McDonough leads Norwell by Old Rochester

SCHOOLS

Murphy McDonough usually has the upper hand when it comes to draw controls.

But yesterday Old Rochester’s Megan Shay bested McDonough inside the circle, so the Norwell senior captain adapted and instead provided a big scoring boost.

Along with McDonough’s game-high six tallies, six other Clippers scored to hand Old Rochester its first loss, 15-9, in girls lacrosse play at the Clipper Community Complex in Norwell.

“If you’re not doing one thing right, then make sure you’re doing another thing right,” Navy-commit McDonough said. “It’s the little things that add up. Obviously we didn’t win as many draws as we normally do, but we were focused on other little things that turned in to a win.”

Shay’s ability to take command on draws got Old Rochester (12-1) off to a strong start and Boston College-commit Maddie Cooney netted her first of four goals for a 2-0 lead less than three minutes in.

Norwell (12-3) responded by stepping on the gas, scoring eight straight. The Bulldogs never recovered.

After McDonough put Norwell in front midway through the first half, Casey Ward added to the lead with back-to-back goals.

Another by McDonough was followed by goals from Katie Amorosino and Allison Connerty to cap the run and leave the Clippers up 8-2 with 1:21 left in the first.

“It just took us a few goals for them to score for us to react,” said Norwell coach Kara Connerty. “We don’t want to play like that. We want to be proactive. We settled down.”

Baseball

In a Northeastern Conference game, Jack Fargo had three hits plus an RBI and picked up the win as Medford (10-3) defeated Revere, 6-3.

Chris Ducko went 3-for4, driving in two runs and scoring twice for Xaverian (9-6) in a 9-3 victory over Catholic Conference rival Malden Catholic.

In the Bay State League, Max Walker went 2-for-2 with a double and two RBI, while Ross Dexter fired a complete game in a 5-1 win for Milton (7-8) over Natick.

Aidan Blake slugged a home run knocked in four runs to power Apponequet (10-1) to an 8-5 win over South Coast Conference foe Greater New Bedford.

In a Tri-Valley League game, Conor Hebert and Stephen Simoes finished with three RBI a piece as Hopkinton (10-4) edged Dover-Sherborn, 12-11.

Jesus Moscat struck out 15 in a complete game as O’Bryant (10-3-1) claimed a 5-1 Boston City League win over South Boston.

Softball

In a Dual County League showdown, Acton-Boxboro (13-1) handed Concord Carlisle its first loss of the season, 9-7, behind Kylie Frank’s two-run homer in the sixth.