Search Results

By Line search: By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

HOLYOKE – The Valley Blue Sox have clinched a playoff berth as the No. 7 seed in the NECBL playoffs.The Blue Sox end the regular season with a 21-22 record. As the No. 7 seed, they’ll face the Newport Gulls (27-16), winners of the Coastal Division, in...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

NORTHAMPTON — While Olympic rowers race at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium outside Paris, Hampshire County rowers are doing their best impression on the Connecticut River.Northampton Community Rowing, a non-profit rowing club with a boathouse...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

For over 30 years, Northampton High School alum Joe Mantegna Jr. has coached a basketball camp with the Northampton Parks and Recreation Department.This summer will be the first time he won’t be coaching the camp, but he’s got an excuse. He’s at the...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

Nine-year old little leaguers batting against Holyoke Hospital in the early 2000s faced an impossible situation.Hit the ball to second base, and it was vacuumed up by Isan Diaz, who debuted for the Miami Marlins in 2019 and played four seasons in the...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

HOLYOKE – Tammy Campbell has three kids of her own, but this past Mother’s Day, she received about 10 “Happy Mother’s Day” texts.Campbell and her family have hosted Valley Blue Sox players at their Greenfield home for four years now, and she said most...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST – Daniel Rivera was changing his oil in a Rhode Island parking lot when his phone started ringing with the news that could change UMass’ fortunes for the 2024-25 season.Frank Martin was on the other end of the line.“I’m changing the oil, I...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

BELCHERTOWN – They hadn’t run that play since their days together at Belchertown High School.Sheffield Post 340 had cut Belchertown Post 239’s lead to 2-1 in the top of the fifth inning, and now the bases were loaded for their No. 3 hitter. Post 239...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

Jarrod Neumann is a five-time All-Star in the Premier Lacrosse League. He’s a Defensive Player of the Year winner and a PLL champion. He owns the fastest shot in lacrosse history, at 121 miles per hour.And he was introduced to the sport as a high...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

It was mid-August of last summer, and Valley Blue Sox director of baseball operations John Raiola started the process of drafting the Blue Sox roster for 2024.His first call was in the same area code.After years of struggles with defense behind the...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

Newly-minted junior captain Reilly Fowles of the Northampton boys tennis team headed to the tennis courts at John F. Kennedy Middle School to get some extra practice in.He had noticed a large improvement in his play from his freshman season to his...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

LEVERETT — Logan Alfandari was cleaning his attic in late February when he stumbled upon a DVD set he hadn’t seen in years.He popped the disc for “Avatar: The Last Airbender” into his brother’s PlayStation and started watching.Alfandari had just come...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

SOUTH HADLEY – On April 15, South Hadley pitcher Ella Schaeffer reached 500 career strikeouts, normally a milestone reserved for the very best seniors at the end of their careers. She was just a junior, and at 16, a year young for her grade. By June...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST — Cedar Conrad led the girls lacrosse team into a math classroom on a Wednesday afternoon at Amherst-Pelham Regional High School and started class.Every player took a seat and put their head down on their desk. Then, Conrad and Amherst’s other...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

Two-time Olympic medalist and Williston Northampton alum Gabby Thomas, along with UMass alum Heather MacLean, will open their U.S. Track & Field Olympic Trials on Thursday with an eye on making the team for the Paris 2024 Olympics.The Trials began...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

The 2024 NBA Draft is on Wednesday and Thursday, and though no UMass men’s basketball players are likely to be selected, a former Minuteman has his fingerprints all over the pre-draft process.Ross Burns, a Greenfield native who walked on at UMass and...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

The UMass men’s basketball team will play at West Virginia on Nov. 8 in the first week of the 2024-25 season. The first day the NCAA allows games is Nov. 4.UMass held on to beat West Virginia 87-79 last year on Dec. 16 at the MassMutual Center in the...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

Former UMass hockey defenseman Brandon Montour became the fourth UMass player in program history to win the Stanley Cup as a player after the Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Monday night.Florida scout...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

HADLEY – Jessica Dizek pulled out a four-pint bottle of milk and posed a question to the barn: any takers? The UMass men’s basketball team was on a tour of Mapleline Farm, where Dizek is a co-owner, and they had reached the barn full of Mapleline’s...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

The UMass men’s basketball team plans to play Arizona State in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic at the MassMutual Center on Dec. 21, according to a source.OwlScoop.com was first to report the game. Temple will play Rhode Island in the first part of...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

UMass named longtime assistant Maiya Otsuka the acting head coach of the women’s swim team on Monday, per release.Sean Clark had coached the men’s and women’s teams since his appointment in 2020 as director of men’s and women’s swimming and diving and...