The Boston Renegades, who practice in Watertown, got to play at Fenway Park for the first time on April 12. The beep baseball team has members who are visually impaired and others who are not, all of whom wear blindfolds. (Photo by Jim Vershbow)
BOSTON — Bravery. It comes in all shapes and sizes. Among the bravest, in my opinion, are those individuals who are forced to live their lives visually impaired. Sight is a precious thing, and not having it is one of the cruelest things you could inflict on any human being. Yet, over the years so many incredible techniques and equipment have been devised and developed to allow the visually impaired community to do things that those of us with sight take for granted. One of those things is the opportunity to play the great sport of baseball, more commonly known to the visually impaired community as Beep Baseball.
Watertown’s Fahad Khan won his Golden Gloves boxing match in Lowell the same month he won a high school wrestling title. (Photo by James Thomas for the Lowell Sun)
Watertown’s Fahad Khan enjoyed a very successful winter, winning titles on the wrestling mat and in the boxing ring. The WHS senior competed on the Raiders wrestling team, with whom he won MIAA Div. 3 North Sectional championship in the 106 pound division in his second year of competition. He became the first wrestler in Watertown history to be a two time sectional champion.
Watertown Baseball’s early season schedule was somewhat unusual. After some late-March scrimmages Watertown squeezed in two non-league games at Victory Field two weekends ago, beating Fitchburg and Maimonides. And then they had a week off before opening their Middlesex League schedule yesterday afternoon. Lexington Baseball arrived with a pedigree of success as they faced the Raiders in game one of their ’26 season.
On the mound for Watertown Jayden Pineda, getting his second start of the season. He pitched 3 1/3 solid innings against Fitchburg, but Lexington would be a bigger test. On a sunny, but cold (as in, brrrrrrr) and windy day, Lexington threw two legit number one starters, over six innings, and stymied Watertown bats on the way to a 7-0 win over the Raiders. Early-season baseball can be very cruel, between the conditions, the lack of practice time and game experience. That would be especially true for the Raiders, starting one freshman, five sophomores, three juniors and one senior.
Watertown Raiders 10U hockey team won the Valley League AA Squirt East Championship. (Contributed Photo)
The following announcement was provided by Watertown Youth Hockey:
On Saturday April 3, the Watertown Raiders 10U hockey team won the Valley League AA Squirt East Championship. They played the Central Mass Revolution, a team they had split their season series with 2-2. Watertown was dominant in the final, winning 6-0.
The team was motivated to win for Henry Maikath who was unavailable to play due to an injury. Henry was a game changing offensive defenseman who had many highlight reel goals during the season. Watertown’s offense was led by goal scorers Wes Nabel (2 goals), Griff Ganno (2 goals), Conor Reynolds (1 goal) and Wyatt Preston (1 goal). Helping to keep offensive zone pressure on the Revs were Mary Dwyer, JJ Valiton and Ethan Tark. Great 2 way play from Colt Ouellette, Sam Heiber, Dean Sibelle and Gus Charbonnier prevented the Revs from mounting any sustained puck possession.
The defense was anchored by strong shutdown play from Michael Cohan, Zach Rivera and Adeline Lucas. Amazing defensive zone presence by Christian Robinson, Garrett Mathers and Lily Witkop minimized the Rev’s scoring chances. Dante Marchesano was a rock between the pipes.
The following announcement was provided by the MBTA:
The MBTA announced service information during this summer’s seven World Cup matches in June and July, including expanded Commuter Rail service and special Boston Stadium Train tickets to help fans travel across the region.
Roundtrip Boston Stadium Train tickets between South Station and Boston Stadium (Gillette Stadium) will be $80, sold exclusively on mTicket, and are good for travel on the entire Commuter Rail network on match days, allowing visitors more flexibility and options in choosing where to stay to attend World Cup matches. Tickets for the first five matches will go on sale beginning at 11 AM on Wednesday, April 8, with tickets for the Round 32 and Quarter-Final matches on sale closer to the match dates. Full information can be found at MBTA.com/WorldCup.
Compared to driving, parking, and event-day traffic delays, Commuter Rail provides a predictable and more affordable way to travel to and from matches. The MBTA has been planning for over a year to support the 2026 World Cup matches held at Boston Stadium and to welcome soccer fans from around the globe to Massachusetts this summer. The agency has coordinated closely with Boston26, the Healey-Driscoll Administration, local municipalities, and Gillette Stadium/The Kraft Group to prepare for increased ridership and ensure a safe, reliable travel experience. “The MBTA is proud to have the opportunity to enable football fans from near and far to travel the Commonwealth, and we are ready to deliver unprecedented transit services to the seven World Cup matches held at Boston Stadium.
The Boston Gold Kings faced off against the Hudson Valley Reapers at the John A. Ryan Arena in Watertown on April 4. (Courtesy of the Boston Gold Kings)
When a team wins a championship and the dust settles on the celebration, and then the season begins anew, defending said championship becomes the number one storyline. Trying to defend/repeat can be motivating or it can be a burden, or sometimes a little of both.
