SteepleCats Play Final Two Home Games Of 2018 Season This Week

NORTH ADAMS, Mass —With the NECBL regular season ending on August 1st, the 2018 SteepleCats will make their final appearances at Joe Wolfe Field this week with home games on Friday and Saturday.

Starting on Friday, the SteepleCats will take on the Danbury Westerners at 6:30. Their second matchup of the season, the SteepleCats look to even the season series as the Westerners pulled off a 9-3 victory over North Adams on the opening night of the season. Yet since then both of the teams have had their struggles throughout the season, coming into the game with similar records.

Then on Saturday, North Adams will host a rare doubleheader against their long-time rival in the Keene SwampBats. With their second meeting at Joe Wolfe Field being rained out twice, the teams will square off in two seven-inning games on Saturday with the first game starting at 3:30. With the playoffs out of reach, the SteepleCats will look to play spoilers as the SwampBats are of the three teams separated by half of a game fighting for the final two playoff spots.

Following Saturday’s game, the NECBL All-Star Game will take place at Mackenzie Stadium in Holyoke, MA on August 29th. First baseman Jackson Coutts and center fielder Jeffery Brown have been chosen to play on the Northern Division roster, as they both have been key contributors to the SteepleCats offense and defense all season long. However, the final Northern Division spot has been left to the fans to vote for. The SteepleCats are calling upon the fans to help vote infielder Joe Porricelli into the All-Star Game, as his bat and glove have been a major part in the North Adams lineup. Head to www.Vote18.NECBL.com to cast your vote.

MCLA Shows Off Mark Hopkins' Needs to Lieutenant Governor

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
05:26PM / Saturday, November 15, 2025

MCLA professor Maggie Clark says the outdated classrooms with their chalkboards aren't providing the technical support aspiring teachers need. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The outdated lockers are painted over, large air conditioners are in the windows, and professors are still using chalkboards and projectors in the classrooms.

 

The last significant work on Mark Hopkins was done in the 1980s, and its last "sprucing up" was years ago. 

 

"The building has great bones," President Jamie Birge told Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, as they stood in a third-floor classroom on Friday afternoon. "The envelope needs to be worked on, sure, but it's stable, so it's usable — but it just isn't usable in this form."

 

The "new" Mark Hopkins School opened in 1940 on Church Street and later became a campus school for what was then North Adams State Teachers College. There haven't been children in the building in years: it's been used for office space and for classrooms since about 1990. 

 

"I live in this building. Yeah, I teach the history of American education," said education professor Maggie Clark, joining officials as they laughed that the classroom was historical. 

 

"Projecting forward, we're talking about assistive technology, working with students with disabilities to have this facility as our emblem for what our foundation is, is a challenge."

 

Board of Trustees Chair Buffy Lord said the classroom hadn't changed since she attended classes there in the 1990s.