It was an historical year for coach Johnny Gold’s Marblehead High School softball team that led them to the Northeastern Conference Lynch Division championship, before bringing home the Division 2 Final Four state trophy after winning 21 games, a new record for the program.
The team dedicated the season to its assistant coach Todd Norman, who passed away just hours before the first game of the season on April 8. They also had to play the season without one of their captains, Ila Bumagin, who tore her ACL in a skiing accident. Coaches and players alike bonded together as a team to win for them.
The definition of the word team for the players also extended beyond the diamond, when they came out to support the softball program’s longtime assistant Mike Joyce at the Special Olympics recently.
And Joyce did not disappoint them, winning two gold medals.
In their pursuit of their on-field championship achievements, the Magicians compiled those record-setting 21 wins. But they are certainly not unfamiliar with so much success. It all started for them in the Marblehead Softball Little League.
In 2019, as 10s, the Marblehead girls won the District 16 and EMass all-star regional championships to advance to the state tournament in Worcester, where they lost to Worcester’s Jesse Burkett Little League in the state title game.
There was no softball in 2020, because of the pandemic, but it resumed in 2021, when these same Marblehead girls were 12s. They once again won the district and EMass titles to go back to the state tournament, which was held in Woburn that year. They ended up dominating East Bridgewater in the finals to become state champs for the first time.
The Marblehead stars then moved onto the Eastern Regional Tournament in Bristol, Conn. Because of COVID restrictions, this part of the tournament was modified. There was no pool play, and as a result Marblehead lost to Delaware, before being eliminated by New York in extra innings (nine), 8-7. It was considered to be one of the best games in many years, according to the Bristol officials.
In 2022, Marblehead was back at it again, this time as Little League juniors, but the script remained the same. They were once again district and EMass champs, before defending their state crown successfully in Woburn again, where they took care of Agawam easily in the finals, 10-0.
The Eastern Regional was held in Orange, Connecticut, and Marblehead came out of pool play with a 1-2 record. But the Connecticut state champs then eliminated them in the quarterfinals.
Last year, Marblehead, now playing in the Senior Tournament, received an automatic invitation to the eastern regionals that were held in Worcester. The locals were 2-1 in pool play. They then defeated Connecticut in the quarterfinals, but lost to Delaware in the semifinals.
If history means anything, these softball Magicians always learned from their first-time experiences, and so next year just might be their year to compete for the Division 2 high school state title at UMass-Amherst. They know the feeling of being state champs twice already, but winning one together as varsity players would cap off this story filled with memorable successful chapters quite nicely.
