Sports

It is back to work for Walt Bell and his University of Massachusetts football coaching staff. For the Minutemen players, not so much.

DALTON — It felt good to be home for Wahconah on Wednesday night.

A school year unlike any other could be taking another twist for Berkshire County, and Massachusetts high school athletes.

University of Massachusetts men’s basketball coach Matt McCall finds himself in pretty rarefied air this week. McCall, now in his fourth season in Amherst, is listed by The Athletic as one of college basketball’s 40 under 40.

When Matt Karpowicz graduated from Williams College in June, he did not have a job lined up.

Bobby Kinne had a pretty good seat as the Tampa Bay Rays won the American League Championship Series on Saturday night. He was inside the Rays’ replay room at Petco Park.

Runners from Lenox High School, who would normally be competing in their fall cross-country season, joined around 400 others from across Massachusetts in a race on Sunday.

When the members of the University of Massachusetts football program walked off the field in Statesboro, Ga., Saturday night, they did not know if they would get a chance to play another game. That answer came Monday, and while it won't be for another 19 days, it will be happening.

In the aftermath of what could be one of several games — or one of one — University of Massachusetts football coach Walt Bell will have a lot to look at and evaluate. That’s kind of what this “free” football season could end up doing for the Minutemen.

WILLIAMSTOWN — For an hour over the weekend, hybrid schooling schedules, a lost spring and bizarre summer faded to the background and smiles shot to the forefront on the cross-country course at Mount Greylock.

Kickoff returns, at least in the National Football League, are on the verge of becoming extinct, what with kickers regularly booming the ball into — or out of the end zone.

The University of Massachusetts will be appealing a ruling by the NCAA that could erase 59 wins from men’s basketball and an Atlantic 10 Conference women’s tennis title.

Ultimately, football games are judged by the stat sheet and the scoreboard. Judging by both, it was a rough opening day for the University of Massachusetts.

Snowmobiles weren’t very popular some 55 years ago, but a young Jim Wilkinson thought they looked like fun.

The voice at the other end of the telephone laughed after the question was asked. After all, Dave O’Brien still hasn’t seen a sporting event from inside a press box.

Readers may remember an article I ran on May 23, 2020 about Bill Hollister of Valatie, N.Y. and his rare feat of bagging a tom turkey in New York State in 2018 with rare triple spurs. A bird with triple spurs is almost unheard of, as there are only two reports of birds with triple spurs — on…

Less than a month ago, the members of the University of Massachusetts football program had little to look forward to in the fall. Not having a schedule will do that.

If you are a sports fan, Berkshire County may be as good a place as any to live in the next several years. That’s because, no matter which way you turn, you will be able to attend NCAA Division I tournament events.

On the calendar, the high school basketball season is still more than a month away. That doesn’t mean plans aren’t being put together for the potential of a winter season.

To say that the 2020 college football season has been unlike any other could be a massive understatement. Just ask Georgia Southern football coach Chad Lunsford.

There are three names at the quarterback position on the University of Massachusetts football depth chart. As of midweek, head coach Walt Bell isn’t ready to publicly commit to one.

If the Lenox girls and Mount Greylock boys are successful in defending their MIAA state Nordic skiing championships in 2021, they’ll do it in a different location.

Pittsfield’s Jaden Keefner is looking to follow in the footsteps of a number of Pittsfield and Berkshire County football players as he tries to take a leap from prep school to college football.

Two prominent Berkshire School hockey alumni have signed new contracts with National Hockey League teams.

The Valley Storm 14U softball team won its first two games of the weekend before dropping the backend of a doubleheader against the Western Mass. Heat on Sunday.

DALTON — With one week of a unique cross-country season under their belts, some of Berkshire County's top runners tested their mettle on Warrior Hill at Wahconah on Saturday.

WILLIAMSTOWN — It was a good day to be a golfer from Mount Greylock or Wahconah. It was a great day, just to be a golfer.

Duncan Robinson and the Miami Heat beat the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of the NBA Finals Friday night. That forced last night’s Game 6.

Berkshire Lacrosse Club competes in Connecticut

Futures League commissioner Joe Paolucci just guided his league through a truncated 10th-anniversary season. Having done that, the commissioner is excited about the future.

“Taconic Trail” is the name of Route 2 as it passes up and over Petersburg Pass. Another way to get over the Taconic Mountains was Berlin Mountain Road (sometimes known as Bee Hill and sometimes as Torrey Woods roads), which was designated in 1799 as the Williamstown Turnpike, a segment of t…

In his Oct. 1 report to the Berkshire County League of Sportsmen, (BCLS) DFW Western District supervisor Andrew Madden reported that the preliminary harvest figure for the September bear hunting season, which ended on Sept. 26, was approximately 233 bears.

The University of Massachusetts will, in fact, play football this fall.

The New England Small College Athletic Conference has voted unanimously to cancel NESCAC conference competition for the winter season, while Williams College moved to pull the plug on winter sports in their entirety.

Andrew Brito made his Divison I-FBS debut in “garbage” time of the University of Massachusetts’ season-opening 2019 loss at Rutgers.

GREAT BARRINGTON — Country Club of Pittsfield head professional Eric Mabee did not get to play as much competitive golf this season as he might have liked. In the final Northeastern New York PGA event of the season, Mabee made this one count.

PITTSFIELD — Just over a year ago, Williams College graduates Sam Goldenring and Will Kannegieser were in a playoff at the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball qualifier at the Springfield Country Club.

It wasn’t a game, but a fully-padded scrimmage was the next best thing for the University of Massachusetts football team.

PITTSFIELD — It was getting dark, and when Steve Sykes lined up his par putt on the second playoff hole, it could have cost his team a shot at the co-championship in the Berkshire Hills Country Club Fall Classic.

The fallout from the proposed realignment of Minor League Baseball could have an effect on North Adams and Pittsfield.

Chris Conroy is biding his time in Tampa, Fla., as he gets ready for his next assignment in what has been a baseball season to remember.