Beginning in the spring 2020 season, the Athol Area YMCA will take over all Little League operations for the North Quabbin Region.
Players can sign up on Feb. 1 through the Athol Area YMCA website. The new league will combine the Chuck Stone Little League with the Orange Little League, and will be known as the Athol-Orange Chuck Stone Little League.
Any player in the North Quabbin Region can sign up to play baseball, and play for either team at any age or skill level. The league will have Major and Minor leagues, along with coach pitch and T-ball.
The original plan called for the YMCA to take over the Chuck Stone League only, but a partnership with the Orange league made sense, according to Matt Talbot who is the Associate Executive Director of the YMCA.
“There is a lot of good synergy going on with adults who want to make a difference and have baseball be a thing,” Talbot said. “Which is really exciting.”
Both the Chuck Stone league and the Orange Little League dwindled down to two teams last season, and the players from Friendly Town did not have an All-Star team.
The YMCA will continue to utilize James H. Salevan Field and Muzzey Field, with an opening day parade in Athol. Finding enough volunteers for both league was a growing problem for both leagues.
The YMCA can provide more assistance through sheer numbers of employees assigned to the league.
“Having more bodies to help,” Talbot said. “The plan is to have more bodies doing less work. Hopefully it will get us to the next step where people start to love the game again and want to put their kids in the program.”
The YMCA has a large audience for youth sports and hopes more families sign their children up for baseball.
“We have a captive audience,” Talbot said. “We are hoping they say ‘Hey let’s try little league this year.’ That’s where it starts.”
Prices are $20 for members of the YMCA and $35 for non-members.
UM falls to UNH
The dysfunctional UMass power play was ineffective again and the Minutemen couldn’t convert on their shot dominance Friday night in a 1-0 loss to New Hampshire.
The seventh-ranked Minutemen (16-8-1, 9-5-1 Hockey East) nearly doubled the Wildcats’ shot total for most of the game but never really threatened New Hampshire goalie Mike Robinson. It was worse when UMass was on the man advantage, with the Minutemen failing to set up an attack on all five power plays in the loss. The Minutemen are now just 2 of 33 on the power play in 2020.
New Hampshire (13-9-1, 7-6-0) scored the game’s lone goal in the middle of the second period on a slap shot from the blue line that dinged the underside of the crossbar and fell behind Matt Murray. Yet the Wildcats had two excellent chances to score earlier on shots that evaded Murray but stopped inches away from the goal line before being cleared away by the Minutemen.
An article recapping Thursday’s PVIAC alpine ski race in Friday’s edition of the Recorder incorrectly listed the order of finish for Frontier Regional School’s Ben Makosiej. His correct finish was 26th with a time of 38.75 seconds. We apologize for the error.
Indoor Action Sports is hosting preseason baseball and softball foundations training sessions with Brian Hayes for boys and girls ages 10-and-up.
The training will take place Saturday mornings at Indoor Action Sports beginning Feb. 25 and run through March 28. The training is from 7:30-9:30 a.m.
The cost is $10 each time for each player. To register, email b163hayes@gmail.com.
■ Indoor Action Sports is also hosting Thaw Out Flag Football for boys and girls ages 9-14.
It consists of two weeks of football fundamentals followed by six weeks of organized flag games. The cost is $10 per player each time they participate. The fundamentals are Sunday, Feb. 16 and Sunday, Feb. 23 from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. The games then run on Feb. 29, March 8, March 21, March 29 and April 5 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Contact Charlie Edwards at cedwards@indooraction.com for more information.
Shelburne Falls
Bowling Alley
Jenay Haskins and Jon Hall swept Scotch Doubles on Sunday in Shelburne. Haskins and Hall rolled a single high 118 and a 309 triple high.
Tyler Griswold rolled a 119 (single high) and a 324 (triple high) on Monday. In women’s high single action, Mindy Garland scored a 122 and a 296 in high triple.
In Tuesday Men’s league results, Randy Himinger rolled a 126 (high single) and a 335 (high triple).
Wednesday Night League results: Men High Single, Jimmy Herzig (124).Women High Single, Christy Moore (116). Men High Triple, Linwood Roland (300) and Women High Triple, Marilyn Wilson (306).
Thursday Night League results: Men High Single Matt Gilbert (130), Women High Single Sandy Rowland,(99). Men High Triple, Matt Gilbert (373) and Women High Triple, Colleen Barrows (285).
Middle School
Six points from Paige Gadatowski and seven points from Christiana Dunn led the Mahar middle school girls basketball team to a 38-12 win over Mohawk.
Nevaeh Scribner added in five points and Lilly Mom-Uch had four points in the win.
■ Elsewhere, Kylah Blundon scored 16 points and Jenna Bonenfant added 12 but Athol Middle School fell to Narragansett, 34-32, in girls hoop action on Friday.
Athol is now 8-3 and hosts Pioneer on Monday.
The Deerfield Academy girls hockey team won its third straight game, pulling out a 2-1 victory over New Hampton on Friday.
Elsewhere, the boys hockey team scored a 4-3 win over Pomfret in overtime.
