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Sports

Hockomock Summer Softball Still Going Strong

With new members and an increase in players, the summer softball league has remained popular within youth sports. Walpole is a member of the league.

With the start of summer and longer days comes the start of summer league athletics across the area. The Hockomock Girls’ Summer Softball League is off and running as 78 teams compete in seven divisions across four age groups. Foxborough is part of the league.

With very few undefeated and winless teams left, the parity that exists makes every game count in the battle for playoff spots. Playing only 10 games over five weeks gives extra importance to each game.

“We don't have too many undefeated teams and not too many teams left without a win, so that is good,” league president John Bench said. “The playoff spots are tough to earn in this league and we like to see competitiveness remain throughout the season and across the league.”

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Foxborough fields teams in the U10 and U12 divisions. Foxborough's U10 squad is 1-4 and is six points out of first place. Foxborough's U12 team is 5-0-1 in the U12 West Division and is one point behind Franklin for first place.

Despite competition from other sports such as lacrosse, the league remains strong and popular. Compared to last year, the league saw a slight increase in participation for this season.

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“There is clearly a lot of interest in this region. This year, we have 78 teams across the seven divisions, which represents close to 1,000 players.  More teams than ever are entering multiple teams per age division.  Last year, I believe we had about 70 teams, compared to 78 this year.  So we are up about 10 percent since last year,” Bench said.

If anything, the league has been dealing with popularity through constant requests to join the league,

“We also receive about five or six requests each year from various neighboring towns for their programs to join our league.  This is the first year, in at least the last three to four years, that we have actually voted in a new town program.  So we have one more town to travel to this year. We think it’s going very well,” Bench said.

The organization will also be supporting two tournaments next month. The first ever will take place from July 20-22. The tournament that will raise money for the Stoughton Youth Athletic Club (STOYAC) will be open to U12 and U14 teams.

The next weekend, the 13th Annual Foxboro Summer Classic will be held from July 27-29 at the Booth Playground. The round-robin format tournament will host three divisions for U10, U12, and U14 teams. The U10 tournament will consist of six teams while the other tournaments will be an eight-team competition.

For more information on the league and complete standings, visit the league’s official website.

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