Yesterday, June 5, three of the four sports that qualified for tournament, or All-States, came to an end in their tournament journey, turning yesterday into one of the worst days in Walpole High School sports. After multiple postponements, the time finally came for Baseball to play in its first round, and for Softball to compete in the second, but both fell short in advancing to the next rounds. Also, four promising athletes were scheduled to compete in All-States, but failed to qualify further into the tournament. Walpole High’s tournament sports have now all come to end in their tournament run, officially ending all spring sports.
Once again for the second year straight the Rebels Boy’s Baseball team has been knocked out in the 1st round, even though they receive high seeding each year. Yet, this year comes with a little controversy as the Rebels had a coin flip for the 1st or 2nd seed and ended up with the 2nd, having to face the Catholic Conference’s Xaverian, who also had a coin flip to determine their position. This draw for the Rebels was putting many people on upset alert as Xaverian plays in the Catholic Conference so their record does not always speak for how talented and dangerous these teams really are. Just as predicted, Xaverian did in fact upset the Rebels who struggled early, letting up multiple key runs in the first four innnings.
Once again the talented Rebels were sent home early despite their incredible regular season, which just goes to show that the playoffs are a whole ‘nother ball game.
Walpole Softball was placed fifteenth in the seedings and played against Bridgewater Raynham, the second seed team, in their second round tournament game. The game ended in the fifth inning with a score of 16 to 3, knocking Walpole out of tournament. The game started out two walks at the beginning of the inning and continued with many well placed hits that were difficult for Walpole’s defense to make the outs for. Walpole had one good inning which was started out with a single by junior, Sam McChesney, and followed with key hits by juniors, Brittany Mcgraw and Jess Cochrane. These hits allowed three runs to be scored, making the score 8 to 3. Walpole went downhill from here and did not score anymore runs but allowed 9 more runs to be scored in the next four innings of play. Walpole’s tournament run was ended with a disappointing score of 17 to 3.
The Walpole Outdoor Track team’s season came to an abrupt close on June 5, at Fitchburg State for the All State Meet. After being postponed from Sunday to Monday to Tuesday, the meet was greeted unexpectedly with fairly good weather on Tuesday night. Although showers were forecast for that night, the weather was sunny for long stretches with little-to-no-wind. Unfortunately, the athletes did not benefit from the nice weather. Despite having impressive performances at the Division II Meet, Connor Murtagh and Erin McCarthy did not have low enough times to make it to the finals. Murtagh ran the 110 meter hurtles with a 15.55, and McCarthy ran the 200 meters with a 26.78. Maddy Shea fouled her first jump — which was her farthest — and only jumped a 16’ 4″ on her second jump, which was her farthest on the day. Overall, she placed 16th but she did not match her Division II performance where she jumped 17’0.5″. PJ Hayes, the fastest runner at the highschool and one of the top sprinters in the state, was ready to beat his rival Charles Ruffin from King Phillip, who beat him in the Division II State Meet on May 27. During the indoor season, Hayes beat Ruffin in the D2 Meet in the 55 dash. In the prelims of All States, Ruffin was placed first and Hayes was placed second. However, Hayes committed a false start, leading to his disqualification in the finals.
