Youth and High School Sports in Walpole, Massachusetts
Archive for April, 2010
Softball, Little Leagues kick off 2010 seasons
April 30, 2010
Read the entire article on the Wicked Local Walpole website:
Ham and eggs. Abbott and Costello. Lennon and McCartney.
Some things are just meant to go together, and Walpole Little League and the Walpole Girls Softball Association are two of them, as this year’s dual participation in the annual Little League parade through the center of town attested to Sunday.
WLL has one of the state’s most successful travel programs over the past five years, including its visit to the Little League World Series in Williamsport in 2007.
WGSA also got on the map with last year’s powerful 14-and-under team that mopped up the state, and three of its members are currently key Walpole High varsity players despite only being freshmen.
In order to be successful outside town, however, the program has to be strong in town too, and both are.
While travel teams are formed via tryouts, the spring Little League and softball teams that play each other are formed via coaching drafts, and all players are …
Lacrosse: Rebel girls roll to 7 straight wins
April 30, 2010
Read the entire article on the Wicked Local Walpole website:
It’s been quite a few years since Wellesley High has been seriously challenged for the Bay State Herget girls’ lacrosse title and 10 years since someone else besides the Raiders won it.
However, if Walpole's non-league play is any indication, in the end the Raiders could be receiving a serious challenge from Walpole, which came into this week unbeaten.
The last two non-league wins for the 7-0 Rebels came against opponents who usually figure prominently in the postseason. They are also two teams that the Rebels had never beaten before.
The week started with an unexpected 17-8 blitzing of host Reading, a complete turnaround of last year’s 8-7 loss to the Rockets in Walpole. The biggest highlight of the victory, however, was Shelby Guisti shattering the school’s single-game scoring mark when she poured in four goals and set up six others. The 10 points topped a record of nine achieved three different times, most recently this year, by Sarah Buckley for …
Baseball: Sefton 3-run homer sinks Rebels
April 30, 2010
Read the entire article on the Wicked Local Walpole website:
When Mansfield teed off on Walpole High’s baseball team to start the Rebels’ most recent week of action it was not a good sign.
What might have been a combination of exacting revenge for an 11-2 loss at Eldracher Field and being sky high after learning that their athletics program was not going to be dismantled after all, the Hornets swatted back, knocking off the Rebels, 8-2.
Walpole then suffered a tough 3-2 loss at the hands of the Brookline Warriors in a non-league tilt Friday, and came back Monday to lose a real heartbreaker to Natick, 7-5.
The loss to the Red and Blue was Walpole’s fourth straight, leaving them 2-5 overall, and 1-3 in the Bay State League.
Kyle Musco continued turning in one solid outing after another, and senior Greg Travers also turned in quality innings for pitching highlights.
“We’ve been hitting into hard outs, while the other teams are getting seeing-eye hits,” said Coach Bill Tompkins. “That was a heartbreaking loss …
WHS lacrosse : injuries taking a toll on Rebels
April 30, 2010
Read the entire article on the Wicked Local Walpole website:
Last year, it seemed everything went perfectly well for the Walpole High boys’ lacrosse team, which overcame heavy graduations losses to reload and roll to the Div. 2 state title with just one loss.
This year, however, the team has been beset by injuries, giving it a lot more to overcome. To their credit the Rebels are nowhere near throwing in the towel, and they realize that in order to reach any of this year’s goals, they have more than their share of work cut out for them.
They suffered a major blow last week, however, when they lost starting goalie P. J. Painten to a knee injury, one on a timetable that is still up in the air.
Despite playing a tough non-league schedule the Rebels were still able to come out of last week with a split in non-league games, however.
They started the week with Tuesday’s 17-10 victory over defending Div. 3 state champion Scituate, before being flattened by Div. 1 power St. John’s Prep, 17-5.
“The Prep is in contention for the Div. 1 title,” …
WHS softball: Naticks steals win at Smith Field
April 30, 2010
Read the entire article on the Wicked Local Walpole website:
Anyone wondering what a softball game would look like on a rollercoaster should have been at Chauncey Smith Field Monday afternoon when the Rebels lost a heartbreaker to visiting Natick, 4-3.
Actually, heartbreaker may not be the correct term, since those descriptions are usually referred to games in which a team pretty much does everything right and still has it taken away.
The Rebels didn’t do everything right. They did enough things right to win the game, including battling back form a 2-0 deficit, but also did enough things wrongs to lose the game, dropping the Rebels to 4-3.
Natick got off on the right foot in the top of the first when third baseman Jordan Crespi blasted a one-out opposite field home run to right field for a 1-0 lead.
Then, pitcher Laura McCormack showed she was more than just a pretty arm when she fanned Walpole leadoff batter Gabby DeFalco on three straight pitches, catching her looking at the last …
Schedule change, Walpole @ KP
From the Friday Night Lights Lacrosse website:
Please make note of the schedule and venue change for the Walpole/King-Philip games scheduled for April 30.
Both the U15 and U13 games will be held at King-Philip High School on route 140 in Wrentham. The U13 game is scheduled for 7:00 PM. The U15 game will be held at 8:30 PM.
Read “Schedule change, Walpole @ KP” on the Friday Night Lights Lacrosse
Lacrosse: boys top Newton North, 13-7
April 27, 2010
Read the entire article on the Wicked Local Walpole website:
The Walpole High boys’ lacrosse team finally got its first test within its own league, and passed with flying colors Thursday afternoon.
