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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This is a web edition of GBH Daily, a weekday newsletter bringing you local stories you can trust so you can stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.
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🥵Very hot, with highs around 97 degrees. Sunset is at 8:19 p.m.
GBH’s Dan Murphy captured Abby Evangelista and her corgi, Rocko, at Sail250 this weekend. “Rocko gets dressed up for lots of occasions … sometimes just to go to the store, and he does so great with meeting people,” Evangelista said. Keep reading for more photos from the tall ships.
A year ago today firefighters were extinguishing flames at the Gabriel House, an assisted living facility in Fall River. Ten people died in the fire, a tragedy for their loved ones and a scary moment for about 18,000 people who live in assisted living facilities across the state.
Now state officials have created new regulations for fire safety in assisted living facilities, going into effect later this month. Fire departments will inspect these facilities once a year, and facilities will need to submit emergency plans and train their workers on what to do in case of a fire.
GBH’s Craig LeMoult found that neither the new regulations nor state or federal fire codes address checking sprinkler systems. Some of the sprinklers at the Gabriel House weren’t working the night of the fire, including the ones in the room where it started.
“Had the sprinklers functioned properly, we’re not having this conversation right now. It is maybe a single fatality fire, but certainly not more than that,” Fall River fire chief Jeffrey Bacon told LeMoult. “The good news is that some of the sprinklers did function. And had they not, we would be here talking about 20, 30, 40 victims.” You can read the full story here.
1. Colleagues and friends are remembering Louisa Gag, a Boston transportation planner killed last week when a truck driver hit her as she rode her bike near the Roxbury Crossing MBTA stop. Gag grew up in Roslindale and worked for the city on expanding the BlueBikes bike-share program. Before that, she worked for the LivableStreets Alliance, co-authoring a plan to help cities stop traffic deaths. You can see her talk about her work in this 2019 video.
“In moments like these, there is a tendency to reduce the person to the way they died and to their activism,” said Stacy Thompson, a former executive director of LivableStreets. “While we may know Louisa as a deep champion of the city and a close advocate, she’s also a Boston Latin [School] kid. She’s also, like, the most infectious, hilarious person you’ve ever met. She’s also a daughter. It’s so important to us right now for her life to not be reduced to how she stopped living.”
2. More than 4,000 nurses are back at work at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. They went on a one-day strike last week, and hospital administrators kept them from returning to their jobs for another five days. The Massachusetts Nurses Association and Brigham management have been negotiating a contract for seven months, going back and forth over wages, health insurance premiums and staffing levels.
“It’s exciting, but also frightening,” said Christine Forgeron, a cardiac nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “I don’t know what to expect when we go back to our patients. What happens next, because we still don’t have a contract,is the most unsettling part.”
3. Michael Walsh, a Republican candidate for state attorney general, will be on the primary ballot in September despite what Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Karp called “substantial evidence in the record of voter fraud.” The case began when Adam Roof, executive director of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, submitted a complaint accusing a signature gatherer Walsh’s campaign hired of either falsifying or not meeting state requirements for 1,021 of the 10,677 signatures they submitted. Candidates for statewide office need 10,000 signatures to get onto the ballot.
Karp said that there was indeed evidence that the signatures came not from voters themselves but from a list of registered voters the state’s Republican party gave the signature gatherer. But the case fell on a technicality: state law required Roof, the Democratic party official, to submit his complaint by certified mail, and he did not do so. The state’s highest court still has to decide what will happen to Anne Manning Martin, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor who used the same signature gatherer.
4. Residents of towns around the Quabbin Reservoir flooded into the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority meeting last week to ask for a better deal. The Quabbin supplies clean drinking water for dozens of cities and towns in the eastern part of the state. Right now, the state requires towns like Shrewsbury, Belchertown, Orange and Pelham to keep their development in check to keep the Quabbin clean. Though those towns get some money in return, local officials said it’s not enough to cover their costs.
