Spectacular Season Ends with Championship Game Loss

The season for Milton's Under 10 Hockomock softball team could be summed up in one word by its head coach Brian Conroy: spectacular.

The girls strung together an eight-game unbeaten streak to reach the championship game against Sharon, only to fall 12-6 to the mighty No. 1 seed last week.

Conroy, who coached almost half of the team for the past two years in the Under 10 division, said his team was riding high heading into the championship game and that the girls battled all the way to the very end.

"They were very confident," Conroy said of his squad. "They were playing really well together. It was kind of easy to motivate them at that point. It's just all about having fun and being teammates with each other."

Milton fell behind early in the game and rallied with three runs in its final inning, but Sharon — who only lost one game during the season to Milton — had a big enough cushion to absorb a couple of runs.

The opening of the season was a somewhat disappointing one for Milton, as they dropped its first game 15-3. The team would fall to Sharon and sport a 1-2-1 record before ripping off the seven-game unbeaten streak to finish the year.

"We got that first game under our belt and had some good practices," said Conroy. "It was a very successful year after that."

Milton kept the train rolling in the playoffs with a win over Franklin, 10-7, to secure a spot in the championship game.

It was a total team effort during the season, according to Conroy, but he did have two outstanding performers on the mound in Maggie Ware and Sarah Gardner.

"They were our two main pitchers for the year and they both did really well for us."

Conroy was assisted this season by assistant coaches Mark Ware and Mike O'Toole. Conroy and nearly half of the team will be moving up to the Under 12 Division next season, but this team will always have a successful 2010 campaign to look back on.

He said, "It was quite an experience for them."