The test came from Newton North, which has been taking a back seat in the Carey Division in recent years to Needham and Weymouth, but has started flexing its muscles once again.
The Rebels knocked off the Tigers 13-7, but what was impressive about the game was not the win – it was that they were able to secure the victory after starting goalie P. J. Painten went down four minutes in with a leg injury.
The only goalie on hand at the time was sophomore junior varsity call-up James O’Neill, and Coach Jason Andalo put him in net.
With his defense rallying around him O’Neill flourished, despite renewed and vociferous attacks on the net by the Tigers.
“Nervous? Definitely,” said O’Neil after. “But I knew we had a good team, and I felt better after a while.”
That’s good, …
Early girls’ lacrosse showdown Tuesday
April 27, 2010
Read the entire article on the Wicked Local Walpole website:
This Tuesday marks the biggest day in the history of Walpole High girls’ lacrosse.
On April 27, the Rebels will be hosting Wellesley High School, is what looms as a hugely pivotal game.
Not only have the Rebels never beaten the Raiders, the scourge of the Bay State Herget, but if they do so this time, they not only will do it for the first time in history, but they will put themselves in the driver’s seat when it comes to the Herget championship.
The defending league champions and their Rebel pursuers have been on a collision course since the start of the season.
With Walpole’s recent victories over non-league powerhouses Reading (17-10) and King Philip (16-8), two teams they also had never beaten before, the eighth-ranked Rebels (LaxPower) ran their record to 7-0, the first time in history WHS has started the season at 7-0. They reached 6-0 last year before Reading was able to eke out an 8-7 win on Turco Field.
The seventh-ranked Raiders come into Walpole with a 3-0-2 slate (not including Friday’s game with Duxbury), …
Blessed Sacrament girls win it all
April 24, 2010
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Last year the Blessed Sacrament fifth and sixth grade girls’ basketball team – well, actually, fifth grade girls, as it was the youngest team in the tourney – got as far as the New England CYO championship game in Hartford, Connecticut and came away as runners-up.
This year the BSS girls got as far as the New England CYO championship game and despite having the deck stacked heavily against them, came home as New England regional champions.
For the second straight year the locals had to travel to Connecticut, this time Bridgeport, to play in the tourney, joined by the seventh and eighth grade boys, who also had a great run.
As it turned out, they had to play the title game against the school from Bridgeport, St. James, which was supported by a huge home crowd and got to go to the free throw line frequently.
On top of that, and to make it even more of …
Baseball: Walpole, Baryski top Dedham
April 24, 2010
Read the entire article on the Wicked Local Walpole website:
Tommy Ryan is the ace and Tim Connors could be the hottest pitcher in Walpole right now, but the Dedham Marauders probably wished they faced either of them last Wednesday.
Instead, they got Mike Baryski in his first varsity start and could do little with him.
Baryski, who has one of the most compact and smoothest motions in the league, mowed down the visiting Marauders for eight innings, dominating Dedham in a 6-0 win closed out by Kyle Musco.
Walpole then dropped a 5-1 decision to powerful Braintree Friday, leaving the Rebels with a 2-2 record.
“He was throwing strikes and was never in any trouble,” offered Coach Bill Tompkins of Baryski’s debut as a varsity starter. “Mike had a very nice game.”
Baryski got all the help he would need in the second inning when the Rebels plated three runs.
The bottom third of the order was able to load the bases on two errors and …
Boys’ tennis: Rebels go into break at 3-3
April 24, 2010
Read the entire article on the Wicked Local Walpole website:
The WHS boys’ tennis team headed into the break exactly where Coach Shawn Gough hoped they would, at 3-3 and in the hunt for a tourney berth.
The Rebels split last week, knocking off Braintree at Walpole High Tuesday, 4-1, before dropping a 5-0 decision to powerful Natick Wednesday.
The loss to Natick was closer than the score indicates, and closer than anyone expected the rebuilding Rebels to be.
Billy Heanue took Parker Swiston to three sets before losing first singles, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 and Matt Fuller, at second singled lost in straight 6-4 sets.
“Billy came back and won the second set, but in the third set there were critical points he failed to win,” offered Gough. “He’s a year-round player, and for Billy to go to three sets says a lot about how far he’s come.
“Matt had his chances and was down 5-4 in the tenth game of both sets.”
Bobby Gay played his first varsity match at thirds singles, losing 6-2 and 6-1, and after dropping the first set 6-0, Ryan Herlihy and Joe Guidaboni …
WHS softball: Ryan on fire
April 24, 2010
Read the entire article on the Wicked Local Walpole website:
The Walpole High softball team lost 7-0 to Bishop Feehan last Monday, but that’s major progress compared to the first time they met, when Feehan crushed the Rebels, 16-0 at Chauncey Smith Field just a week before.
It appeared that the Rebels were starting to get things together, and that was pretty apparent in their one game last week, an 8-2 defeat of league rival Dedham Wednesday.
Coach Jim Duffy sent freshman Marissa Ryan to the mound and she sparkled in a complete-game effort in which she only surrendered a couple of hits.
The defense, which struggled at times, also sparkled as the Rebels committed no errors.
The senior captains were the catalysts at the plate, with second baseman Kellie Duffy plating three runs on three hits in four at-bats, shortstop Steph Frye getting two hits and center fielder Gabby DeFalco earning a base hit on a successful squeeze play.
The 4-2 Rebels next host Natick Monday and visit Braintree and Newton Tuesday and Wednesday next week.
