CCHS, seeded 7th, will play at home against Acton-Boxborough, seeded 10th, on Saturday, June 2nd, at 4 PM.  The complete North Division 1 bracket is available at this link.    http://miaa.statebrackets.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=2500

Day at the Park, held last Friday, May 4, was a hit for all of the softball fans gathered on the hill overlooking the game between CCHS and Wayland. The home team took a convincing win and the fans enjoyed the hot dogs and cheeseburgers in a festive atmosphere, even while the weather chose to be a bit gloomy.   A big thanks to all who put in the extra effort to make this a success.

ON SCHEDULE FOR TODAY (MAY 4)  - SEE YOU THERE !

This Friday, May 4, will be CCYBS Day at the Park, where the kids from the towns' youth leagues and middle school teams can come watch the high school softball and baseball games, then stay for a BBQ with the players and coaches. Our goal is to reach out and to the younger players, have them watch some great softball, connect with the older players, and get them excited to one day play for CCHS.  CCHS plays Wayland, it should be a great time.

http://www.salemnews.com/sports/x2086604419/At-Bat-for-Buddy-tournament-a-success-at-Fenwick

Preseason MIAA softball All-State team

Ed "Buddy" Henry was a man who lived and coached by the motto, "If you don't believe, you don't belong." He was one of the best softball coaches in New England, leading his teams to seven consecutive State Championships in Massachusetts. His legacy lives on in so many of his former players. The At Bat for Buddy Scholarship Foundation is proud to honor his legacy by recognizing and supporting young athletes who adhere to that motto in their own lives. For more information about Ed Henry and/or the scholarship, see www.atbatforbuddy.com.

In 2011, four scholarships were awarded.  In 2012, two to four more scholarships will be awarded to softball players who demonstrate their love of the game and serve as examples of good sportsmanship in their communities through athletic commitment and community involvement.

Questions about the scholarships should be directed to the At Bat for Buddy Foundation Director Lisa McGloin at catch15@prodigy.net.  Be sure to put At Bat for Buddy in the subject line.

See the attached Handout for more information and an application form.  Applications must be submitted by April 13, 2012.

Several parents have taken photos of games to be shared with everyone:

Lynnann Laughlin - http://picasaweb.google.com/LaughlinPhotos

Malcolm Creighton - https://sites.google.com/site/cchsvarsitysoftball/

Andy Veitch - https://picasaweb.google.com/afveitch

Thanks to LynnAnn and Randy Laughlin, Malcolm Creighton and Andy Veitch for their photos!

If you have photos to share, it'd help to do as Lynnann and Malcolm have done and create a single link to all your photo albums, so your humble web site person (me) doesn't need to add a new link to this web site for every new album of photos.  Please send me that single link for all your albums and I'll add it here. Thanks! 

Congratulations to our Concord-Carlisle Dual County League All Stars - Monica Diercks, Shannon Laughlin, Brianna Rohan, Galen Kerr and Angela DeBruzzi.

Congratulations especially to Monica Diercks on being named the DCL Small League Most Valuable Player (MVP)!

Congratulations to all the players and coaches on Concord-Carlisle High School's Softball team on their 5-0 win over Lexington to earn the Division 1 North Championship!

Photos of the game by Mac Creighton are available at Concord-Carlisle vs. Lexington D1 North Championship Softball Game on June 13, 2010.

Lynnann Laughlin took some wonderful photos of the CCHS Softball Senior Day and, thanks to Randy Laughlin's work to upload them to Picasa, they are available at http://bit.ly/aRVvFZ.

Thanks to Lynann and Randy Laughlin. 

Mac Creighton has taken some nice photos of the St. Mary's game - the benefit for Ed "Buddy" Henry's Scholarship.  Note especially the photo of Anna Kokos making that spectacular catch in center field, shown above.  The photos are available at http://sites.google.com/site/cchs2010sb/.

Thanks to Mac Creighton. 

Ed Henry, a wonderful person and softball coach who helped many Concord-Carlisle softball players learn to hit over the years has recently passed away.  He coached Concord-Carlisle High School Varsity Coach Lisa McGloin at Bishop Fenwick in the 80's and then Lisa McGloin was an assistant coach for Ed in the 90's.  Our condolences and best wishes to Ed's family.  We'll miss you Buddy!  Here are several articles about Ed in local newspapers:

Boston Globe     Boston Herald    Daily Item of Lynn    Salem News

The University of North Carolina softball team practiced at Concord-Carlisle High School over the weekend with the Concord-Carlisle teams watching.  As some of the players said, the UNC players were amazing!