“We are protecting this watershed by foregoing any type of economic development, which is a cornerstone of providing the basics of education [and] public safety,” said state Rep. Aaron Saunders, of Belchertown. “It’s time for a change, and not an incremental one.”
Dan Murphy / GBH News
Tomorrow is the last full day of Sail Boston, the city’s tall ships celebration. The ships will leave our harbor Thursday morning. GBH photographer Dan Murphy was there over the weekend to capture the Parade of Sail.
Dan Murphy / GBH News
The Esmeralda, a ship from Chile, sailed by Castle Island.
Dan Murphy / GBH News
Carolyn Gustine carried her son, Patrick, on her shoulders.
You can see the full photo essay here.
Dig deeper:
–Spectators line Cape Cod Canal to see tall ships make their way to Sail250 in Boston
–The World Cup transformed Greater Boston. Will it last?
–Department of Agricultural Resources celebrates Ice Cream Trail program
Local News
A Boston man is facing charges after he allegedly lunged at a Burger King employee, punched a customer, and then resisted arrest at a nearby MBTA station in East Boston, authorities announced Monday afternoon.
Patrick Donovan, 59, was charged July 1 with one count of assault and battery causing injury on an over 60 or disabled person, assault and battery, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, assault, and vandalism, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office said in a press release.
The charges stem from an incident shortly before 10 p.m. on June 30, when Boston police responded to a disturbance call from Burger King at 1 Maverick Square, Hayden’s office said.
A Burger King employee told officers that, after ordering his food and receiving it, Donovan yelled that he no longer wanted it and smacked a napkin holder off the counter. He then allegedly lunged at an employee and grabbed her by the arm, prosecutors said.
Donovan subsequently shoved a customer from behind and allegedly punched him in the face three times while calling him racial slurs, the DA’s office said.
Emergency medical services evaluated the customer for “visible lacerations to the forehead,” but the victim declined additional treatment, authorities said.
Donovan fled the restaurant following the assaults, and officers tracked him to the nearby MBTA Maverick Station, prosecutors said.
“While officers tried to detain Donovan inside the station, he swung at them with a closed fist but did not make contact,” Hayden’s office said, noting that Donovan made racial slurs towards the officers. “Donovan was placed into custody after a brief struggle.”
During his arraignment in the East Boston division of the Boston Municipal Court, Donovan pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance. Court records show he was also ordered to stay away from Maverick Square and Burger King.
He is scheduled to return to court Aug. 7 for a pre-trial hearing, prosecutors said.
Officers obtained security footage of both assaults. Authorities said the incident remains under investigation and could result in further charges.
“Our workers deserve to be safe in their workplaces and our consumers deserve to be safe in their shopping or dining places, without exception,” Hayden said in a statement. “Beyond that, none of our citizens or first responders should be subjected to racial slurs. These appalling words have no place in Suffolk County or anywhere else in our society.”
Attorney information for Donovan was not immediately available Monday afternoon.
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A rideshare driver suspected of assaulting a passenger at Boston Logan International Airport on Friday is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday.
Leonard Bacon, 23, was found in Lowell, where he lives, and taken into custody on Sunday, Massachusetts State Police said. He’s charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Bacon, who’s due to face the charge in East Boston District Court, had an attorney who could speak for him.
Police didn’t share more details on what Bacon is accused of doing. They’ve previously said that the rideshare passenger entered Terminal C just before 5:30 a.m. and reported that they had been physically assaulted by their driver prior to being dropped off.
After the passenger got out of the vehicle, the rideshare driver left the scene, according to police, who alerted area law enforcement agencies to look out for the suspect. The victim was taken to a Boston-area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police added.
Police are looking for a rideshare driver who was reported to have assaulted a passenger right before drop-off at Boston’s Logan airport.
In a statement, Uber said they’ve checked in with the rider and removed the driver’s access to their rideshare platform.
“We are horrified by this reported violence,” a representative for the company said in a statement, adding, “Our specialized team has been in touch with law enforcement, and we will continue to do whatever we can to support their investigation.”
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