Taunton emerges from highest-scoring softball final ever with sixth straight Division 1 championship
WORCESTER — Lacking the fearsome pitching which fueled its previous five state titles, Taunton knew its sixth-straight Division 1 crown would be the toughest one yet.
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The Tigers’ fears were realized during a nightmare first inning Saturday, in which Attleboro racked up five runs and forced out junior starter Grace Simmons after retiring just one batter.
So how did the dynasty prevail?
By winning the highest-scoring softball state championship game in MIAA history.
Top-seeded Taunton racked up 13 hits, highlighted by monster performances fromjunior Bella Bourque (3 for 4, home run, three RBIs) and senior Victoria Corrao (3 for 3, home run, RBI, three runs), en route to a thrilling 11-8 win over No. 3 Attleboro at Worcester State.
The win propelled the Tigers (24-1) to their sixth consecutive Division 1 crown, one shy of Bishop Fenwick’s record seven-peat from 1990-1996, and marking the Tigers’ 80th consecutive win against MIAA competition, dating back to May 2023.
“It was resilience all year long,” said coach Michelle Raposo. “They knew they weren’t going to have a dominant pitcher . . . they knew that they were going to pass the bat offensively and just pick each other up.”
The huge first inning for the Bombardiers (18-7) was ignited by three consecutive fielder’s choice RBIs and capped by sophomore Avery Graziosi’s two-run double, which led Raposo to turn to eighth-grader Ella Parece in the circle.
Parece, who has been part of a three-pitcher rotation, gave up two earned runs in 6⅔ innings of relief, allowing four hits and striking out five.
“Nothing is better than my teammates telling me I got it and just giving me confidence and telling me that I could do well,” said Parece.
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Taunton answered with four runs in the bottom of the first, highlighted by Bourque’s RBI single, and took a 6-5 lead in the second on Bourque’s two-run blast off the flagpole in center field.
Attleboro went back in front, 7-6, with a mammoth blast from junior Lola Ronayne in the fourth, but couldn’t land another counter punch.
“We knew even with the five-run lead in the first inning — a good start — it wasn’t going to be enough for us to lay on that,” said Attleboro coach Mark Homer. “And it wasn’t enough for them either.”
The Tigers took the lead for good with a four-run fourth, which Corrao led off with a solo shot before junior Ashlyn Hebert lined an RBI single and junior Jay Gagnon unloaded a two-run double.
With junior Aniyah Bailey’s RBI single in the sixth, which extended Taunton’s lead to 11-8, the sides’ 19 combined runs eclipsed the previous record set in Amherst’s 10-8 win over Canton in 1978.
“I didn’t doubt [our team] at any second,” said Corrao. “I knew it was going to be a tough game. The first inning was definitely like, ‘Yeah, this is going to be tough.’ But I knew we could pull through.”
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