The ultimate champions: Bishop Fenwick softball dominated locally and nationally in '90s
Matt Jenkins
In terms of amazing sports accomplishments, there's nothing that has happened on the North Shore over the last 25 years that tops the Bishop Fenwick softball team winning seven straight Division 1 state titles.
Between 1990 and 1996, the Crusaders rolled to seven Division 1 state titles while winning 40 consecutive tournament games in the process. With two more postseason wins in 1997, Fenwick holds the national high school softball record of 42 straight playoff victories.
Behind the leadership of coach Ed “Bud” Henry, the Crusaders mastered the slap bunt, a technique termed “Buddy Ball” that got the batter’s momentum moving toward first base while putting the ball in play.
They also used intimidation to their benefit, sometimes reading newspapers on the bench while the opposing team was warming up. Other times, the Crusaders would arrive just minutes before the scheduled first pitch of playoff games played at Wilmington’s Aprile Field — all in an effort to psych out their opponents, which usually worked.
“Thinking back on it, it never should have happened,” Henry said of his team’s unprecedented championship run. “I did some research of teams that were so-called dynasties and there were some that won three in a row and a bunch that won two in a row, but they usually did that with the same pitcher. We had four different pitchers (win titles), which is remarkable.”
The Crusader teams during that magical run were fundamentally sound. The winning tradition Henry built not only brought more talented players to Fenwick, but also gave the team the feeling that they would always find a way to win.
“Mr. Henry and all these adults, including my parents, would say, ‘You don’t understand what you guys are doing,’” former Fenwick third baseman Mary Wells said earlier this year. “We were like, ‘No, we’re winning games. That’s what we’re supposed to do.’”
To get a sense of their postseason dominance, Fenwick allowed only three runs in six tournament wins in 1996. In all, the Crusaders accumulated 15 shutouts during the streak.
No one felt the sting of losing to Fenwick more than Amherst Regional, which lost the state final three straight years (1993-95) to Henry’s teams. Fenwick also beat Agawam twice in the championship game (1990, ’95), while also beating Holy Name of Worcester (1992) and North Middlesex (1996).
The Crusaders’ run was stopped in a 1-0 loss to Woburn on June 12, 1997.
“I always had the (losing) speech ready,” Henry said. “As a staff, we knew it wasn’t supposed to happen. I never expected to go undefeated in a season, but I expected to win every game. We played so many good teams that I thought someone would beat us. That’s the way it is when you play a schedule like that.
“Going into a game, I never thought we’d lose. I always thought we could find a way to win.”
As far as the record goes, Henry doesn’t think this streak will ever be topped. He compares it to Joe DiMaggio’s Major League Baseball 56-game hit streak, set 57 years ago and never seriously challenged since then.
Who says records are meant to be broken?
“Do I think it will ever happen again? Dare I say no?,” said Wells, who won four state titles between 1991-94. “It will be a long, long time (if another team accomplishes a similar feat).
“You hate to say no — but now that I think about it, no. It’s too hard to do. And the beauty of it was that we were ignorant to it. We were just playing.”
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