Local nine come up short in state title defense

The Giants won the 13-year-old division of the Easton babe Ruth Championship. (From left to right): Coaches Bob Garrow, Ed Gendreau, Carl Bonarrigo, and Scott Faust. Top row: Matt Garrow, Nate Faust, Zak Ortega, Brad Minuskin, Shane Gallagher, and David Holmes. Bottom row: Robert Gendreau, Dan Bonarrigo, Adam Birmingham, David MacKinnon, Steven Lucey, and Connor Fisk.

  After a 0-3 start and a 23-3 blowout loss, the Nationals’ season took a turn for the best as the boys began to turn things around. A win against a tough Marlins team in extra innings proved to the team that they could in fact win. A six-game winning streak followed as the Nationals started to make some noise.

Shea O'Connor, a fourth grader from Easton was awarded All-American honors at the National High School Coaches Association Open Wrestling Championships in Salisbury, Md. 1,500 wrestlers competed from elementary through college levels at the tournament.

  Easton Youth Baseball concluded the Little League season last week with the Mets and Nationals as the two top teams.

The baseball fields in Easton and across the state stay as busy as ever. With the conclusion of the state tournament, baseball players flock to the diamond to participate in the American Legion Baseball League. The league allows seniors another opportunity to play with their teammates and serves as a learning experience for younger players.

This year’s senior graduation marked the first time the girls lacrosse team will be severely affected by athletes moving on to the next level.

A pair of landmark victories was a testament to how far the Oliver Ames girls tennis team progressed over the course of the season.

Jennifer Kane Memorial Tournament for Plymouth Little League

The core of the Oliver Ames’ baseball team experienced success long before the boys hoisted their championship hardware last spring at Lowell’s LeLacheur Park. In fact, for many of the 2008 graduates, it was the fourth state title on the diamond.

When Oliver Ames went down 2-0 to second-seeded Dighton-Rehoboth in Taunton last Thursday after one inning of the Division 2 South Semifinals, it was no big deal to the players. The Tigers are known for being comeback kids and lost just one playoff game since 2006 going into the affair. However, when the scored remained 2-0 in D-R’s favor after seven innings, it was a big deal for all those connected with the team that has brought so much success to the community.

From shortstop Amanda Cowan braving a painful shin injury sustained during warm-ups, to the defensive heroics of outfielders Shauna Haggerty and Liz Meyer, to the aggressiveness on the base paths of senior captain Karen Babbitt, the girls had both hustle and determination stirring in the pot. But the key ingredient missing from the Tigers’ initial incursion into the playoffs was a clutch hit. That element belonged to Fontbonne’s Nicole Derba, who cranked a two-run homerun that ousted the Tigers with a 4-0 preliminary round defeat.

Plymouth North eliminated the Oliver Ames girl’s tennis team from the Division I State Tournament, 3-2, last week ending a rather successful season for the Tigers. After OA won the No. 1 singles match, North came back to win the second and third singles contests and the first doubles match to take an insurmountable 3-1 lead. The Tigers came back to win the second doubles match, but it was too little, too late.

I am more than a little nostalgic that for the first time in 21 years, the Boston Celtics are back in the NBA Finals. When I was a kid, the Celtics were almost always at the top or playing near it.

A pair of runs in the first inning were enough to close the book on the Tigers' championship defense. Dighton-Rehoboth pitching stymied the OA attack, ending a back-to-back bid with a 2-0 defeat at Taunton High School.