Worcester, BU hand out crowns
SCHOOLS
Worcester will be the epicenter for high school sports today as state championships will be crowned in baseball and softball.
Holy Cross will host the three baseball finals starting at noon. Upstart DoverSherborn (17-8) kicks things off, looking to cap off an incredible postseason run by meeting Auburn (20-4) for the Division 3 title. Wellesley (16-9) has nothing on DoverSherborn in the amazing run department as the Raiders look for their first Div. 1 state baseball title against a 23-1 Taconic squad (3:15). Then Archbishop Williams (21-5) and St. Mary’s (22-2) meet for the Div. 4 crown at 6:30.
Down the road at Worcester State, softball takes over the campus for the Div. 1, 2 and 3 finals. Dracut (22-4), fresh off an epic 13-inning win over Norton in the state semifinals, opens the day (1 p.m.) when it meets Grafton (19-5) for the Div. 2 title. A rematch is on tap in the Div. 3 final (3:30) as Austin Prep (23-2) looks for some revenge against Turners Falls (21-2), which prevailed in last year’s final, 2-0.
High-flying Milford (24-1), which hasn’t lost since the season opener, will meet Wachusett (21-3) in the Div. 1 final at 6.
Five lacrosse titles will be on the line at Boston University, starting with the Div. 2 girls final between Cohasset (20-2) and Walpole (22-2) at 10 a.m. That will be followed by the Div. 1 girls final between Needham (22-3) and Longmeadow (23-1).
The boys take over the field at 2:15 as Hingham (223) and Longmeadow (21-3) square off for the Div. 2 title. Lincoln-Sudbury (18-1) will be aiming for its third straight Div. 1 crown when it meets BC High (19-3) at 4:30.
Following that game, there will be a brief ceremony in which Riley Bergstrom of Duxbury, Hallie Canfield of Foxboro, Daniel Freitas of South Shore Charter, Krystina Goroshko of Bridgewater- Raynham, Ryan Puglisi of Andover and Jack Sutherland of Lincoln-Sudbury will be presented their scholarship gifts from the Bruce Lerch Scholarship Fund. The organization was set up to honor the life of Lerch, a former Boston Herald high school reporter who died in 2015.
In the nightcap, Ipswich (19-2) and Grafton (22-2) meet for the Div. 3 title at 6:45.
The state individual singles and doubles tennis championships will be contested at St. John’s (Shrewsbury).
Singles semifinal action is slated to begin at 9 a.m. as Dover-Sherborn’s Max Schuermann and DennisYarmouth’s Camden Mazzoni meet in one semifinal while Westboro’s Sumukh Pathi and Longmeadow’s Jeff Mueller square off in the other.
On the girls’ side, Arlington’s Mia Wallace matches up against Leanne Kendall of Apponequet with the winner to meet either Aimee Figgins of Hopedale or Iris Gallo of Longmeadow.
The doubles semifinals will start at 10:30 a.m. The Acton-Boxboro duo of Leon Fridrikh and Alex Pieri will tangle with Wellesley’s Patrick Kley and Mike Ryan. The winner will face Ryan Farhat/Christian Jorgensen of Algonquin or Patrick Burns/Adam Katz of Longmeadow.
Defending girls doubles champions Victoria Scott and Elizabeth Williamson of Martha’s Vineyard will take on Winchester’s Izzy Bruno and Brooke Scully in one semifinal, while Shrewsbury’s Sabine Mende and Felice Xie are pitted against Longmeadow’s Jennifer Brayton and Meghan Swanson in the other.
The championship matches are slated to begin at 12:30.
Also, if the sight of Patriots spring workouts the past two weeks have you craving some football, then Bentley University is the place to be for the 39th annual Shriners Football Classic, pitting top seniors from the North and South sections of the state.