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Speedy Notre Dame Academy runs past East Longmeadow, 22-6

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

WALPOLE — To truly have a shot at beating Notre Dame Academy of Hingham’s girls lacrosse team, you have to prove that you can run with the Cougars, who possess uncommon team speed.For the first half of Tuesday’s Division 2 state semifinal, heavy underdog East Longmeadow did just that, and were within shouting distance.But after that, East Longmeadow found out what everyone who has played NDA already knows: running with the Cougars for 50 minutes is a different story.NDA pulled away with a dominant second half in a 22-6 rout that was on running clock for most of the second half. The Cougars are now 24-0 and advance to the state final, where they hope to repeat as D2 state champs.East Longmeadow’s season ends at 18-4.“Absolutely, I think, especially this team, I think that was why it was a tougher first half for us,” said NDA’s Emma Connerty, who scored four goals. “They kept up. They were keeping up. That threw us off, because we like our fas...

Westwood scores late to earn thrilling 10-9 victory over Franklin

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

WALPOLE — What Westwood coach Margot Spatola would not have given for a single draw control in the final moments of Tuesday’s Division 1 state semifinal against Franklin.Luckily, her scintillating senior captain, Lil Hancock, had what her coach was looking for.Hancock’s ground ball win off the final draw of the game helped the Wolverines seal a 10-9 win, to allow them the opportunity to play for a possible third girls lacrosse state title in a row.Westwood improves to 22-3, while Franklin ends its season at 20-4.When asked if she noticed who made that play, Spatola said, “I have no clue,” but acknowledged its importance.“We needed that,” Spatola said. “It was about time.”Hancock scored two goals in a balanced Westwood attack. Caroline Nozzolillo, Emilie DeMaio, and Charlotte DeMaio also scored twice, and Kella McGrail and Ava Connaughton each added a goal.Westwood goalie Riley Harrington made 10 saves and was terrific in the first half...

St. John’s Prep rolls to a 14-5 victory over Hingham

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

WESTON – With each passing evening this week, William Sawyer started to have a greater hunch that he would be given an increased role when St. John’s Prep took the field Tuesday for the Final Four.What the senior attackman didn’t truly realize, however, was that he was on the verge of turning a career performance. Sawyer went on to register a game-high four goals, as the top-seeded Eagles clinched their third straight trip to the Div. 1 boys lacrosse championship with a convincing 14-5 rout of No. 5 Hingham at Weston High School.“I didn’t get told, but I had a feeling I would play,” Sawyer said afterward. “I felt good coming into the game, and everything went well today.”These two historic programs had already engaged in one barn-burner this spring on May 27, with St. John’s Prep (21-1) closing its regular season with a thrilling 12-9 win. Most envisioned a similar battle in the semifinals. For the first seven minutes, it certainly appeared that it would pan out as such. Harla...

Mets Notebook: Pete Alonso’s wrist injury progressing ahead of schedule

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

Pete Alonso is progressing ahead of schedule.The Mets’ first baseman was taking ground balls at Citi Field on Tuesday ahead of the team’s first game of the Subway Series. Alonso was hit on the left wrist with a pitch last week in Atlanta and went on the 10-day injured list with a contusion and a sprain. The league’s home run leader with 22 long balls is expected to be out for three to four weeks, but it sounds like he might be ahead of schedule.“He’s progressing well. He’s starting to do some things,” manager Buck Showalter said Tuesday at Citi Field before the Mets hosted the Yankees. “We all know when he’s eligible [to come off the injured list]. We’ll see if we get there.”Showalter said he doesn’t want to “handicap” it when it comes to looking at a date for his return. But it goes without saying that getting the team’s best hitter back would be a boon for a struggling club. The Mets rank tow...

Div. 1 softball: Central Catholic holds off Peabody

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

LOWELL — It was pretty ugly at times for Central Catholic on Tuesday in the Div. 1 softball semifinals against No. 5 Peabody. But with one swing of an unlikely hero’s bat, the ugliness turned to beauty.No. 9 batter Bella Boyer rocked River View Field with a two-run homer in the fifth inning that gave the top-seeded Raiders a lead it never relinquished in a 4-2 win over the Tanners.Central (23-1) advances to face either Taunton or King Philip at UMass Amherst this weekend for a state title.“I’m just happy that I could get a hit like that for the team,” Boyer said.One of those people not truly surprised that Boyer came up huge was Central coach Stacy Ciccolo.“We have a lot of faith in Bella,” Ciccolo said. “We like having her in that spot so we can turn the order around.”The Raiders were fortunate to be in a 2-2 tie as they left nine on base over the first four innings against Peabody’s Abby Bettencourt. Central also committed three errors and saw Logan Lomasney and Bettencourt homer ...

