Hockomock Sports

Below are the Hockomock seedings for girls lacrosse.

Divison I
#4 Franklin (16-2) will host #13 Norwood (9-7-2) on May 29th, at 4:00 p.m. 
#14 Mansfield (11-8-1) will travel to #3 Needham (18-2) on May 29th, at 5:00 p.m.

Division II
#6 Foxboro (17-2-1) will host the winner of #11 Ashland/#22 Dedham, May 28th at 4:00 p.m.
#17 Canton (9-7-2) will travel to #16 Archbishop Williams on May 25th at 7:00 p.m. 

By Ryan Lanigan, Editor-in-Chief

MILFORD, Mass. – Milford senior Shannon Smith is used to making the headlines, with 26 career no hitters, 8 perfect games, and a state championship under her belt.

But Smith outdid herself once again, picking up career strikeout number 1,120 in the fourth inning to break the Massachusetts strikeout record.

Needing four strikeouts entering the game, Smith picked up two in the second inning and tied the state record at 1,119 in the third inning. She forced a pop fly to start the fourth, followed it up with a hit batter, before getting Marlborough’s Victoria Petrie swinging for the state record.

“I was pretty happy,” Smith said with a smile. “Their original approach it seemed was to bunt so they wouldn’t strike out. I was wondering if they were going to have that approach all game but pretty much after the first inning they ditched approach and tried something else. Then I was able to get the strikeouts after that.”

The previous record was held by Shawsheen’s Jen Elwell, who graduated in 2004. Smith struck out 12 in the 2-0 win over Marlborough to bring the state record to 1,128 – and counting.

“Shannon Smith has put in the work in the offseason for a number of years leading up to this point,” Milford head coach Brian Macchi said. “For her to now be the all-time strike out leader in Massachusetts, she deserves it.”

Smith has one more regular season game against Shrewsbury to add to the record and then will start the playoffs next week. 

“I would probably say movement,” Smith said of what makes her such a good strikeout pitcher. “Speed can get strikeouts for a couple innings but once they adjust to speed, strikeouts are hard to come by. Movement is probably one of the more crucial parts of it. The more the ball moves, the harder it is to get the bat on it.”

And despite becoming the state’s best strikeout pitcher in terms of records, Smith still hasn’t reached her preseason goal.

“At the beginning of the season, we didn’t really know what the actual record was,” Smith said. “My goal was to get 1,200. That’s still my goal, I still want to get that.”

After Smith picked up the record in the top of the fourth in a scoreless game, she led off the bottom half with a single. Sarah Jaques came in as a courtesy runner, advanced to second on a Caroline Fairbanks single, and scored the game’s first run on an RBI-single from Taylor LeBrun.

After Smith struck out the side in the top of the fifth, Milford doubled their lead in the bottom half. Lizzie Stallone led off with a single and stole second. She made it to third on a Sam Bonvino ground out. Lauren Hanna’s bunt single then scored Stallone to make it 2-0.

Milford will go for their 20th win of the season on Saturday when they host Shrewsbury in the regular season finale. 

By Ryan Lanigan, Editor-in-Chief

MILFORD, Mass. – It was meant to be a special night to honor Milford’s 18 senior players, but Oliver Ames spoiled the party with a stunning fourth quarter rally.

Tiger senior Garrett Goslin scored Oliver Ames’ sixth unanswered goal of the quarter as OA upset Milford 8-7.

Milford outscored the Tigers 5-0 in the second and third quarters to extend their lead to 7-2 entering the final frame, but slowly and surely, Oliver Ames chipped away at the lead, starting with sophomore Cam McGrath’s second goal of the game with nine and a half minutes left in the fourt.

“It was a great, great effort on the kids part,” Oliver Ames head coach Fran Yung said. “We kept on saying that you can’t give up on yourselves.”

Senior captain Ryan Chase scored about a minute later to make it 7-3 and with just under seven minutes to go, senior Justin Davidner – who scored in the first quarter – found classmate Corey McLaughlin who scored to make it 7-5.

“We made some adjustments,” Yung said. “Like with Ryan Chase, we told him you can’t shoot standing still. The goal he got, he dodged, he kept on running and he shot and it went in.”

Junior Tim Duvall made it a one goal game, scoring with 3:53 remaining before sophomore Colin O’Hearne tied it 39 seconds late. Goslin gave OA the lead and capped the scoring with his shot off the post and in.

Milford was able to get to sophomore OA goalie Mike Carroll in the first three quarters, but the underclassman came up strong when it mattered most in the waning seconds of the game.

“He’s been stronger in the second half,” Yung said. “I would love to see him do well because he’s got great potential. He works at it everyday. To me, he’s one of the hardest workers out there.”

Milford’s Eric Overdahl recorded his 300th career point in the third quarter but it wasn’t enough as the Scarlet Hawks see their postseason hopes dashed as quickly as their fourth quarter lead.

By Ryan Lanigan, Editor-in-Chief

CANTON, Mass. – Stoughton’s offense picked up right where it left off from Friday, with the offense coming alive early with five first inning runs on their way to a 9-3 win over neighboring Canton.

Senior captain Pat Jackman (3-4, 1 RBI, 3 SBs) reached on an infield single, stole second base, reached third on a passed ball, and scored on a bases-loaded single from junior Mike Gallagher. Pat Raeke followed with another bases-loaded single that scored Jovani Pires, who walked. Kaleb Ballou’s sacrifice fly to left field scored Mike Connelly, who reached after being hit by a pitch. Sam Weman’s single into right scored Gallagher and Will McGrath’s shallow single scored Raeke.

“The bats have been coming around. We kind of continued from Friday. The guys are starting to put the bat on the ball. With our defense and our pitching kind of keeping us in games, if we can keep hitting the ball, I think we’re going to be a tough team to beat.”

Canton pulled one back in the bottom of the first as Steve Mullaney crossed the plate after singling, advancing to second on a walk, advancing to third on a wild pitch, and scoring on a Pat Vantanian ground out. After a quick second inning for both teams, the Bulldogs scored in the bottom of the third when Kevin O’Brien touched home on a Kevin Powers bunt.

But the speedy Jackman helped lengthen the Black Knight’s lead in the top of the fourth. Jackman reached on an error to start the inning and advanced to second on the same error. He advanced to third on a fielder’s choice that saw Gallagher reach first. With Raeke up at bat, Gallagher took off for second and when Vartanian threw to second, Jackman took off to score at home to make it 6-2.

“It’s everything,” Armour said of Jackman’s base running. “You can talk about his base running, his play at shortstop – just automatic out there, or his leadership. He’s a four year varsity guy, the kid’s a hell of a ball player and an even a better person.”

Gallagher went to third on a passed ball and then scored on a Raeke single into left to make it 7-2. Canton scored their final run in the bottom of the fourth when Dom Bires singled and eventually scored on a Justin Rudy single. 

Stoughton tacked on two more runs, a Ballou RBI that knocked in Raeke in the sixth, and a Jackman RBI that knocked in McGrath in the seventh.

Junior Sam Werman picked up the win, pitching 4.2 innings with one strikeout. McGrath pitched three innings in relief, giving up no hits. Powers took the loss for Canton, going 4 innings with six earned runs. Liam Murphy pitched the final three innings, giving up two earned runs.

Stoughton improves to 12-6 overall and finish the year 10-6 in the Hockomock. They host Lincoln-Sudbury and Quincy in their last two games. Canton drops to 3-15 and finishes with a league record of 2-14. The Bulldogs have a chance to earn a playoff berth if they pick up a win over Dedham or Cardinal Spellman in their last two games.

**Denotes Division Champion
*Denotes Playoff Berth