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Billerica Memorial High School Softball

Billerica Memorial High School Softball is the girls' softball program of Billerica Memorial High School and, before 1955, of Howe High School. Girls played softball at Howe by the early 1940s, the town's high school girls had an interscholastic team by the 1950s, and Barbara L. Hood coached it from the 1950s to about 1970. In the Merrimack Valley Conference the Indians won league titles in the early 1990s under Josie McCafferty and Patty Higgins, and under Mrs. Higgins, head coach from 1993 into the 2020s, they won the North Sectional title of 1997, the Division 1 North title of 2000 and further conference championships in 2014 and 2016.

Softball began at Howe High School as a spring sport for girls in the physical education program. Willa F. Pasho, in her first year as physical director of the Billerica schools, reported in 1940 that "in the spring soft ball will continue. There are already many enthusiasts of this sport. It is expected that a team will compete against other high schools." In the yearbook of 1947 several senior girls list "Softball 3, 4" among their activities, and in later Howe yearbooks softball is one of the sports of the Girls' Athletic Association, which in 1957 offered "every girl in high school an opportunity to take part in some sport, field hockey, volley ball, basketball, softball, or badminton," with points toward an award for the senior girl with the most. The school physician's report for 1955 counts 30 girls examined for softball, beside 36 boys for baseball.

The interscholastic team appears in the yearbook of 1958, the first of the new Billerica Memorial High School: "The girls softball team had an excellent year last year when they won seven of their eight games," with wins over Tewksbury, North Andover, Acton, Burlington, Chelmsford, Dracut and Wilmington in 1957 and a single loss to North Andover. Its coach was Barbara L. Hood, a physical education teacher at Howe from 1953 who moved to the new high school in 1955 and also coached girls' basketball and field hockey. The superintendent's report for 1960 lists Miss Hood as softball coach and notes that "the girls program on the interscholastic level also includes field hockey and softball," the school then belonging to the Lowell Suburban League. In 1961 the team went 6-4-2 overall and 4-2 in the league. Miss Hood's teams went 5-3 in 1960, won only one game in 1962 and went 8-1 in 1963, and the yearbooks show her with the team through the 1960s; a senior of 1970 remembered "varsity and softball with Miss Hood." A scholar athlete award at the high school later carried her name.

The 1973 yearbook wrote that "softball may seem like a 'nothing' sport to some people. But to us, it is as important as any of the other sports. We may not have come out in first place but we did try and we did have a winning season." The 1973 team, made up mostly of underclassmen, went 4-6, and seniors of 1975 and 1976 remembered first place and a tournament in the seasons of 1974 and 1975. The town's own fields for girls' softball date from the same years: in 1975 the Park Department reported that "the new softball field (for Girls)" at Lampson Memorial Field should be ready the next summer.

The team of the late 1980s struggled in the Merrimack Valley Conference: 3-14 in 1987, and only three wins in 1988 and two in 1989 under coach Linda McLaughlin. The 1990 team, 6-11, finished second in the conference's Large School Division and "advanced to the state tournament for the first time in ten years," losing 3-2 to Peabody. The 1991 team won the Large School title, beat Greater Lowell 12-3 in the first round of the state tournament and lost 6-3 to the defending state champion, Bishop Fenwick. Under Josie McCafferty the 1992 team went 16-4, shared the Merrimack Valley title and beat Melrose in the tournament before losing to Haverhill.

Patty Higgins became head coach in 1993 and led the team for three decades. Her first team went 14-4 and won the school's third straight conference title. The 1996 team won the Merrimack Valley title and lost 1-0 to Woburn in extra innings in the third round of the state tournament, and the yearbook called Mrs. Higgins "Coach of the Year." In 1997 a 12-8 team beat Lexington, the second seed Everett 2-0, Chelmsford 1-0 and Woburn to become North Sectional champions, "the farthest any softball team in the history of Billerica has gone," and finished 16-9. The 1999 team went 15-5 and Mrs. Higgins was again named Coach of the Year, and the team of 2000 won the Division I North championship with victories over Andover, Woburn, Bishop Fenwick and Lowell.

A playing field of its own came with the high school's new athletic fields. The fall Town Meeting of 1997 took up an article of Selectman Edward J. Hurd and the Senior Baseball and Softball Field Committee for $120,000 to build a senior league baseball field and "one (1) competition grade girls' softball field at the Billerica Memorial High School," and a later meeting changed the wording to fields "on Billerica Public School athletic fields." The 2004 yearbook called "the Hall of Fame Field" the team's "new home," and seniors of 2017 and 2019 remembered their games "at the Barbara Hood" and "the memories at the hood." The school's ball fields are among the Billerica Memorial High School Athletic Fields on the back land of the high school.

