Varsity News: Breaking down the first week of the MIAA postseason

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The MIAA playoffs are in full swing, and it can be head-spinning, so we’re here to synthesize the first week of the postseason for you.

Already, 13 state champions have been crowned:

Division 1 track: Lexington girls, St. John’s Prep boys

Division 2 track: Billerica girls, North Andover boys

Division 3 track: Canton girls, Walpole boys

Division 4 track: Duxbury girls, Newburyport boys

Division 5 track: North Reading girls, Weston boys

Division 6 track: Ayer Shirley girls, Abington boys

Girls’ golf: Walpole

The girls’ lacrosse and boys’ and girls’ tennis tournaments have reached the quarterfinals, while boys’ lacrosse is wrapping up its second round. Baseball started its second round Wednesday after softball got a jump-start Tuesday, and boys’ volleyball has just a couple of second-round matches remaining before the quarterfinal field is cemented.

The track Meet of Champions concludes Saturday, and another 31 championships will be claimed between June 11-14. Here’s the full schedule of championship dates and locations.

Hundreds of postseason games have been played, and if anything stands out it’s how remarkably well the seeding system works. To whit: Heading into Wednesday, of the 248 top-eight seeds across all tournaments, 234 were still dancing a week in.

In fact, boys’ lacrosse, which is in the midst of second-round play, has yet to lose a top-eight squad, with Division 3’s No. 9 Hanover and Division 4’s No. 9 Hamilton-Wenham being the highest-seeded squads to bow out heading into Wednesday’s slate.

Also falling out of the lacrosse brackets were No. 11 Advanced Math and Science, which lost to No. 22 Lynnfield, 16-12; No. 13 Westborough, which lost 8-7 to No. 20 Marblehead; and No. 15 Bishop Stang, which couldn’t overcome a late penalty in a 12-8 loss to No. 18 Dover Sherborn.

Let’s sift through the rest of the brackets for more upsets.

Girls’ lacrosse

Similar to the boys, the results have mostly followed seed, with a pair of major exceptions: No. 12 Franklin defeated No. 5 Bishop Feehan, 11-8, for the second time in 10 days in D1, and in D3 eighth-seeded Foxborough was eliminated by No. 9 Dover-Sherborn, 12-6, but that’s closer to a pick ‘em than an upset.

No. 19 Swampscott took out No. 14 North Reading, 9-8, in D3, and while it wasn’t an upset by seeds, it was a surprise to see two-time defending D3 champion Medfield, ranked 10th, take a 12-11 loss to No. 7 Scituate.

Boys’ volleyball

Last year, the upsets came fast and furious in the boys’ volleyball tournament, but this time around it’s been mostly chalk, with all 22 teams seeded in the Top 9 of either division still alive.

The highest seed to drop out thus far was D2’s No. 10 Granby, which fell to No. 7 Marlborough. No. 12 Springfield Sci-Tech was a 3-1 victim of No. 21 Norton, while also in D2, No. 14 Bellingham dropped a 3-1 match to No. 19 Dracut and No. 15 Veritas Prep fell to No. 18 Springfield International, 3-2. In D1, No. 15 Westford was taken down by No. 18 Arlington, 3-1, in the first round. Springfield International and Arlington were eliminated in the second round.

Softball

The fastpitch brackets have been a bit topsy-turvey, but still lacking in major surprises. On Sunday, No. 9 Andover became the first Top 10-seeded squad to relinquish its quest with a 7-2 loss to No. 24 Beverly. On Tuesday, No. 5 Wachusett was stunned by No. 12 Franklin, 3-2, becoming the highest seed bounced from the softball tourney thus far. Also in D1, No. 11 Needham dropped its first-round matchup with No. 22 Methuen, 7-1.

In D5, No. 12 Franklin County Tech ended No. 4 West Boylston’s 20-game win streak with 4-2 second-round win, No. 22 Holbrook tackled No. 11 Turners Falls, 9-5, but the only other results that went against seeding came in the 14 vs. 19 and 15 vs. 18 matchups: No. 19 North Attleborough over No. 14 Longmeadow, 6-5, in D2, No. 19 Narragansett over No. 14 Uxbridge, 5-4, in D4, No. 18 Agawam over No. 15 Marblehead, 6-1, in D2, and No. 18 North Reading over No. 15 Auburn, 10-8, in D3.

