panel.

The Senate approved the measure by unanimous consent.

Members of a Senate committee looking into the bankruptcy of Steward Health Care adopted the resolution last week after de la Torre refused to attend a committee hearing despite being issued a subpoena.

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The resolution was sent to the full Senate for consideration, The Associated Press reported.



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