An undefeated regular season means nothing in the MIAA state tournament, where any team could be one and done. That’s exactly what happened to the Old Rochester Regional varsity girls tennis team, who after an 18-0 year and a first-round bye fell 3-2 to Cohasset in the quarterfinal round.
    The Skippers and Lady Bulldogs have been doing battle quite often in recent years, but Cohasset always comes out on top. But with nearly every player returning to Bob Hohne’s team next season, it might be time for a reversal of fortune.
    This time around, though, it wasn’t to be, despite a win from Olivia Offringa at No. 3 singles (6-2, 7-5 over Jean Thomae) and at No. 2 doubles from Tara Middleton and Hope Anderson (6-2, 7-5 over Lauren Allen and Tina D’Antonio).
     Amy Heacox lost at No. 1 singles to Maddie Alholtz, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Nina Batt fell at No. 2 to Danielle Sookiasian, 6-4, 6-3, and the top doubles tandem of Erika Janik and Alia Marinone lost 6-2, 7-6(10) to Maggie McGoldrick and Jenny McGruder.

BOYS TENNIS
    The boys tennis team entered the state tournament as the fourth seed after a 14-4 regular season, and they began tourney play by hosting Abington and handing them a 5-0 loss.
    Brian Heacox topped Tim Killian at No. 1 singles, 6-1, 6-3. Alex Matathia took No. 2 from Rob Chiodi, 6-1, 6-1, and Brendon Cooney won at No. 3 over Ben Mitchell, 6-1, 6-2.
    The top doubles tandem of Tyler Belliveau and Matt Teefy won 6-3, 6-1 over Nick Malafronte and Ryan Vantine, and the No. 2 team of Connor MacKenzie and Noah Filloramo won 6-1, 6-1 over Nick Atkinson and Andrew Berry.
    Just as the girls team did, the boys had to square off against Cohasset in the quarterfinal round. They fell 3-2 to end their season at 15-5.
    Matathia earned a victory at No. 2 singles over Dan Brady, 6-3, 6-2. Belliveau and Teefy also won at first singles, 6-4, 7-6 (11) over Robbie Hill and Will Choi.
     Heacox lost to Victor Hartmann, 6-1, 6-1, and Cooney fell to Ivan Sceery, 6-3, 6-1. MacKenzie and Filloramo lost 7-5, 6-1 to Mike Filbey and Luke Brewer.

GIRLS SOFTBALL
    The Old Rochester varsity girls softball team entered the state tournament as the No. 17 seed, and immediately made teams take notice after they served up an 11-1 trashing of No. 16 Canton.
    They scored one run in the top of the second inning and held that lead until the top of the sixth, when they added four insurance runs. When Canton failed to respond in the bottom of the frame, the Lady Bulldogs kept piling it on with six more runs in the top of the seventh. All Canton could manage was one run in the bottom of the inning, accounting for the final score.
    Emma Keough, Kayla Souza, Abby Smith, Amanda Boulay, Sarah Macrhisio, Sarah Reusch and Lauren Galavotti provided the offense for ORR, while Jess Nye allowed just two hits and no runs in her six innings of work, and struck out nine. She helped her cause with a two-run double.
     That put ORR in the next round against a very tall task—top-seeded Ashland. They were on the other side of a lopsided score this time around, as they fell 9-0 and finished the year at 10-10.

BASEBALL
    Things didn’t go so well for the 16th-seeded varsity baseball team, who fell 2-0 to No. 17 Hanover in a preliminary round game in Rochester.
    Ben Church started off pitching a gem, locked in a scoreless duel with David Gibson through the first six innings. However, in the top of the seventh, Church walked three batters and a defensive miscue led to two runs by Hanover that accounted for the final score.
    Meanwhile, Gibson kept the Bulldogs in check to end their season at 11-9.
   
CALLING ALL BULLDOGS
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