Lynnfield High already has one state championship in the record book in 2023-2024. Last fall, the boys soccer team won its first in program history, bringing a state championship trophy back to Lynnfield for the first time since the girls tennis team won its fifth title in 2014.
Don’t look now, but this spring, the Pioneers are knocking on the door again and may be on the verge of polishing off a historic season that may necessitate adding another trophy case to those already in place at the high school.
Think multiple state championships as real possibilities, starting with the boys tennis and baseball teams.
The 18-2 baseball team has been the top-ranked team in Division 4 for the better part of a month. Heading into the tournament, the Pioneers have the best average margin of victory in the division among teams with winning records. Truth be told, as that number is capped at five runs per game, it doesn’t begin to tell the story of the extent of the Pioneers’ overall dominance.
Going into Friday’s Brendan Grant tournament, the Pioneers had outscored opponents by a whopping 134-33 margin. They’d allowed two or fewer runs in 13 games, including 11 of their last 12 games. It was more of the same at the Grant where the Pioneers defeated two tough Division 2 Middlesex teams in Reading and Burlington to complete a tri-peat.
The Division 4 No. 1 ranked Pioneers’ tennis team (15-1) has been on cruise control for most of the season. With the exception of a 5-0 loss to St. John’s Prep, the top ranked team in Division 1, the Pioneers are undefeated and have dropped only six sets the whole year, four of them to Swampscott, a Division 3 team they will not see in the tournament.
Another team the Pioneers won’t see is Weston. Five times in the last five year’s tournaments have been held, the Pioneers have been eliminated by the Wildcats, the last two years in the Division 4 state final. This year, the Pioneers received a first-round bye and will play the winner of Wednesday’s match between No. 32 Turners Falls and No. 33 Mashpee.
Girls tennis (12-6) checks in at No. 3 in Division 4. This year marks the 41st straight season the Pioneers have made the tournament (not including the 2020 season when there were no tournaments due to COVID). However, their road to what would be a sixth state title is dotted with CAL powerhouses, starting with two-time defending state champion No. 1 ranked Hamilton-Wenham and No. 2 Manchester-Essex, the team that ended the Pioneers’ run last year with a 4-1 win in the Final Four. The Pioneers earned a first-round bye in the tournament and will play the winner of Wednesday’s match between No. 30 Winthrop and No. 35 Greenfield.
The boys lacrosse team won its first league title in 15 years when head coach Pat Lamusta was on the team. The Pioneers (14-3) check in at No. 4, thereby ensuring home-field advantage through the quarterfinals.
The only two teams with sub-500 records this spring are girls lacrosse and softball, but both teams enjoy favorable rankings due to their strength of schedules. Lacrosse (9-11), ranked No. 13, has surprised – especially some of the most acclaimed lacrosse programs in Eastern Massachusetts, including the likes of 2023 Division 3 state champion Newburyport, as well as Winchester and Melrose, two teams that the Pioneers actually held leads against.
The No. 16 softball team (8-12) has had its ups and downs. But when the Pioneers have played clean defense, they’ve hung with the best of them and could be a big surprise in the postseason.
And then there is track, a team that continues on a record-setting streak. Just last weekend at the Division 5 state championship, the boys set another new school record in the 4×100 relay. Keep your eyes on the Pioneers for more of the same this weekend when they head to Fitchburg State University for the MIAA Meet of Champions.
There’s one sure thing about the 2024 tournament season. With four teams ranked in the top-four with home-field advantage through the Round of 8, the place to be is Lynnfield High if you want to watch your Pioneers embark on a journey that hopes to end the way it did last fall – with a state championship or two.
Or three, or four, and maybe, maybe more.
