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Patrick Renames Ceremonial Guard Unit to Honor 54th Mass

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BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick participated in a State House ceremony on Friday marking the redesignation of the Massachusetts National Guard Ceremonial Unit as the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment.

The unit was reorganized in honor of the state's famed 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first black regiment raised in the North during the Civil War and authorized by Gov. John Andrew in 1863. The regiment's best-known action was the charge on Battery Wagner in South Carolina, which killed its young leader Col. Robert Gould Shaw and saw the Medal of Honor awarded to Sgt. William Carney.


Photos courtesy governer's office

Gov. Deval Patrick awards campaign streamers Friday to Guard units for their duties in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo at a ceremony in Nurses Hall at the State House
The regiment was featured in the film "Glory" and memorialized in a bronze relief by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens a century ago.

The change was prompted by National Guard leader Maj. Gen. Joseph Carter, the first black to lead the Massachusetts National Guard, and designated by Patrick, the state's first black governor.

Patrick also awarded campaign streamers to 31 Massachusetts Army and Air National Guard units returning from service in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo.
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Pittsfield Little League Stays Alive at State Tournament

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com Sports
HOLDEN, Mass. – Less than 24 hours after committing three errors and allowing four earned runs in a 15-14 loss at the State Tournament, the Pittsfield Little League All-Stars returned to form.
 
Pittsfield was perfect in the field and got solid pitching and contributions up and down the lineup in a 7-2 win over Boxford to stay alive in the state’s “Final Four.”
 
On Saturday, Pittsfield gets a rematch against Bridgewater, which dropped a 5-2 decision to Roxbury’s Parkway in Friday’s late game.
 
The winner of Saturday morning’s game will face Parkway on Sunday for the right to represent Massachusetts at the New England Regional Championships and play for a trip to Williamsport, Pa.
 
“At the end of last night’s game, there were no hung heads,” Pittsfield coach Joe Skutnik said of the extra-inning loss in the tournament opener. “And they hit the ball [against Bridgewater], and they felt good about the way that the played.
 
“It was one bad inning that we could have put it away, but it didn’t happen. But they knew that. And today, they came out and kept hitting, and I like the way that we put the runs on at the end of the game.”
 
Pittsfield scored two runs in the bottom of the first and never trailed. It also answered both Boxford runs  in the fourth and fifth innings.
 
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