Rockets pick up two more wins over Braintree

May 23, 2025

With wins from baseball and boys lacrosse this week, Needham has defeated Braintree in every home matchup of the spring season. On Monday, (No. 43) baseball upset the (No. 8) Wamps in a 5-2 victory, and boys lacrosse coasted to a 16-3 win the following night.

The Rockets bested the Wamps in volleyball, girls lacrosse and softball earlier in the season. 

Baseball (4-10) got off to a hot start, putting up three runs in the first inning, thanks to a two-run double from Will O’Donnell, followed by an RBI single from his brother, Colin O’Donnell. Will Cassidy was effective for Needham on the mound in the second, third and fourth innings, allowing just one hit and walking two batters. The Rockets added to their 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth when Nolan Gannon hit a single into center field to bring pinch-runner Logan Layish home from second.

Cassidy ran into trouble in the fifth, giving up a one-run double to Sean Canavan. But he recovered to get the last out of the inning, and Needham added another run in the bottom half of the inning off an RBI single from George Mutrie to extend the lead back to four.

Austin Robinette replaced Cassidy on the mound in the sixth, giving up one run on an error to make the score 5-2, but he dealt in the top of the seventh, striking out Max King to end the game. Despite the windy conditions, Needham’s pitchers combined for five strikeouts, an impressive feat in the windy conditions, while the offense racked up seven hits.

With the win, the Rockets improved to 5-10 on the season, but dropped their next two games, making a postseason appearance unlikely. Their final game of the season will be on May 26 at Boston Latin Academy.

On Tuesday, (No. 12) boys lacrosse dominated the (No. 38) Wamps on senior night at Memorial Field. 

The Rockets held a 5-1 lead at the end of the first quarter, winning all but one faceoff, and playing strong defense. They added six more goals in the second quarter to take an 11-1 lead at halftime. Needham spread the offense around, with eight different players scoring, including seniors Tommy Barker, Charlie Cianciolo, Andrew Concannon, Reis Conway, Nick Sewall and Sam Treacy.

In the second half, Needham continued to dominate on faceoffs, and netted five more goals to make the final score 16-3, improving their regular season record to 11-7.

Sports anchor Ashleigh Tobin has the highlights from these games, and softball’s loss to Walpole, below:

The highlights above ran as part of the Needham Channel News, a weekly newscast airing on The Needham Channel every Thursday at 7:30pm. The Needham Channel News can be found on the Community Channel: Comcast 9, Astound 15 and Verizon 29. Most Thursdays it also can be viewed on our HD Channel on Verizon 2129, Astound 613 and streaming on this site.