Baseball

We’ve arrived at where the action is. The baseball brackets have featured as many surprise results as all other sports combined, but that’s the nature of a sport where you can’t pitch your ace every game. Heading into Wednesday, six Top-10 seeded teams had been eliminated, including the No. 3 team in Division 1.

That would be Springfield Central, which was nipped by No. 35 North Quincy, 5-4, falling victim to a sterling pitching day from Max LaMonica (10 strikeouts in 5⅔ innings) and a two-run double from John Barron in the sixth.

No. 7 Taunton also couldn’t get out of the first round when it couldn’t figure out No. 26 Westford’s ace, Jared Welsh, in a 4-3 defeat, and No. 10 Shrewsbury was bounced by No. 23 Pope Francis, 4-3, in the first round. Those losses have set up a second-round matchup between No. 23 Pope Francis and No. 26 Westford, with the winner guaranteed a quarterfinal berth.

In Division 2, Monday was a rough day for the back half of the Top 10, as No. 6 Shepherd Hill, No. 8 Minnechaug, and No. 9 Hingham were all eliminated. Shepherd Hill lost, 5-4, to No. 27 Canton, Minnechaug was an 8-2 victim of No. 25 Masconomet, and No. 9 Hingham was undone by No. 24 Nashoba, 3-0, and Jake Schwartz’s four-hitter.

In Division 3, No. 22 Danvers defeated No. 11 Swampscott, 4-2; in Division 4 it was No. 22 Old Colony needing 11 innings to upset No. 11 Latin Academy, 1-0, and in D5 No. 20 Brighton got the best of No. 13 Madison Park, 13-8, reversing a regular-season sweep.

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Boys’ lacrosse: The highest seed to drop out in the first round was No. 11 Advanced Math and Science, a victim of No. 22 Lynnfield, which got five goals apiece from Sean Bridges and Sam Curley . . . Girls’ lacrosse: Ten days after No. 12 Franklin defeated No. 5 Bishop Feehan in overtime during the regular season, the Panthers repeated the feat in the Division 1 second round . . . Baseball: No. 3 Springfield Central became the highest seed knocked out in the first round of any spring tournament, falling to No. 35 North Quincy, which rode a sterling Max LaMonica pitching performance (10 strikeouts in 5⅔ innings) and a two-run, sixth-inning double from John Barron to the stunner . . . Softball: The biggest upset in the first round of the Division 1 tourney saw No. 11 Needham fall to No. 22 Methuen, thanks to three hits and two runs from Melany Reyes.

Athletes of the Week: Westford’s Abby Hennessy and Maddie Smith

Needless to say, a big week for the Ghosts. For the first time since the launch of Varsity News last fall, one school laid claim to both Athletes of the Week.

With a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th hole at Indian Pond Country Club in Kingston, Westford senior Maddie Smith captured the 2026 MIAA girls’ golf individual championship Monday. Smith fired a 1-over-par 73 to win by two strokes over Longmeadow’s Cecily Henshon. Smith, who will play golf at Memphis, saw her older sister, Molly (Central Florida), win the 2023 title, and her oldest sister, Morgan (Georgia), finish second in 2019 and 2022.

Fellow Ghosts senior Abby Hennessy blazed to a 9-minute, 50.72-second time in the two-mile race during the Division 2 outdoor track and field championships at Merrimack College, not only setting a state record, but running the fastest time in the nation this year. She now owns the outdoor mile (4:34.69) and two-mile records.

