The Bedford High School girls’ lacrosse team finished the 2024 regular season with a record of 11-8. The team from Dighton-Rehoboth High School, between Taunton and Providence, also won 11 games, while losing only six.
Sounds like a pretty good matchup, right?
Well, there’s a reason why the MIAA power rankings are based on more than just wins and losses. The 11-8 Bucs were seeded eighth in the Division 3 brackets and the 11-6 Panthers were ranked 25th..
The result was an easy 22-5 opening round win for Bedford at Sabourin Field on Monday afternoon.
Bedford led 11-0 before the visitors found the back of the net, and Bedford had a 14-1 halftime advantage. By rule, the game went to a running clock when the differential reached 10 points.
The result made it an opening-round sweep for Bedford teams, and the next round is expected to be more challenging. The boys’ tennis team hosts North Reading at the Wedgewood Club at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday and the softball team entertains Plymouth South High School in Division 2 post-season play with the first pitch at 4 p.m. at Miss G Field.
On Wednesday, the lacrosse team returns to Sabourin Field with a second-round showdown against ninth-ranked Falmouth.
The Bucs seemed to be scoring at will against Dighton-Rehoboth, leading 2-0 after two minutes. The onslaught was led by Tova Yerardi and Sophia Babington. Third-year goalkeeper senior Charlotte Dreyfus was solid when the Panthers threatened; Coach Nicole Lespasio gave Dreyfus the second half off.
The team “did a great job at keeping focused at what was asked of them, and played together rather than individual players,” Lespasio said. “The victory was absolutely a team effort – seven different scorers, multiple players taking the face off and started on the circle, and lots of forced turnovers in the midfield.”
“Senior Cassie Morrison had caused turnovers, four draw controls, a goal and an assist; and junior Caroline Luongo had cause turnovers, three draw controls, and an assist,” the coach added. “The win was good, but getting every single player, including both goalies and our three junior varsity players that we pulled up to assist us, playing time in a state playoff game was great.”
Coach Dennis Walsh’s seventh-seeded softball team will be ready for a tougher battle from the 10th-seeded Panthers after disposing of Woburn in the opening round on Saturday, 13-0.
Leading 7-0 after four innings, the Bucs closed the game with a six-run fifth. That made it an official game, and with a 12-run softball “mercy rule,” it was a walk-off win after two runs scored on Sami Langone’s bases-loaded two-out to the fence ground rule double. (Both runs counted in the final score.)
Everybody in the starting lineup had at least one hit.
The other story was Alyx Rossi, the junior pitcher who missed the final three regular-season games to make sure she was fully recovered from a slight injury in time for the tournament.
Rossi struck out the first two Woburn batters, but the second reached first on a passed ball. The next batter took a close three-two pitch for a walk and the visitors were starting to dream of an upset.
It was a rude awakening. Rossi struck out the next six batters, finishing the five-inning game with 11 K’s. The Tanners not only were hitless, they never got a batted ball past the pitcher.
Rossi is hitting well over .600 on the season, so Woburn intentionally walked her in the first, third, and fourth innings. That backfired. Each time, pinch-runner Elora Fennell eventually came around to score. In the fifth inning, Woburn pitched to Rossi, who singled sharply to left.
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