Watertown’s own entry in the Power Play Senior Hockey League, the Boston Gold Kings, have spent the whole season up to this point believing they were better then last year’s championship squad, and that the challenge of repeating was all good. While the Gold Kings play has been up and down, and while penalties and a lack of discipline rendered their regular season inconsistent, the roster is full of good guys and equally good hockey players.
The Gold Kings finished the season in second place, and they won their best-of-three semifinal matchup with the Salem Sasquatch, two games to one. The elephant in the room though was the newest entry to the league, the Hudson Valley (NY) Reapers. Fast, strong, disciplined, good forecheckers and better passers, the Reapers stormed the league to the tune of 14-2 in the regular season, and a two-game sweep of their semifinal, where they outscored Holyoke 22-5. The Gold Kings played the Reapers as well as any in the regular season, winning one of two at home and playing well at Hudson Valley and in possession of leads in both games before falling to defeat. The Gold Kings have every right to believe they can play with the Reapers, and beat the Reapers, but it wouldn’t be easy. And it would require disciplined play, some puck luck, and a full 60-minute effort each night.
The league allows the higher seed to determine where Game 1 is played, and Hudson Valley chose to come to Watertown for Game 1, with games 2 and 3 (if necessary) in New York. For one period and all but 29 seconds of the second period, the Gold Kings were right where they wanted to be — defending their title and playing a brand of hockey that had them on the verge of taking Game 1. But something happened on the way to the locker room for the second period intermission, and the carry-over to the third turned an entertaining and suspenseful hockey game into a rout, with Hudson Valley ultimately taking Game 1 with a 7-2 victory. Game 2 is Saturday night April 11 in N.Y. at 7 p.m.
The Reapers are a quick-strike team, taking an innocent possession and turning it into a goal. After two weeks off, the Reapers didn’t look the least-bit rusty, and at 5:11 of the first period they turned good passing into a 1-0 lead. Eleven minutes later, they made it 2-0 as their number one line of Frack, Shepherd and Jackson worked their magic. When the Gold Kings Brandon Garneau was called for tripping 28 seconds later, it was as though a collective “oh oh” was heard from the Gold Kings fans.
What transpired next though changed the game for the next 19 minutes of play. Shorthanded, Tony DiCostanzo retrieved a puck that cleared the zone and eluded the Reapers pointmen. DiCostanzo flew towards Reapers goaltender Mike Rockwell, intent on turning the breakaway into a shorty to cut the lead in half. DiCostanzo was held just as he was about to shoot. While at first it seemed as though the referee signaled a penalty, instead he had signaled for a penalty shot. A huge moment in Game 1, indeed, and DiCostanzo was up to the task, deking Rockwell to his glove side and then switching to his backhand and lifting the puck into the net to make it Reapers 2, Gold Kings 1.
Defending Power Play Senior Hockey League Champs, the Boston Gold Kings, will open the finals by hosting the Hudson Valley Reapers on Saturday, April 4 at 4 p.m. at John A. Ryan Arena in Watertown. The Reapers have taken the PPSHL by storm in their first year in the league, going 14-2 and finishing in first place. The Gold Kings, who won the 2025 championship, finished in second with a record of 8-6-2 (with two overtime losses). During the season series, the Reapers won the first three games by at least two goals, but the Gold Kings skated to victory in the final matchup. “The championship series is set, and we open against the Hudson Valley Reapers.
Repeat after me – “The Boston Gold Kings are Defending Champions … The Boston Gold Kings are Defending Champions.” It’s an exercise I imagine most defending champions undertake. It’s a challenge winning it all, and even more so to repeat.
The Gold Kings started slow last year, but got themselves together come the playoffs, culminating with a sweep of top-seed Salem in the Finals. This year the Gold Kings believe strongly that they are a better team with a deeper and stronger roster. This regular season ended with the Gold Kings as the 2-seed and Salem as the 3-seed. They were separated by one point, and they split their four regular-season games, each winning once at the other’s rink. In Games 1 and 2 they split — and, you guessed it, they each one at the other’s rink. And so, on Saturday night at the JAR, Game Three of the best of three would not only determine the season series, it would send one team to the Finals. Without further adieu, I introduce you to the Defending Champion Boston Gold Kings, a 6-3 winner and still alive to repeat as champions.
There are many “truths” in baseball, and there are two among many when it comes to early-season Spring baseball games. Truth number one? Quite often the weather will be more suited to Football season. Truth number two? Very rarely will games be “clean.” In other words, there will be errors and base-running gaffes and pitchers who have trouble finding the strike-zone, and on and on. Most high school teams get relatively very little time outside prior to the regular season beginning, and just as little actual game action. All that said, Saturday’s home opener was a pretty darn good baseball game for Game 1 of the season, and despite all the above happening, the Raiders swung the bat, played decent baseball overall and received two quality pitching performances on the way to a 9-7 non-league win versus Fitchburg.
