The time has finally come. After a long, long year, sports have finally returned to the University of Massachusetts Boston for the spring semester. In this past week, both the men’s baseball team and men’s lacrosse team competed in their season opener. The UMass Boston women’s softball team has yet to open their season at the time of this article. However, they will be playing their season opener on April 17 against Castleton University at home. So, let’s take a look at how this past week was for our spring sports teams.
Men’s Baseball Team
The UMass Boston men’s baseball team narrowly lost their season opener on April 13 against the University of Southern Maine by a score of 7–5. The University of Southern Maine got out to a fast start against UMass Boston, scoring the first five runs. However, UMass Boston would wind up tying the game at five after a huge five-run fifth inning. Unfortunately, UMass Boston would go on to allow two runs in the ninth inning, and that is where the game would come to an end.
The next game for the men’s baseball team will be on April 17, at home, against Castleton University. Their game against Western Connecticut State that was originally scheduled for April 14 has been postponed to a later date.
Men’s Lacrosse Team
The UMass Boston’s men’s lacrosse team came out to a dominant start against the University of Southern Maine, winning by a score of 25–15. The Beacons only trailed twice in the entire match, and it was by a score of 1–0 and 2–1. After that, UMass Boston was a force to be reckoned with, as they dominated the rest of the match. UMass Boston’s next game will be against Castleton University in Vermont, on Saturday, April 17. So far this season, Castleton’s lacrosse team has had a poor start to the season, going winless in four total games. I expect UMass Boston to have another dominant performance against a Castleton team who has had a lot of trouble mustering any offense so far this season.
Women’s Softball Team
At the time of writing this article, the UMass Boston women’s softball team would have yet to make their season debut. However, they will be opening their season against Castleton University on Saturday, April 17. So far this season, Castleton’s women’s softball team has had a solid start going 6–4 while holding a 3–3 record within the conference. This should serve as a decent challenge for the Beacons, as they look to open their season up with a win at home against Castleton.
To say that it has been a relief to have sports back on campus here at UMass Boston would be a severe understatement. Sports has been sorely missed in the past year, and it is safe to say that the fans and players are very pleased to have that sense of normalcy back at our school. There is still a long way to go in this spring sports season, and UMass Boston has some catching up to do as a lot of other teams in their conference have already started their season’s. However, with the way the LEC set up the Beacons schedule, they made it, so they play all of their necessary conference games to be eligible to compete in the conference tournament at the end of the season. This is obviously very good news, as UMass Boston always looks to be a top competitor within the conference.