Thanks to all the parent volunteers, coaches and players on all the teams and the umpires who made the first Concord-Carlisle Softball Play Day a success!  The photos to the left show what the main field at the high school looked like early Saturday morning and then early Sunday morning.  As the photos show, thanks to a heroic effort by parent volunteers and a lot of sun and wind, teams were playing games on the fields safely Sunday morning.   All the scheduled games were played on dirt infields and everything went well.

Thanks to Lynnann Laughlin for these photos of the Play Day: http://bit.ly/fEQH44, http://bit.ly/fml7Q7, http://bit.ly/f7yaRa.

Below is the FINAL game schedule for Sunday, April 3.  As of 3pm Saturday the fields had no more snow and the infields had only a few puddles, so we definitely will be able to play games on Sunday.  Concessions and restrooms will be available at the High School but not at the other sites.

* Concord-Carlisle and Reading may switch games at 11:30.  TBD. 

Directions to fields are:

Concord-Carlisle High School
500 Walden St., Concord, MA 01742
Take Rt. 2 to the Walden Pond / Rt. 126 / Walden St. exit.  Turn North, away from Walden Pond, on the exit and go down the hill on Walden St. and turn left into the High School.  The softball fields are at the far end of the school.

Emerson Field
100 Everett St., Concord, MA 01742
Drive to the High School and go out of the High School at the exit closest to the softball fields, turning left onto Thoreau St.  Go down Thoreau St. about 200 yards and the softball field will be on your right, next to tennis courts.

Sanborn Field (Concord Middle School)
1231 Old Marlboro Rd., Concord, MA 01742
Take Rt. 2 to the Emerson Hospital / Old Road to Nine Acre Corner (ORNAC) exit.  Turn South at the exit, towards Emerson Hospital.  Take a very quick right onto Old Marlboro Rd. Go down Old Marlboro Rd. about 2 miles and the school and the field are on your left.

Congratulations to the Concord-Carlisle High School Softball Team on winning the Division 2 North State Championship, Finishing 3rd overall in Division 2 in the State!  Although the team lost in the State Semi-Finals in a tough 10 inning game vs. Ashland, all the players, coaches and parents should be very proud of what the team accomplished in their 23-1 season.

Keep in mind that CC defeated BOTH teams (Lexington and Gardner) in the Division 1 State Championship game AND the only team that defeated CC was the eventual Division 2 State Championship team Ashland.  That's a great season by any measure!

Here are some photos from the Division 2 North Championship game: 

CCHS D2 North Softball Championship Photos

More Photos Courtesy of Deb Allen

NEW - More Photos Courtesy of Peggy Burling

Video of Championship Moment

Congratulations to the CC Varsity team on finishing 20-0 and the JV team on finishing 17-1 for the regular season.  The Freshman team also had an excellent year (I don't know their record - sorry!).

The last 2 Varsity games were tough 1-0 wins over Reading and Lexington, but the team played well in both games with many players making excellent plays to achieve the wins.  Good luck in the state tournament!

The Sunday Play Day is definitely on and the first games remain scheduled for 8am. But we've moved games around a bit:

* CCHS Front Field games remain at CCHS Front Field.

* CCHS Back Field games have been moved to Sanborn Concord Middle School Field.

* Sanborn games have been moved to Emerson Tennis Court Field.

The updated schedule is available at: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p5DaSdDEfovjLJZqXpS4TbA

We've also switched 2 games at 9:30am to minimize travel.  Concord-Carlisle vs. Ashland will now be at the Sanborn Concord Middle School, meaning Ashland can stay at Sanborn for 3 games in a row.  Gardner vs. Reading will now be at the CCHS Front Field, which means Reading can stay at CCHS for 2 games in a row and then Gardner can stay at CCHS for 2 games in a row.

We're watching the weather, but I'm hoping we don't need to post anything first thing in the morning Sunday.  The light rain we're getting now (4:30pm Saturday) should be ending shortly and the fields will easily dry out before tomorrow morning.  But it'd be good to check this web site before you leave Sunday morning just be sure.

As always, if there are questions call Bob Miner at (978) 314-5424.

This Saturday - May 2 - all 3 CCHS Softball teams will be both conducting clinics for Concord-Carlisle Youth Softball players and doing fundraising canning at local Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks and the Carlisle Transfer Station.  The coaches are making the detailed schedules for the day and coaches know that some players will miss the clinics due to SAT tests, Confirmation and other activities.

We do need a few parents to help organize and run the fundraising canning activities.  If you're interested, please contact Cathy Bilafer or Maureen Tarca.  Thanks.

The games vs. Gardner on Saturday, May 9 are at Gardner High School, 200 Catherine St., Gardner, MA.  To get there:

• Take Rt. 2 West
• Take Exit 24B Rt. 140 Winchendon
• Take a left at Betty Spring Road (2nd left after the lights, less than one mile off Rt. 2)
• Take a left at the end of Betty Spring Road onto Pearl Street
• Take a quick right on Catherine Street and follow to the High School
• Drive around behind the school and park near the tennis courts.  The JV field is the closest field, next to the tennis courts.  The Varsity field is beyond the JV field, so you must walk through the JV field and up to the Varsity field.

