Midweek thoughts on a lacrosse dynasty, Celtics greatness, and British cars: The 11 seniors on La Salle Academy’s 2024 lacrosse team wanted to be better than good, better than great. They had already won three state championships. What was left to prove? “This team knew if they won convincingly, they could be the best team […]
On Sports
Former Providence Journal sports reporter Mike Szostak writes news and analysis about sports in the region.
Posted inLocal, On Sports
Little League, surviving in 2024, thrived in 1963
Heading home from the grocery store with a few supplies for dinner on a recent late afternoon, I made the left turn from Perry Street to Wood Street in Bristol and put Veterans Park — and the kids warming up for a Little League game — in my rear view mirror. “Stop! Turn around! Go […]
Posted inLocal, On Sports
Injuries are hurting NBA playoff teams, but the surprising Red Sox remain resilient
Injury is a constant threat to athletes of any age. A stalker that can strike at any moment. Think of a Little Leaguer with a sore arm. A high school running back with a sprained ankle. A college women’s soccer player with a torn ACL. A Major League pitcher requiring Tommy John surgery. A marathoner […]
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Christina Batastini has seen it all in women’s basketball
Christina Batastini, one of Rhode Island’s best basketball players ever, remembers the days when girls lived their hoop dreams through CYO and town recreation leagues or, if they were lucky, high school, and if really lucky, college. Those days 35 years ago were better than the Dark Ages of the first half of the 20th […]
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Red Sox surprise with split in Seattle
Baseball can seduce us. We fall in love with a team one day, walk away during a losing streak, and then return for an embrace when things get better. We do it over and over, right? Take the Boston Red Sox. The team that everybody expects to slide to last place in the AL East […]
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March Sadness grips PC, Brown, Bryant, URI
In the beginning there was hope for a date to the Big Dance, the NCAA Tournament. In the end there was none. Not at Providence College. Not at Bryant University or Brown. Certainly not at the University of Rhode Island. Brown came close. Yes, Brown, with its 13-17 record, its 38-year tournament drought, its history […]
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Rhode Island College Anchorwomen suffer their first and season-ending loss
Editor’s note: This column was updated March 11 to reflect the results of weekend games and tournaments. March Madness, the annual college basketball rite of spring, is upon us. To be precise, it starts March 19 with the men’s Division I tournament and March 20 with the women’s, and ends April 8 for the men […]
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Undefeated RIC women are making basketball history
This story was updated Feb. 26 to reflect the results of the Little East Tournament and the selection of the NCAA Division III tournament field. What a basketball season for the 14 young women wearing the maroon, gold and white of Rhode Island College. They are 27-0, the Little East Conference tournament champions for the […]
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Ed Cooley’s return becomes the sideshow to a Big East thriller
As expected, a thunderstorm of boos cascaded from every section of the Amica Mutual Pavilion when Ed Cooley strode into the arena at 12:26 last Saturday afternoon. The noisy, sold-out crowd of 12,580 resumed booing when Cooley was introduced with his Georgetown basketball team. Providence College students — 2,000 behind each basket — used more […]
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Class or Crass: How will Friartown greet Ed Cooley
Ten months after leaving his dream job for the biggest challenge of his career, Ed Cooley returns home to Providence Saturday afternoon. I can only imagine the greeting from 12,400 rabid spectators in the Amica Mutual Pavilion when he is introduced with his Georgetown basketball team. Cheers? A few. Boos? An explosion so loud, I […]
