Good morning!
The UMass softball team shocked Boston College this week, 5-4, on the strength of senior catcher Lydia Castro’s go-ahead home run in the top of the seventh inning at Chestnut Hill. 

In February the Eagles lost twice to the University of Florida in Gainesville, 12-7 and 3-0. It’s unfair to think that any team from New England could compete with the Gators who at this writing are 33-6 and ranked third nationally by the USA Today/Coaches poll.

The program not only benefits from its idyllic venue, coach Tim Walton has three assistants, a program coordinator, program assistant, communications director, three trainers, an academic advisor and two data analysts.

Despite its plethora of talent, only eight players are from in-state because Walton can recruit players from anywhere. Prospects see a spacious locker room, lounge, training room, coaches offices, film room, conference and equipment rooms, oh, and did we mention that Florida’s campus resembles the Garden of Eden?

Pitcher Keagan Rothrock (9-1, 1.07 ERA) is from Indiana, catcher Jocelyn Erickson (.356, 0 errors in 207 chances) is from Phoenix and first baseman Reagan Walsh (9 HR, 36 RBIs) hails from California.

During the first weekend in March, Crosby Hunt and I watched a Gators game against Western Michigan. The Gators were gearing for the SEC schedule by hosting a tournament against lesser opponents from Troy, Samford, Florida A&M and the Broncos.

We parked under a leafy oak tree and walked up a small knoll past two brick-enclosed ticket booths where we’d paid $8 for standing room. Inside we saw the skin infield, lush green outfield and chalked batter’s box and baselines, and heard the soldout crowd cheering the final outs against Troy.

Pressly Stadium seats 1,200 between first and third base with standing room around the outfield concourse. Others sat outside the stadium and peered through a chainlink fence beyond right field.

Brick columns support the press box behind home plate, and its white facade, brick trim and wide windows give it a Little Ivies feel.

We arrived in time to see the Gators run-rule Troy, 11-2, and waited for the next game against Western Michigan. Gators fans bided their time buying popcorn and lemonade and mothers asked mascot Alberta Gator to pose with their children despite the kids’ reluctance to stand next to a tall, green, big-jawed monster.

It’s 200 feet down the lines and 220 feet to straightaway center, close enough for the Gators to have already hit 40 home runs at home this season. The players wore blue tops with orange lettering, white pants with blue stripes down the sides and blue-and-white striped socks. Hunt pointed to freshman Taylor Shumaker in right field. “She does this kind of tai chi ritual after each out,” he said.

Tall and blonde with a flower in her ponytailed hair, Shumaker would silently celebrate each out by pumping her arms back and forth and her fists up and down and twirling her index finger high in the air.

An Anaheim native, Schumaker’s batting .407 with 13 home runs and 56 RBIs in 38 games. With stats like that she can showboat all she wants.

The Gators run-ruled the Broncos after six innings, 10-2. One Gator struck out and one grounded out, the rest were flyouts, walks, and hits, including three mammoth home runs. 

Watch them on ESPN when the tournament starts and you might see the Shumaker Shuffle.

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Mike Cadran has unearthed several Franklin County hoops records. Dave Wissman and Jen Edminster were the first respective boys’ and girls’ 1,000-point scorers, Wissman at Arms Academy in 1959 and Edminster at Mahar in 1972.

Jim Alden and Alex Eaton hold the points per game record. Alden averaged 31.5 points at Arms in 1964, and Eaton averaged 29.8 at Franklin Tech in 2007.

Last but absolutely not least, Art Burke lll holds the schoolboy record for most points in a game with 54 in 1969, and Athol’s Kaija Miettenen holds the girls’ record with 50 for Athol in 1962.

“WMass records next time,” Cadran promised.

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Dan Patrick asked Steve Lappas what it was like to get fired by UMass AD John McCutcheon after the 2004-05 season: “The thing that gets you is you spend your whole life doing this, and then it’s over. Publicly it’s embarrassing. It’s in the newspapers. Everybody knows it. I think I got cut short at UMass bigtime, but that’s my story. The story on the outside was this guy wasn’t good enough, and that sucks.”

McCutcheon hired Travis Ford who skipped town for Oklahoma State after three seasons.

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Mike Francesca says NIL money will keep Cinderella teams like St. Peter’s, George Mason and Loyola-Chicago from ever reaching the Final Four. “Mid-majors got strong when they could develop players into a senior-laden team that could beat a brand name team,” said Francesca. “Those were your upsets. Now if you get a good player, some team with a check is coming in to grab him.”

RJ Luis, meet Mike Repole.

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On Grant Paulsen’s Sirius-XM show on Sunday, Worcester Red Sox manager Chad Tracy echoed what Portland Sea Dogs’ boss Geoff Iacuessa said in this space about minor league baseball’s purpose.

“How’s an individual going to handle failure with 35,000 people watching?” asked Tracy. “The best you’ve got is to watch how they handle failure here. What kind of maturity level are you dealing with? How does he behave during the day? Is he here on time? What is he like the day after? If he goes 0-for-5 with four strikeouts and shows up the next day, has he got a smile on his face ready to go, or is he moping?”

Tracy said that Red Sox prospects Kristian Campbell, Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer “passed that test with flying colors.”

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SQUIBBERS: Catcher Kyle Teel was named the International League Player of the Week for the Triple-A Charlotte Knights. Teel was 6-for-12 with two home runs and nine RBIs. The Red Sox traded Teel to get Garrett Crochet. The jury — this jury — is still out on that deal. … Jackie Bradley Jr. threw out the first pitch for the home opener at Polar Park last week, a 4-3 loss to the Syracuse Mets. … Winchester (N.H.) Speed Park goes under the lights for the first time starting next Saturday. Insiders say the new super cross course is “real jumpy.” … During a four game stretch the Rays pitching staff faced 138 batters without allowing a walk. … I’d love to have seen what Bob Gibson would’ve done to Adolis Garcia after his home run and “epic bat flip” against the Red Sox. … Alex Bregman’s conversing in Spanish because teammates like Rafael Devers won’t speak English. La cola mueve al perro, as they say in Santo Domingo. … Cheer up Raffy, you’re already ahead of Francisco Lindor who started 1-for-31 last season. … Top schoolboy hoops recruit A.J. Dybantsa is a Brockton native who attended St. Sebastian’s in Needham. Dybantsa signed a $7 million NIL deal to play for Brigham Young, according to “AI Overview.” …  Nice lede (shortened here) by the Globe’s Alex Speier after Boston’s 8-5 loss to the O’s: Attendees at Camden Yards seemed desperate for cooling breezes [and] the visiting Red Sox accommodated with a wealth of whiffs.” … The new and widely praised baseball movie “Eephus” is playing at the Amherst Cinema. Joe Castiglione has a part, so does Bill Lee whose eephus pitch to Tony Perez in the ’75 World Series still hasn’t landed. … Happy birthday to former DA, Tech and Mohawk football coach Jim Smith who turned 94 on Tuesday. Smitty’s the first coach who I ever heard say that a tie’s like kissing your sister. … Tax season’s here, which reminds me of when Will McDonough said he saved his best writing for the expense account. … Billy Martin would be 97 next month. Jane Leavy wrote in her bestseller “The Last Boy” that “Billy Martin was the only guy Mantle knew who could hear someone giving him the finger.”

Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@icloud.com