Spring 2025 State Championship Lookahead: Softball

The 2025 MIAA Softball Championships will be a one-day affair on Saturday, June 14. Worcester State University will host four of the games, with Division 5 at Sortino Field in Amherst on the campus of UMass.

Here’s a look at what’s ahead:

Division 1

Taunton High School vs. Wachusett Regional High School
Worcester State University, 6:30 p.m.

The top two seeds in the bracket certainly are familiar with the big stage … and each other.

No. 1 seed Taunton will be looking for a fifth straight state championship and to improve to 10-0 all-time in title games. The Tigers knocked off King Philip (5-0) for the 2024 crown, and their recent run started with a 1-0 win over Wachusett in 2021 before following against Peabody (5-3) in 2022 and Central Catholic (6-1) in 2023. Taunton also has titles from 1997, 2002-2003, 2007, and a 2018 win over Wachusett (13-2).

No. 2 seed Wachusett is 1-3 all-time in state finals, including the two losses to Taunton. The Mountaineers won their only title in 2019 (2-1 over Methuen in 8 innings) and also fell in the 2017 final (7-3 to Milford).

ROAD TO WORCESTER STATE: Taunton – beat Belmont (12-0), Weymouth (7-1), Bridgewater-Raynham (2-0), Bishop Feehan (2-1) … Wachusett – beat Medford (10-1), Chelmsford (12-0), Saint Paul (4-1), Lincoln-Sudbury (5-1)

Division 2

Silver Lake Regional High School vs. Bedford High School
Worcester State University, 1:30 p.m.

The two programs have only two combined title game appearances between them, and the only title was more than three decades ago.

Silver Lake is the No. 1 seed and has been a frontrunner all season, but the Lakers are chasing their first state championship. The program’s only previous appearance was in 2015, a 3-0 loss to St. Peter-Marian in Division.

No. 3 Bedford’s only finals history is a 6-3 win over Hopedale in 1990 for the Division 3 crown.

ROAD TO WORCESTER STATE: Silver Lake – beat Milton (12-0), Wakefield (10-1), Middleboro (7-0), Westfield (1-0) … Bedford – beat Oliver Ames (11-0), Duxbury (10-0), Tewksbury (6-0), Hopkinton (3-1)

Division 3

Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School vs. Greater New Bedford Vo-Tech
Worcester State University, 4 p.m.

Two South Coast Conference rivals will square off for all the marbles.

No. 1 seed Dighton-Rehoboth is the defending state champion after a narrow 4-3 victory over Hudson in the 2024 title game. The Falcons also won a Division 2 crown in 1990 (10-2 over Turners Falls), and dropped decisions in 2006 (Division 1, 2-1 to Shrewsbury in 8 innings) and 2021 (Division 2, 6-5 to Tyngsborough).

No. 10 seed Greater New Bedford walked off the field as winners in each of its previous three appearances, most recently an 8-5 win over Middleboro in 2022. But the Bears’ 2014 title was later vacated because of an ineligible player. GNB also beat Leicester, 5-1 in 2018 (Division 2).

D-R won both South Coast meetings this season, 4-0 on April 28 and 15-1 on May 10.

ROAD TO WORCESTER STATE: Dighton-Rehoboth – beat Essex North Shore (12-0), Medway (13-1), Gloucester (2-1 in 8 innings), Nipmuc (4-0) … Greater New Bedford – beat Triton (2-0), Pentucket (5-4), Norton (5-0), Foxborough (3-2)

Division 4

Tyngsborough High School vs. Joseph Case High School
Worcester State University, 11 a.m.

The first of the four-game slate at Worcester State is highlighted as the only rematch between 2024 title foes.

No. 4 seed Case will be looking to follow up on last year’s 1-0 victory, which gave the program its second consecutive title (7-2 vs. Hampshire in 2023) and sixth overall in nine tries. The Cardinals also have Division 2 titles in 1981 (5-4 vs. Grafton), 1995 (3-2 vs. Mount Greylock), 1996 (3-1 vs. Academy of Notre Dame) and 2001 (1-0 vs. Mount Greylock).

For No. 6 Tyngsborough, this is the third state final appearance in five years. The Tigers won their only title in 2021, edging Dighton-Rehoboth, 6-5, in the final year before the move to the statewide format.

ROAD TO WORCESTER STATE: Tyngsborough – beat Rockland (12-0), Millbury (5-1), Advanced Math & Science Academy (3-2), Uxbridge (4-0) … Joseph Case – beat Amesbury (13-0), Gardner (14-0), East Bridgewater (5-1), Hampshire (13-0)

Division 5

Turners Falls High School vs. Greenfield High School
Sortino Field, Amherst, 1 p.m.

State final opponents can’t possibly get more familiar than these neighboring rivals from Western Mass.

No. 1 seed Turners Falls has the most championship game appearances in MIAA softball history, making its 21st overall and third in a row. The Thunder are the defending champions, having beaten Georgetown, 5-0, in 2024. Turners Falls will be looking to add to its MIAA softball record 11 state championships.

No. 3 seed Greenfield has more modest success, but is looking for its third title in four years, including a 10-2 win over Turners Falls in 2023. The Green Wave also knocked off West Boylston (6-2) in the 2022 title game. The school’s only appearance was in 1986 (10-0 loss to Apponequet).

Turners Falls won both regular-season meetings, 3-2 on April 11 and 5-0 on April 25.

ROAD TO UMASS: Turners Falls – beat Rising Tide (12-0), Drury (1-0), Narragansett (6-3), Georgetown (8-7) … Greenfield – beat Sturgis Charter East (19-0), Millis (9-1), West Boylston (5-4), Hopedale (8-0)