Coaching friendship lifts teams.

• Position: Sports

Back in 1980 when they first met, Sandy Robichaud and Doreen DiPilato had zero interest in golf. It was all about softball in those days.

On Flying Feet, their summer slow-pitch team, Robichaud played second base; DiPilato pitched and played first. And they both could hit.

But hitting a golf ball was fun too, and they segued from the diamond to the fairways, eventually becoming accomplished players, especially in the Worcester County Women's Golf Association.

"When I took up golf, I dropped softball right away,'' said Robichaud, the coach of the Westboro High girls' team.

"I thought golf was stupid. Not now, of course,'' said DiPilato, the first-year coach of the Wachusett Regional girls' golf team. She changed her opinion after catching the golf bug and playing many rounds with Robichaud throughout the area and even in Florida.

Besides coaching their high school golf teams, Robichaud and DiPilato have worked together for the past seven summers at the Juniper Hill Junior Golf Camps in Northboro.

Last week, on a chilly afternoon at Westboro Country Club, Robichaud and DiPilato were on opposing teams for the first time. And, in an amazingly close match, DiPilato's Mountaineers edged the Rangers by a single point: 271/2 to 261/2.

"We'll call this one the Juniper Cup,'' said Robichaud with a laugh.

As each high school golfer finished her round and entered the clubhouse to sign her scorecard and talk to the coaches, it was apparent that Robichaud and DiPilato are instilling their competitiveness and love of the sport.

Listen to some of the Rangers and Mountaineers talk about their favorite clubs and most memorable golf shots from their careers so far:

"I love my TaylorMade driver,'' said Wachusett junior Skyler Wolfe, who last year chipped in for par from 60 yards off the green on the 9th hole at Kettle Brook.

Westboro senior captain Barbara Bardhi, whose favorite club in her bag is her 3-wood, will never forget her birdie of 15 feet from the fringe of Westboro's 8th hole.

Wachusett's Erin Bugbee, a junior and another TaylorMade driver fan, recalled her eagle at Gardner Municipal's 16th in the North/Central/West championship tournament two years ago. The 16th is a par 4 for women, and Bugbee drove her tee shot to within four feet of the cup before sinking the putt for a deuce.

Although only a freshman, Westboro's Erica Ross plays in the No. 1 spot. She has played many different courses and says the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland is her...