By Ken Chaisson
Hometown Weekly Staff
It was a busy Wednesday May 27 for Walpole sports as the eight post-season teams began their playoff seasons.
The undefeated girls’ golf teams kicked off the spring playoff season by capturing their third consecutive Division 3 South Sectional Championship at Foxborough Country Club. It was a clean sweep for the Lady Timbs as they captured both the team and individual titles.
Senior Tori Adams was the low overall finisher with a five over 78 winning the individual title by two strokes over Callie Cream of Hingham High School and three strokes over last year’s champion Hanley Correia of Bishop Feehan.
Senior Juliet Massey shot 89, freshwoman Jackie Keefe added a 94 and sophomore Deanna Nosal chipped in a 95. Those best four scores added up to a +64 and an eight stroke victory over Duxbury High School.
The state championship was scheduled for Monday June 1 at Indian Pond Country Club in Kingston.
The pairings for baseball, softball and boys’ lacrosse were announced on Wednesday May 27.
The 2nd seeded Walpole D2 baseball team (15-4) scrimmaged 2nd seeded D1 Bishop Feehan squad and their pitching phenom, Brody Bumila, on Wednesday in preparation for the tournament. Walpole is the defending Division 2 state champion. They are scheduled to face the winner of the Melrose/Bedford play-in game on Monday June 1.
The 5th seeded Walpole softball team (13-5) was slated to face off against Wayland on Sunday May 31. The Lady Timbs were looking to right the ship after losing three of their last four to end the regular season albeit against all division 1 opponents.
The boys’ track & field team were defending their division 3 championship are scheduled for Thursday May 28 and Sunday May 31 at Merrimack College. The boys have been outdoor champions the past two seasons. After day 1, they held a slight two point lead over Longmeadow.
The Walpole boys racked up 18 points in the pentathlon led by a victory and massive personal best from senior Sawyer Regan with a school record 3,290 points. Regan won the pentathlon high jump (6 feet, 0.75 inches) and placed in the top seven of all five events with personal records (PR) in three of the events. In the middle of the pentathlon competition, Regan achieved a personal record in the 400M hurdles to place 5th.
Also scoring points in the pentathlon were Jake Stenstrom who placed 6th with a PR in the 1500M and Ben Thomas who placed 4th with a PR in 4 of the 5 events.
Walpole also received contributions from senior Luke Zahurak, who placed second in the 2-mile with a personal best and Walpole school record of 9:24.63 breaking Gary Giffen’s record which stood for 39 years, and senior Nicholas Demelo, who was the runner-up in the discus with a toss of 145-06.
Arnold Obour-Mensah finished 3rd in the 200M after setting the Walpole school record in the prelims. PJ Hayes’ record had stood for 13 years.
Girls’ track and field are also competing at Merrimack. On the opening day, sophomore Sydney Dias came in 4th in the two mile in 11:27.78. Freshwoman Shane Humphreys came in 5th in the discus with 104-04 and qualified for freshman nationals with the second best toss in Walpole school history.
Boy’s lacrosse (14-4) is seeded 9th and opened their playoff season on Monday June 1 against West Springfield.