It takes a good hour to drive there from Concord or Carlisle, as it's about 40 miles.

Click on the image to the left for Google Maps of the area.

The 3 Fields used for the Sunday Play Day are:

Concord-Carlisle High School Front Field
500 Walden St., Concord, MA 01742
·         Take Rt. 2 to the Rt. 126 Exit, which is also the Walden Pond exit.
·         Take Rt. 126 North, also known as Walden St., AWAY from Walden Pond about 1/2 mile.  If you pass Walden Pond, you turned the wrong way and should turn around.
·         Turn left off of Walden St. into Concord-Carlisle High School and drive to the opposite end of the school.
·         The front field is at the bottom of the hill.  You’ll need to park and walk down the hill to the field.

Sanborn Concord Middle School Field
835 Old Marlboro Rd., Concord, MA 01742
·         If you’re coming from Concord-Carlisle High School, drive back out to Rt. 2 and turn right onto Rt. 2 heading West and drive 2 exits to the Emerson Hospital exit.
·         From anywhere else, take Rt. 2 to the Emerson Hospital Exit, which is 2 exits West of the Rt. 126 exit and 3 exits East of the Concord Rotary.
·         Turn South off of Rt. 2 at the Emerson Hospital exit and then IMMEDIATELY turn right onto Old Marlboro Rd.
·         Take Old Marlboro Rd. about 2 miles and Sanborn Concord Middle School will be on your left side.
·         The field is next to the parking lot, visible from Old Marlboro Rd.

Emerson Playground Tennis Court Field
261 Thoreau St., Concord, MA 01742
·         Drive to Concord-Carlisle High School.
·         Drive through Concord-Carlisle High School and exit the school on the far side – onto Thoreau St.  It’s the exit that is just down the hill from the softball fields.
·         Turn left onto Thoreau St.
·         Drive about ½ mile and Emerson Playground is on your right.
·         The Tennis Court Field is near the tennis courts.

A few notes for coaches:
 
* Updates to the schedule will be posted here.
* Directions are available by clicking on Maps on the left of this page.
* No admission fees will be charged to anyone.
* Each scrimmage will be 1 hour and 15 minutes with a 15 minute break between games.
* A coin toss will determine home team.  There are no assigned benches.
* Please bring 1 game ball per game you are playing.
* Please bring $25 per game per team for umpires.  Cash or check made out to "Concord-Carlisle Friends of Softball" is fine.
* We will have food and drink available at Concord-Carlisle High School for you and your team to purchase.
* Please do not wear school uniforms.  MIAA rules prohibit wearing uniforms to Play Days.

Pietro Antonangeli, CCHS Varsity Softball Assistant Coach Paul Antonangeli's father, passed away on Saturday, August 30th after a brief illness. The Dugout Group, all CCHS Softball Players and the Concord-Carlisle Softball Community extends its deepest condolences to Coach Paul and Debra.

Amesbury ended Concord-Carlisle's state tournament dreams, defeating CC 7-6 in 9 innings.  It was a back-and-forth game with Amesbury jumping out to a 2-1 lead, then Concord-Carlisle came back strong to lead 6-2 and then Amesbury tied it up in the 6th inning 6-6.  It stayed tied into extra innings and Amesbury scored in the top of the 9th inning and CC couldn't score in the bottom of the 9th.

Congratulations to Concord-Carlisle Varsity Softball on a great 20-2 season!

Good luck to Amesbury in the remainder of the state tournament!

The Division 2 North bracket is HERE.

June 3 Update - Amesbury won the next game vs. Stoneham and is in the D2 North Finals.

Comedy Night is fast approaching - only a week and a half away - on Saturday night May 17th at the Concord Elks Hall. Doors open at 7:30 and the Comedy Show will start at 8:30. We are fortunate to have 2 National Headliners coming, so I'm sure we'll all have a lot of laughs and a good time!

Mark your calendars because we want a full house! The baseball team is participating in this with us, and are selling tickets as well.

Players must sell their tickets and get their ticket money in to Cathy Bilafer.  Cathy will be at most of the Varsity/JV softball games over the next week and a half, so if you'd like, give it to her in person or mail her a check. See Cathy's recent email to parents for her address and phone numbers.

