The Everett High baseball team will be shooting for at least a share of the Greater Boston League title when the Crimson Tide host Medford today (Wednesday) at 4:00 at Glendale Park.
Coach Joe Lento’s squad stands at 5-2 in the GBL entering the contest. Medford was 5-1 as of Monday and still had to play another GBL foe Monday. If Medford lost that contest, an outright GBL championship would be on the line today; if Medford won, Everett would be a co-titlist with a victory.
Lento will send his ace pitcher, junior Lawrence Falter, into the fray. Falter twirled a shutout for the Tide in a 5-0 Everett victory in the teams’ first meeting earlier this season.
In addition to securing at least a share of the GBL crown, a victory will guarantee a spot in the post-season MIAA state tournament for the Everett diamondmen. The Crimson Tide presently stand at 8-8 on the season with four games to play. An overall .500 record usually is necessary to punch a ticket for a journey to the tourney, but that goal also can be attained by winning a league title or finishing second in a league, both of which are possibilities for the Everett squad depending on the outcome of the other remaining GBL teams’ contests.
Everett got back to the .500 mark with a well-played 2-1 victory over Marblehead of the Northeastern Conference Sunday. EHS senior captain Michael Rossi turned in what Lento termed a “fantastic performance” on the mound, allowing just four hits and needing just 64 pitches over the seven-inning route, while walking none and fanning four.
Rossi yielded the lone Marblehead run of the game in the third, but the Tide soon took the lead with a two-run rally in the fourth thanks to a clutch, two-out, two-run base hit by Ken DeLourey that plated teammates Rossi and Bryan Bessler.
Everett kept its GBL title hopes alive last week with a 12-2 pounding of Malden on Wednesday. Falter went all seven frames on the hill and his teammates provided ample offensive support, keyed by a seven-run fourth that put the game away. Justin Johnson had three hits in the game and Rossi and DeLourey banged out two safeties apiece.
After today’s contest with Medford, Everett will host Bishop Fenwick tomorrow. The Tide then will play in a tournament in Peabody, taking on Andover Sunday and playing Monday against either the winner or loser of the other preliminary round game.
EHS softball team wins two key games
The Everett High softball team kept alive its hopes of qualifying for a berth in the post-season state tournament with a pair of impressive victories this past week.
Last Wednesday the Lady Crimson Tide edged their perennial Greater Boston League rival, Malden, in an exciting 6-5 contest on the local Lafayette St. field.
Everett got off to a fast start when Sophia Marchant led off with a home run. Samantha Uga followed with a base hit and promptly stole second and third. After Talia Mirra bunted safely and stole second, Everett pitcher Sydnee Bessler helped her own cause by rapping a double to bring home both teammates for a 3-0 Everett
Malden got on the board with an unearned run in the second frame and knotted matters in the third with two markers on three hits.
Everett broke the deadlock in the fifth with another three-run outburst. Bessler once again did herself a favor with a two-out double that brought in teammates Marchant (who had walked) and Diana Concannon (who had come into the game as a courtesy runner for Nicole Sylvester, who also had drawn a base on balls). Sydnee then scored what would prove to the game-winning run when a fly ball by Mirra to shallow center was mishandled by the Malden girl.
Malden made a last-ditch effort in the seventh to tie the game which proved to be rather harrowing for the Lady Crimson Tide. Two Everett errors and two Malden base hits produced two runs and placed the tying run on second with one out. Bessler bore down and fanned the next Malden batters for the second out. Marchant then made the defensive play of the game when she ran down a blooper behind second base to prevent the possible game-tying base hit and preserve the victory.
Bessler was superb on the mound in her route-going effort, allowing eight hits and three earned runs while fanning nine Malden hitters.
“This was a great game to watch,” said EHS head coach Stacy Poste. “The girls came out right away with the bats, which we had not seen for a long time. There is something about the rivalry between Malden and Everett that makes for an interesting game always. Both pitchers did an unbelievable job and Nicole Sylvester did a great job behind the plate getting to passed balls to stop runners from scoring. The girls were excited from the beginning of the game that carried throughout the entire game. We knew we could beat Malden because the last time we had played them, we lost 3-0 on errors. Coach Furlong has always had a great team and both teams played to their potential.”
