Peter's Picks

‘Tis the season to spread the cheer. The Prunier brothers of Oxford added another championship trophy to their good name as they won the 2012 Oxford Jack Benny Softball League. Prunier Plumbing of Oxford was represented by the four Prunier brothers: Norman, Ken, Bill, and Ron. Great story for a solid sports family in the area. They had a blast playing and when you win at this stage of the game, it only makes the experience that much better. I don’t know of any brothers still playing competitive sports over 50 together, and add the fact of four brothers makes it even more amazing. Congratulations and keep drinking Ensure.

Another hoorah for Paul Lamontagne, Steve Zablocki, and Larry Kraczik for beating yours truly in "Beat Pete" on Thanksgiving Day.

Didn’t know that Lamontagne was an Uxbridge Spartan back in the day. I did know he was one of the better high school and American Legion baseball umpires in the state. Lamontagne had every big Central Mass. game back in the 70s and 80s and he was always a familiar face come tournament time. He rang me up in a legion game at Grafton in 1971 and I never argued. He was a great balls and strike umpire. Never drifted on his zone from the first inning to the ninth. Yes, all high school and legion games were nine inning affairs back then.

Zablocki is a former assistant football coach at Bartlett for then head coach Chris Nasis and is a big booster of the Tony Paranto’s Indian hoop program. Zablocki had the wisdom to pick all ten winners on turkey day and beat me on his Southbridge over Bartlett pick.

This Friday night, local boys’ hoop schedule has Monty Tech at Bay Path, Shepherd Hill at Millbury, Oxford at David Prouty, and Bartlett at Northbridge. Bartlett has a brutal December schedule with their first three games coming against Hopedale, Tantasqua, and Northbridge, all on the road and all three are going places in late February. Then the Indians host David Prouty, travel to Oxford, and host Shepherd Hill as they close December 2012. That’s a lot of runnin’ and gunnin’ in December.

Word has it that the Oxford Pirates are going to have a good winter on the hardwood and Shepherd Hill is in a slight rebuild after losing some key parts from last year’s tournament team.

Meghan Fornaro has graduated from Shepherd Hill and she scored 495 points for the Lady Rams last season. Shepherd Hill veteran coach Jim Hackenson has to replace Fornaro’s points and leadership. The Lady Rams went 16-6 and got beat by Holy Name in the District E District one semi finals at Clark University last year. Hackenson has been in this position before over his illustrious career that spans over four decades. Look for Hackenson’s team to get to the tournament in Division one again in February.