This past Friday's (May 9) games have been rescheduled as follows:

• Varsity and JV vs. Boston Latin - moved to Thursday, May 15, still at Boston Latin
• Freshman vs. Westford - moved to Thursday, May 15, still at CCHS

There was a nice article in the Boston Globe on May 3 about Friday's Varsity game vs. Westford:

http://www.boston.com/sports/schools/softball/articles/2008/05/03/concord_carlisle_takes_pitches_then_takes_charge/

At Wednesday's Varsity game vs. Acton-Boxboro the Boston Globe had a reporter - Chris Forsberg - there writing a "blog" (short for "web log") on the Boston Globe web site about the game as the game was being played.  After the game he posted a video of Georgia Guttadauro's homerun and a nice article on the Globe web site.  All 3 are available at http://www.boston.com/sports/schools/extras/schools_blog/ but that web page is constantly changing as Chris writes more blogs.  So all 3 items about the CCHS vs. ABRHS game are available individually at:

Video: http://www.boston.com/sports/schools/extras/schools_blog/2008/04/video_play_of_t_10.html

Article: http://www.boston.com/sports/schools/extras/schools_blog/2008/04/hitting_on_all.html

Blog: http://www.boston.com/sports/schools/extras/schools_blog/2008/04/softball_ab_vs.html

Players have been asked by the coaches to avoid reading media reports about the teams.  So please do not show or talk about this video and articles with the players.  Thanks.

Thanks to the parents and players for doing a great job painting fences Saturday.  Thanks to you, the fences are all painted.  The players put the fence sections back in place on Sunday and they look great.  Thanks again to all!

You can buy thousands of different types of clothing - shirts, sweatshirts, hats, sweatpants, jackets, etc. - with the "CCHS", "CCHS Patriots" or "CCHS Softball" logo embroidered on them at this web site - CCHS Prep Sportwear Website.  This company is associated with eTeamz, the company that hosts this web site.  No money spent at Prep Sportwear goes to the CCHS softball teams. Be sure to choose "Softball" in the drop-down list, as shown in the image above.

The 2008 Softball season is here!  The overall schedule for all 3 teams is below.  Please note that we need Parent Volunteers at several events.  Please help.

• Saturday, April 19 - Field Appreciation Day in the Morning - Need Parent Volunteers to Help

• Saturday, May 3 - Youth League Clinics, Homerun Derby & Dunkin Donuts Canning - Need Parent Volunteers to Help with Homerun Derby
   
• Saturday, May 17 at 8:30pm - Comedy Night Fundraiser at Concord Elks

Details for these events will be posted on this web site shortly.

The Varsity, JV and Freshman softball teams need donations and fence sponsors to continue to support the high quality softball program (DCL Champions 3 of the last 4 years) at CCHS.  Team bats cost $300 each, new uniforms are needed, fences, pitching machines, balls, catchers equipment and special purchases (we're hoping to have a scoreboard someday!) all cost a great deal.  So donations and fence sponsorships are much appreciated by the players and coaches!

Thanks to our 2007 fence section sponsors.  Please renew for 2008!

Donations for the high school softball teams and Fence Section Sponsor payments may be sent to:

Concord-Carlisle Friends of Softball
c/o Wayne Busa
514 Old Bedford Rd.
Concord, MA 01742

Please make checks payable to "Concord-Carlisle Friends of Softball".

This is the working schedule for Sunday, March 30.  Games are ON.  We've pushed back the first games at fields that were questionable, reorganized things a lot, added a fourth field (Sanborn - Concord's Middle School), moved games from Emerson 2 to 1, etc.

Please be understanding that we could not avoid some teams going between our back field at the high school and the Emerson and Sanborn fields.  It's a long walk from the back field to the buses, but there was no other way to do it.  Other teams should be understanding and everyone should be flexible on times, etc.  There's a good chance the whole schedule goes a bit late, although not too much, and that's fine.

There is a second Play Day on Sunday, April 6.  This one will have 6 teams - Central Catholic, Concord-Carlisle, Gardner, Reading, Winchester and Woburn.  The games will all be at the 2 Concord-Carlisle High School fields (CCHS1 & 2) according to this schedule:

9:00 - 10:15
    CCHS1:  Concord-Carlisle vs. Winchester
    CCHS2:  Gardner vs. Reading

10:30 - 11:45
    CCHS1: Concord-Carlisle vs. Gardner
    CCHS2: Reading vs. Central Catholic

LUNCH

12:15 - 1:30
    CCHS1: Winchester vs. Gardner
    CCHS2: Central Catholic vs. Woburn

1:45 - 3:00
    CCHS1: Concord-Carlisle vs. Woburn
    CCHS2: Central Catholic vs. Winchester

Food (Pizza, Burgers, Hot Dogs) and Beverages will be sold at a concession stand.

All 3 team schedules are available here on this web site now.  Click on Schedules to the left or click Here. Please send scores to bminer1@gmail.com and I'll update the games on this web site with the correct scores.