Two days previously, the Lady Crimson Tide took the measure of another Greater Boston League rival, Cambridge, with a tight 2-0 victory.
Bessler was the main story for Everett, striking out 14 enemy batters and allowing just three hits while walking only two.
Everett’s first run came in the second via a hit-batter (Talia Riccioli) and three walks, the last being drawn by Erica Ginepra to bring in Riccioli. The Lady Crimson Tide gave Bessler an insurance run in the fourth when Ginepra again walked and came around on base hits by Uga and Mirra,
“This again was not a hitting game for us,” said Poste. “We had some help from their pitcher by getting on by walks. There were opportunities to score more, but hits were not produced. Sydnee pitched another great game with 14 strike outs.”
Bessler now has 117 strikeouts on the season and has allowed just 19 earned runs for an ERA of about 1.50.
Poste and her crew must win three of their remaining six games in order to punch a ticket for a journey to the tourney. They were scheduled to take on Swampscott Monday; trek to Latin Academy yesterday (Tuesday); travel to Medford today; host Marblehead tomorrow; play at Masconomet Friday; and journey to Lexington on the holiday Monday.
Boys, girls track teams compete in GBL Meet
Thje Everett High girls and boys outdoor track and field teams competed in last week’s Greater Boston League Meet.
The top scorer for the girls was Djenny Lorjuste, who finished in second place in the 200 dash in 28.40 seconds. Djenny also took the fourth place medal in the long jump with a leap of 14’-1.5” and led off the 4 x 100 relay team that took fifth place in a clocking of 61.15.
Sabrina Moreta placed in two events with a fourth in the 200 dash in 29.46 and a fifth in the high jump with her leap of 4’-4”. Sabrina also anchored the 4 x 100 quartet.
Annie Pierreville finished in third place in the discus with a throw of 81’-3”. Sixth place ribbons were earned by Megan Eugene in the 100 dash in 14.29 and by Laurynns Joseph in the 400 dash in 69.18.
Joseph and Cheryl Steeves were the other two members of the 4 x 100 squad. The Everett 4 x 400 relay team that ran a 5:11.16 consisted of Brianna Gutierrez, Vanessa Cazeau, Jessseline Alvarado, and Sharyn Gladstone. The 4 x 800 foursome of Kayla Mangan, Michelle Rodriguez, Prima Prajapati, and Patsy Arraujo-Arrechea turned in a time of 13:41.76.
On the boys’ side, Darren Portillo was the top individual finisher with a third place performance in the discus with a toss of 103’-3” and a sixth in the shotput with a heave of 33’-2.25”.
The 4 x 100 quartet of Fritzbert Jonathas, Lucas Tejada, Edwin Gonzalez, and Lorentz Etienne took third place in 47.72. The 4 x 400 squad of Jason Hansen, Alex Leandro-Soto, Carlos Acevedo, and Raphen Vidal took fourth place in 4:02.78, as did the 4 x 800 foursome of Alex Burgos, Edgardo Escamilla, Janais Jean-Louis, and Michael Traill in a time of 10:30.
Gonzalez took a fourth in the 400 dash in 57.26; Acevedo took fifth in that race in 58.47; and Hansen took sixth in the 400 in 58.96.
Vidal finished fifth in the 800 in 2:13.11 and Jose Innocent grabbed a fifth place medal in the high jump with his leap of 5’-2”.
“For both the boys and girls teams, we didn’t place as a team where I had thought we would,” said EHS head coach Shelanda Irish. “It was a culmination of points lost in certain events where we should have scored. It’s at a meet like the league championships in particular, where we want everyone to go out there and perform in the manner we expect them to and for some, they came up short.
“On the other side of that,” added Irish, “we had some kids have personal records in their respective events which was great to see.”
The EHS teams were set to compete in the postponed State Relays Monday and some will take part in the Last Chance Meet (for qualifying for the State Meet) Saturday.