Honorable mentions: Westfield senior Lauren Connor made a hole-in-one, her first, on the 110-yard seventh hole at the MIAA girls’ golf championship at Indian Pond Country Club in Kingston . . . Bedford junior Olivia O’Brien scored her 200th career goal during a 16-8 Division 2 second-round girls’ lacrosse win over Billerica . . . Lynnfield’s Hayden Valiton exploded for 11 goals in a 22-11 Division 4 second-round girls’ lacrosse win over Seekonk . . . While making 15 saves in Central Catholic’s 13-12 Division 1 first-round girls’ lacrosse win over Hopkinton, senior Anne Cashman recorded her 600th career stop . . . Ryan Nikiforow spun a perfect game, striking out eight and throwing 54 of 71 pitches for strikes, for No. 4 Millbury in a 7-0 D4 first-round blanking of Lowell Catholic . . . Jackson Passonno fired a no-hitter with one walk and seven strikeouts to power Longmeadow baseball to a 1-0 D2 first-round win over Holliston . . . Connor Oliver provided Falmouth a 1-0 walkoff win over Martha’s Vineyard in the Division 3 first round with an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth . . . Milton junior Teddy Dunn hit a walkoff grand slam with his team trailing to produce a 6-3 D2 first-round win over Marblehead . . . West Bridgewater junior Charlie Mallett spun a 10-strikeout no-hitter, lifting the Wildcats to an 8-0 D4 preliminary-round victory over St. Bernard’s . . . Tri-County senior Dylan Maw reached 200 career strikeouts during a 2-1 D3 baseball win over East Longmeadow in the preliminary round . . . Stoughton sophomore Lily Shirey drove in seven runs with three extra-base hits in a 15-3 D2 first-round win over Archbishop Williams . . . The Northbridge trio of Kylie Grazulis, Lexie Paulhus, and Ava Robinson combined to no-hit Excel Academy over five innings, producing a 27-0 softball drubbing in the D4 preliminary round . . . Dighton-Rehoboth junior Edy Latour fired a five-inning no-hitter, fanning eight to beat Greater Lawrence, 13-0, in the first round of the D3 bracket . . . Rockport junior Calleigh Trickett spun a five-inning no-hitter, fanning five in a 16-0 D5 preliminary-round softball win over Neighborhood Charter/Codman . . . Foxborough freshman Anna Patterson met the postseason pressure with a 13-strikeout no-hitter to blank Lynnfield, 4-0, in the D3 softball second round . . . O’Bryant senior Otavio Perks extended his own school record, becoming the first player in school history to reach 1,000 career kills during a 3-1 D2 first-round boys’ volleyball win over Greater Lawrence.

100 career lacrosse points: Bedford junior Sophia Babington, Duxbury senior Addie Slimbaugh, Pembroke senior Mike Shanley

100 career lacrosse goals: Stoneham junior Theresa Marshall

100 career hits: Sandwich senior Joe Coughlan, Norton senior Paige Donahue

Coaches of the Week: Four head football coaching hires were announced in the past week: Offensive coordinator Anthony Vizakis has been promoted at King Philip, Salem hired Malden Catholic offensive coordinator Brett Segala, North Quincy elevated assistant Greg Sommers, a 2002 alum, to the head job, and Nantucket did the same with assistant Fernando Jones.

⚾ Maybe the best catch yet in the tournament, Malden right fielder TJ Lynch preserved a 3-2 win over Durfee with a sliding grab with two outs and two on in the bottom of the seventh.

⚾ Did you catch Matty Wasserman’s five biggest storylines of the softball season?

⚾ Brody Bumila talks about his first playoff start of the spring, an 8-0 win over Andover that saw him strike out 12 in five one-hit innings.

A new Development League, to launch next year, seeks to discover the best talent in the United States beyond the elite national development team.

Winners’ circle: Tracking every 2026 spring high school championship The MIAA has begun crowning champions and we’re recapping them all in one handy spot. Twelve track teams and one girls’ golf squad have already claimed titles. For 54 years, the Boston Shootout has been a fixture in the New England basketball scene The 54th annual Boston Shootout is taking place this weekend at Catholic Memorial in West Roxbury, welcoming three prominent Northeast-based travel programs for two days of competition.

Miles Murray was fired up during Attleboro’s season finale, a 2-1 loss to Division 1 state championship contender Bishop Feehan, which ended with Andrew Shute’s walkoff bases-loaded line drive. Murray was captured by Attleboro student photographer Blaine Batkin.

Photo gallery: High school students celebrating into the night

Interested in joining our free student photojournalism program and get your photos published by the Globe? Find out how to sign up.

Trivia: Taunton is aiming for its sixth straight softball title. Which is the only school to claim more than six state softball crowns in a row?

Last week we asked which school was the first to win back-to-back MIAA baseball championships? A: St. Mary’s, which repeated in Division 3 in 1987-88.

Plan your week:

Thursday: Baseball, No. 12 St. John’s Prep at No. 5 Catholic Memorial, 4 p.m.

Thursday: Softball, No. 10 Milton at No. 7 Wakefield, 4 p.m.

Thursday: Girls’ lacrosse, No. 6 Lexington at No. 3 Concord-Carlisle, 7 p.m.

Friday: Boys’ volleyball, No. 7 Newton South at No. 2 Brookline, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday: Boys’ lacrosse, No. 5 Bishop Feehan at No. 4 Acton-Boxborough, 6:30 p.m.

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Saturday: Final day of Meet of Champions at Merrimack College, 2:30 p.m.