Assabet First Voc. School to Ever Win Softball Championship

Editor's Note: The following was submitted by Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School.

The Assabet Valley Regional Technical High Softball team made history on June 15 th - - they brought home the MA Division III Softball Championship, and they did it in style. They have the added distinction of being the VERY FIRST vocational/technical high school to win the state softball championship, ever.  

If there were any butterflies or nervous jitters beforehand, they appeared to put them aside at game time and just got down to business as usual. Of course, there were diving catches, slides across the plate, stolen bases and put-outs, but that’s just the way they play, every game, every time. Today was no different. With precision pitching by Maddie Parmeter, (Maynard), solid pitch calls by catcher Deanna Hnilica (Shrewsbury), and, as their practice shirts say, a lot of “Heart, Hustle, and Hard work,” by the whole team, they left St. Mary’s of Lynn no room for error. Both teams played hard, but the ladies from Assabet Valley were not going to be denied.

They are the Champions, but there won’t be a parade down Main Street with community members waving and cheering. There is not just one Main Street, not just one community. These players came together no more than four years ago to play together for the first time. The five seniors are from five different towns. They didn’t grow up together on a T-Ball field and spend Saturdays and Sundays on the local field with their team. They came to Assabet and they bonded. Coaches Mike O’Brien, John Aramento and Ed Dumphy pulled them together, and pulled the very best out of them. As the juniors, sophomores, and even freshmen joined in, the group got stronger and better, each one bringing more heart, more hustle, more hard work. They are a family, a subset of the larger Assabet Valley family, and, parade or no parade, this day will go down in history as one of the proudest moments this family has ever had!