Never mind three-peat; it was the fourth state championship for the girls from the Jesse Burkett Little League organization in Worcester representing Massachusetts at the regional meet held in Connecticut last month, placing third in New England.
Monday, the team travelled to the State House to meet Gov. Maura T. Healey who praised both their success on the field and their parents' dedication and commitment to involving their daughters in sports.
“Way to go parents,” Healey said as the team and their chaperones gathered in the ceremonial office for a mid-morning chat, adding that her mother put her and her siblings into sports programs as they were growing up as something to do. “I benefitted a lot from playing sports.”
Healey, a professional basketball player after college, told the team she had played other sports in school including softball, field hockey and baseball, one of the only girls on the local baseball team, playing both pitcher and shortstop. “They didn’t have a separate girls’ team when I was playing baseball,” Healey said.
Title IX, a measure that prohibited discrimination based on gender in organizations receiving federal funding and mandated that schools and colleges provide equal opportunities for both genders in terms of sports participation, scholarships and coaching, was enacted in 1972, a year after the governor’s birth.
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The team gave the governor an autographed softball and a team shirt to commemorate their visit to the State House. They lined up for a group photo and then individual pictures with the state’s chief executive. The softball, signed by each of the girls on the team, was placed next to a Celtics hat that commemorated their recent championship.
“We’re super proud of you,” the governor told the girls.
Some of the girls had been playing together since signing up for T-ball when they were 3 or 4 years old. A core group of girls won the state championships in the 9- and 10-year-old category and won again as 11- and 12-year-olds. Most will be moving to senior softball next year.
“It is a privilege to coach this group of girls. They are very invested in the team,” said coach Kerin Smith, who joined the Jesse Burkett organization when her own daughter, Madysen, joined the team. Smith, who played softball in school and in college, now follows in her father’s footsteps as a coach, Robert Rousseau . “He was my coach when I was playing.”
The league, Smith said, thrives with parental involvement, but local officials also help. Eden Rafferty Law funded the bus that took the team to the regional competition in Connecticut and another local attorney, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr., provided funds that the team used to pay for food while attending the tournament.
“We went 12-2 locally and won two and lost two at regionals,” Smith said. While the girls beat Vermont and New Hampshire, they lost to Connecticut and Rhode Island. The Ocean State is now representing New England at the World Series in North Carolina. “We will follow and support Rhode Island.
“They didn’t make rivalries. They made friends,” Smith said, adding that the entire experience was wonderful. The team bunked at the Little League complex in Bristol, sharing dormitory space and a bathroom with the host team.
“We would talk together. We shared a bathroom. They made a poster for us: ‘Go Team Massachusetts,'” said Madysen Smith, describing the team that sent Massachusetts home in third place. “We made a poster for them: 'Go Team Connecticut.' It was fun, but at the end it was sad.”
Placing third in the regional competition was the team’s best showing to date.
“It was disappointing, but fun and we made it to the semifinals,” said Jocelyn Baumann, one of the four girls who won states four years in a row with Smith, Sophia D’Andrea and Sophia Delvalle. The best part, all the girls agreed, was playing with their friends.
“It feels good. It’s a big accomplishment. You don’t hear of many teams winning four championships,” Delvalle said.
“The whole team played its best throughout the season,” D’Andrea said of her teammates. Her father, Brian D’Andrea, the clerk magistrate of the Worcester District Court arranged the tour and private visit with the governor. Her little sister, Lila, who also plays softball on a Jesse Burkett team, was excited to tag along on the visit to the State House and to meet the governor.
While the younger sibling is focusing on growing in the sport to match the winning record of her sister's team, her sister and friends are focusing on the coming year and winning both states and regionals and then traveling to North Carolina for the World Series.
When asked what was next on the agenda by the governor, the girls responded with one voice: Fall ball. Laughing, the governor said she meant for the day. Food topped the list and then more ball. Even in the weeks between the regionals and the start of the fall season, the girls still play ball.
“They’ll be playing Wiffle ball in the backyard,” said mom Jen Carrero, an English teacher at Doherty High School.
As the team members waited for their audience with the governor, they took an official tour of the State House, learning about its history and the different artifacts on view from the portraits of past governors, to the Holy Mackerel hanging from the rafters of the Senate chambers.
Greeted by the staff in the Senate Reading Room as they moved from that space into the Senate Chambers for a peak at the Mackerel and the underside of the Gold Dome, someone asked where the team was from.
“Massachusetts!” was the proud answer they offered.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: 'We’re super proud of you': Jesse Burkett Little League girls' team honored at State House for 4th state championship
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