After 2000 the team had losing seasons of 7-13 in 2001 and 4-14 in 2006 and squeezed into the 2002 tournament at 10-10. In 2007 it went 12-8, beat the third seed Everett in the first round of the Division 1 tournament and lost 3-0 to Beverly, and in 2008, again 12-8, it reached the Division 1 North final. The school reported Merrimack Valley Conference championships in softball in 2014 and in 2015-16, and in 2017 the team was runner-up in the Division 1 North sectional final. Mrs. Higgins won her 300th game on April 23, 2022, in her 29th year as head coach, and the next day her team beat Arlington Catholic 13-3 for the Krystle Campbell Memorial Tournament championship; that spring the Indians were the top seed in the Division 2 state tournament. The 2023 team was 18-2 and the second seed in Division 2. In 2026 Billerica, 13-7 and the 17th seed in Division 1, lost 4-3 at Braintree in the first round.

The team's history runs alongside the other athletic programs of the school, among them Billerica Memorial High School Football and Billerica Memorial High School Hockey; the town's youth program, the Billerica Girls Softball Association, has given scholarships to graduating players in memory of Don Donati, for whom Donati Field is named.

Billerica Memorial High School girls' varsity softball by season, from town reports, Howe and Warrior yearbooks and news reports. Records are as printed; blank cells are not known, and seasons with no surviving information are omitted.
Season	Head coach	League	Record	League finish	Tournament result	Notes
1957			7-1			Scores printed in the 1958 yearbook
1959	Barbara L. Hood					Coach Hood named in the 1959 yearbook
1960	Barbara L. Hood	Lowell Suburban League	5-3
1961	Barbara L. Hood	Lowell Suburban League	6-4-2 (league 4-2)			Superintendent's report; the 1962 yearbook gives 6-3
1962	Barbara L. Hood		1 win
1963	Barbara L. Hood		8-1
1968	Barbara L. Hood					Team pictured with "Miss Hood, Coach"
1969	Barbara L. Hood
1973			4-6			Team largely of underclassmen
1987		Merrimack Valley Conference	3-14
1988	Linda McLaughlin	Merrimack Valley Conference	3-15			Record from the printed scores
1989	Linda McLaughlin	Merrimack Valley Conference	2-16			Record from the printed scores; lost a twelve-inning game to Chelmsford
1990		Merrimack Valley Conference	6-11	2nd, Large School Division	Lost 3-2 to Peabody	First state tournament in ten years; 27-5 win over Chelmsford
1991		Merrimack Valley Conference	15-3	1st, Large School Division	Beat Greater Lowell 12-3; lost 6-3 to Bishop Fenwick	Record as given in the yearbook text
1992	Josie McCafferty	Merrimack Valley Conference	16-4	Co-champion	Beat Melrose; lost to Haverhill
1993	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference	14-4	1st	State tournament	Third straight conference title
1994	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference	8-12			Record from the printed scores
1995	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference	10-10		State tournament	Beat Haverhill, "the number three seeded team in the state," 7-3 in eight innings
1996	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference		1st	Lost 1-0 in extra innings to Woburn in the third round	Higgins named Coach of the Year
1997	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference	16-9 (12-8 regular season)		North Sectional champions	Beat Lexington, Everett 2-0, Chelmsford 1-0 and Woburn
1998	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference	14-5	3rd	Lost to Chelmsford	Record from the printed scores; the text gives 11-4 and 10-3 in the league
1999	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference	15-5		Lost to North Reading in the first round	Higgins named Coach of the Year
2000	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference			Division I North champions	Beat Andover, Woburn, Bishop Fenwick and Lowell
2001	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference	7-13		Did not qualify
2002	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference	10-10		Qualified
2004	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference			Did not qualify	"New home," the Hall of Fame Field
2006	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference	4-14
2007	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference	12-8		Beat Everett; lost 3-0 to Beverly, Division 1
2008	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference	12-8		Reached the Division 1 North final
2014		Merrimack Valley Conference		Champion
2016		Merrimack Valley Conference		Champion
2017		Merrimack Valley Conference			Runner-up, Division 1 North final
2018	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference
2019	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference
2022	Patty Higgins	Merrimack Valley Conference			No. 1 seed, Division 2	Krystle Campbell Memorial Tournament champions; Higgins's 300th win
2023		Merrimack Valley Conference	18-2 before the tournament		No. 2 seed, Division 2
2024		Merrimack Valley Conference	7-13 before the tournament		No. 25 seed, Division 2
2026		Merrimack Valley Conference	13-7 before the tournament		Lost 4-3 at Braintree in the Division 1 first round	No. 17 seed

Billerica Memorial High School Softball

Billerica Memorial High School Softball

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