Sports

Local briefs: Northampton Post 28 American Legion tryouts this weekend

The Northampton American Legion baseball team (19U) will be holding tryouts on Sunday, May 12 from 10 a.m. until noon, and then again on Sunday, May 26 from 9-11 a.m.Tryouts will be held at Arcanum Field in Florence. For more information email Mike...

UMass basketball: Minutemen officially in 2024 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase with Providence, Boston College and Temple

By GARRETT COTE

The news is officially official: the UMass men’s basketball program will be part of the four-team field in the 2024 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase, the Hall announced on Monday.Joining the Minutemen is two other prestigious New England...

Fit to Play with Jim Johnson: Why Pickleball?

Some suggest that pickleball is a fad but I believe it is here to stay. After all, some reports indicate that 36 million people played pickleball last year compared to around 24 million tennis players. Parks departments are inundated with requests to...

UMass lacrosse: Minutewomen edged by Richmond 14-13 in Atlantic 10 women’s title game

For the second year in a row, the Richmond women’s lacrosse team had UMass’ number in the Atlantic 10 championship game.Alexis Morton scored the game-winning goal for the Spiders with 3 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to lift No. 2...

UMass basketball: Matt Cross announces he’s transferring to SMU for final year of eligibility

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — The decision every UMass men’s basketball fan has been waiting for was finally made late Saturday night.Minutemen star and First Team All-Atlantic 10 forward Matt Cross – the backbone of UMass’ team for the past two seasons – has committed...

High schools: Ian McDonald, Belchertown baseball edge Amherst 3-1

Tied up 1-1 with Amherst heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Belchertown baseball team grabbed two key runs to jump ahead by two – a lead they would keep the rest of the way.Behind two hits – their only two of the afternoon – and an RBI...

UMass lacrosse: Top-seeded Minutewomen hold off St. Joseph’s, punch A-10 title-game ticket

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

The top-seeded UMass women’s lacrosse team advanced to the Atlantic 10 Tournament championship game with a 10-9 win over No. 4 St. Joseph’s on Friday afternoon in Pittsburgh, Pa.The Minutewomen will look to re-claim the Atlantic 10 Tournament title on...

Ultimate: Amherst Invitational returns to UMass this weekend

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — After two years away from home, the Amherst Invitational is finally back in the city of Amherst this weekend.Previously held at The MacDuffie School in Granby, one of the largest and most prestigious ultimate tournaments will be played on...

Softball: Hopkins Academy making strides despite 8-3 loss to Franklin Tech (PHOTOS)

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

HADLEY – Hopkins Academy’s bats started out strong, but couldn’t keep up over the latter innings as Franklin Tech scored an 8-3 victory in a Franklin County League East matchup Friday afternoon.The Golden Hawks (5-5) held even with the Eagles (10-1)...

2024 Gazette Wrestler of the Year: Adin Clifford, Hampshire

By GARRETT COTE

There perhaps wasn’t a better stretch of dominance at the Western Mass. Division 3 Wrestling Championships at Mount Greylock Regional High School in early February than the performance of Hampshire’s Adin Clifford.To start his day, Clifford pinned...

On The Run with John Stifler: A closer look at the Boston Marathon’s wheelchair division

The average sports-page reader knows that the fastest runners in a major marathon are likely to be Kenyan or Ethiopian. But another part of the Boston and London marathons is dominated by northern Europeans, plus Americans, Japanese, Australians and...

High schools: Northampton softball edged by Pioneer in offensive slugfest (PHOTOS)

A marathon of a matchup between the Northampton and Pioneer softball teams was eventually claimed by the Panthers – 63 runs later.Pioneer defeated the Blue Devils 34-29 on Thursday afternoon in Northfield in what was an offensive explosion.Haly...

UMass lacrosse: St. Joseph’s knocks out Minutemen 11-9 in A-10 semifinals

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST – The UMass men’s lacrosse team never fell behind by more than three goals, but never took the lead and fell 11-9 to No. 1 St. Joseph’s in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament at Garber Field on Thursday.In their regular season meeting...

New Hopkins Academy athletic fields nearing completion

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

HADLEY – The red shed off to the side of the Hopkins Academy softball field has seen some use. For decades, Golden Hawks baseball and softball pitchers used it as a backstop in pregame warmups. But now, with construction on a new athletic field...

Baseball: Offense continues to roll in Hampshire’s 18-7 win over Hopkins (PHOTOS)

By GARRETT COTE

WESTHAMPTON — During Wednesday’s batting practice session, Hampshire Regional sluggers Drew and Mikey Thompson didn’t bring their best swings, according to Raiders head coach Mark Baldwin.After their time was up, they insisted Baldwin let them get...

High schools: Big seventh inning lifts Smith Vocational baseball past Pathfinder

Knotted up 1-1 heading into the top of the seventh, the Smith Vocational baseball team erupted for five runs to break the game open and pull out a 6-1 win over Pathfinder on Wednesday afternoon.Patrick Millin struck out nine over all seven innings in...

Boys tennis: Sixth grader Lee Ferguson key cog in PVCICS’ win over Belchertown, undefeated start to the season (PHOTOS)

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

BELCHERTOWN — Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School boys tennis coach Mike Locher has a Star Wars character assigned to each player on his team.After every match, he sends his players a game recap, along with a YouTube video of their Star...

South Hadley boys volleyball team making strides in first season as program

By GARRETT COTE

SOUTH HADLEY — Fighting toe-to-toe with Veritas Prep in the fourth set of its first varsity boys volleyball game in program history, South Hadley was on the brink of history.The Tigers did just enough to pull away and claim a 25-23 win in the frame,...

2024 Gazette Boys Swimmer of the Year: Luke Giguere, Belchertown

By GARRETT COTE

BELCHERTOWN — He didn’t think it would ever happen outside of a regular season dual meet, but Luke Giguere had just done something swimmers only dream of.The Belchertown senior put forth a heroic 46.62-second anchor leg in the 400-yard freestyle relay...