Defense dominates, Bailey Zappe sees reps increase and more Patriots Day 2 minicamp takeaways

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

FOXBORO — The Patriots offense will be a slow burn.Progress is the message and focus as they rebuild from the rubble of last season. Mac Jones has dusted himself enough off to believe Bill O’Brien’s system can and should inspire hope, if not belief, for the 2023 season. Life will be different in Foxboro when the Patriots have the ball.But when they don’t? When Bill Belichick’s defense prowls the field, sneering and hunting from sideline to sideline? Forget hope.It’s time to convert already.Early signs are the next Patriots defense will be fast, deep and multiple. Violent, vicious and deceptive. This unit forced Jones and Bailey Zappe to pump the ball and hang in the pocket repeatedly during team drills this spring, including Tuesday’s minicamp practice.Jones tossed two picks, while thumping safeties, freak man-cover cornerbacks and pass-rushers took turns flashing all across the field. Defense dominated every 11-on-11 period to the point players b...

Connecticut’s David Pastore leads Massachusetts Open after two rounds

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

David Pastore of Stamford, Conn., will take a two-shot lead into Wednesday’s third and final round of the 113th Massachusetts Open Championship.Pastore fired rounds of 68 and 66 to reach 10-under at TPC Boston in Norton. In second place was amateur John Broderick. Broderick, playing out of Dedham Country & Polo Club, has been consistent, carding rounds of 68 and 68.One shot back of Broderick in a four-way tie for third place at 7-under were Kyle Gallo of Berlin, Conn. (70-67), Brad Adamonis of Ponte Vedra, Fla. (68-69), Mike Van Sickle of Wexford, Pa. (71-66) and Nicholas Pandelena of Atkinson, N.H. (68-69).The inaugural event was won in 1905 when the legendary Donald Ross was the winner at Vesper Country Club in Tyngsboro. 

Bodycam video shows armed man killed in police shooting on MTS trolley

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego police on Tuesday released bodycam video of an officer shooting and killing an armed man at a South Bay transit center.Police received a call on June 6 about a report of a disturbance with a weapon at the Iris Avenue Trolley Station in San Ysidro.Around 8:45 p.m., surveillance video on the MTS UC San Diego Blue Line initially caught the suspect, identified as 19-year-old Mauricio Sanchez Ramos, acting erratically as he rocked back and forth in his seat on the trolley.Moments later, the video shows the suspect pull what appeared to be a gun from his waistband and then pace and wave the weapon in front of passengers on the trolley. As the train arrives at the San Ysidro Station, Ramos is seen walking up to the security camera and pointing the gun at it. Bartender fighting for life after hit-and-run while walking to work When officers arrived on scene, they approached the trolley where there appeared to be no one onboard besides the suspect.Officers open the t...

Teacher who was shot by 6-year-old student in Virginia has resigned, school officials say

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

The first-grade teacher who was shot by her 6-year-old student in Virginia has resigned from her position, school officials said Tuesday, more than two months after she sued the district for $40 million. The last day of Abby Zwerner’s contract was Monday, Newport News Public Schools said in a statement. The district said that Zwerner notified human resources in March that she wouldn’t be returning next school year.Zwerner, 25, was shot in the hand and chest as she sat at a reading table in her first-grade classroom on Jan. 6. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, has endured multiple surgeries and told NBC that she sometimes “ can’t get up out of bed.”Zwerner filed her lawsuit in early April, alleging that school officials ignored multiple warnings that the boy had a gun and was in a violent mood that day. The school board has pushed back, asking a judge to dismiss the case and arguing that Zwerner should get workers compensation instead. WAVY-TV first reported tha...

Michigan Republican chairperson Karamo, others ordered to pay legal fees for failed election lawsuit

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — A judge this week ordered Michigan Republican Party Chairperson Kristina Karamo and others to pay more than $58,000 in legal fees incurred by the Detroit clerk’s office to fight a lawsuit they filed challenging absentee voting in the city.In an order signed Monday, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Timothy Kenny said the Oct. 26 lawsuit in which Karamo was the lead plaintiff was “rife with speculation, an absence of facts and a lack of understanding of Michigan election statutes and Detroit absentee ballot procedures.”At the time, Karamo was the Republican nominee for secretary of state, a position that serves as Michigan’s top election official. Two weeks after the suit was filed, Karamo lost to Democrat Jocelyn Benson by 14 percentage points before being elected the state GOP chairperson in February.“Plaintiffs merely threw out the allegation of ‘corruption in Detroit’ as the reason for disregarding the Michigan Constitution in this state’s largest city,” Kenny wrote...