EHS Spring Sports Weekly Notebook

From the diamonds to the courts

 

By Joe McConnell

 

After loss to Revere, Tide softball hammers Bulldogs

After a surprising home 13-7 loss to Revere last Friday, April 10, the Everett High School softball team (2-1) bounced right back to defeat Lynn English on the road handily, 24-11.

“It was a close game (against Revere) until we had to pull our pitcher due to injury,” said coach Stacy Schiavo. “The bats did show up to put together some solid offense, but too many defensive errors ended up costing us.”

Mia Allen pitched the first five innings, giving up seven hits, six walks and six earned runs, before leaving the game with an injury. She struck out four. Victoria Cutler (5 hits, 1 walk, 4 earned runs, 1 strikeout) tossed the final two frames.

Revere got untracked early with two runs in the top of the first, but the Crimson Tide went ahead with three in the home half. Arianna Osorio-Bonilla got it going by getting on base via an error, and immediately created havoc with two stolen bases, before scoring on a hit by Olivia Dresser. Juliette Romboli and Kyleigh Ridlon followed with hits that produced the team’s second run. Romboli then alertly came home on a passed ball to give her teammates the lead.

But unfortunately, Revere retook the lead with two in the second and added one more in the third. The Tide, however, tied up the proceedings again at five with three in the bottom half.

Romboli ignited the rally by hustling to second after the visitors overthrew first base. She went on to third on a passed ball, before scoring on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Ridlon. McKenzie Rivera followed with a two-out single. Bianca Moran kept the threat going with a walk, and Meghan Comerford tied things up with a base hit.

The Patriots added another run in the fourth to retake the lead, plus two more in the fifth to increase the margin of difference to three. They then put the game out of reach with five in the sixth.

The Everett girls, refusing to give up, produced two more runs in the home half. Osorio-Bonilla and Dresser began this rally with singles, and they eventually came home on errors to account for the final score.

Against the Bulldogs, Cutler was in the circle. She went six innings, allowing four hits, 10 walks, and nine earned runs. She fanned three.

“Victoria (Cutler) really gave us everything she had (against Lynn English),” said Schiavo. “Early on, when (the Bulldogs) were hitting the ball, we struggled a bit to settle in, but I’m proud of how we found our groove as the game went on. We faced some adversity when a player had to leave the game with a sprained ankle. We had to move players around, while also making adjustments on the fly. But the response was great to see. We got big hits from Ariana Osorio-Bonilla, Olivia Dresser, Juliette Romboli, McKenzie Rivera, Bianca Moran-Leal and Lindsey Sylva. Everyone stepped up in this game, when we needed them.”

The game was tied at five after one. Osorio-Bonilla and Comerford scored the first runs on passed balls. Sylva tripled in another run, and later scored on another passed ball. Ridlon crossed the plate on an overthrow.

But Lynn English tied the game up quickly when they came to plate on walks, errors and just one hit.

Romboli gave her teammates the lead again with a three-run homer in the second. McKenzie Rivera then singled, stole second and moved to third on a passed ball, before Bianca Moran-Leal reached on an error that scored Rivera with the ninth Everett run. They added five more in the third.

The highlights of that inning were when Rivera doubled in two, before going to third on a passed ball, and scoring on a hit by Moran-Leal. The Bulldogs then trimmed the deficit to three with six runs in the fourth.

The visitors got one back in the fifth, when Breann Jasmin reached first on an error, moved to second on a fielder’s choice and to third on a passed ball, before scoring on a single by Moran-Leal.

The Tide scored their final nine runs in the sixth. Dresser singled in a run. Jasmin doubled home a run. Morgan Salvi drew a bases loaded walk to account for another run. Osorio-Bonilla singled in two. Comerford also walked with the bases loaded to produce the sixth run of the inning. Dresser (1) and Romboli (2) were responsible for the final three Everett RBI in the inning. They both had singles to keep the momentum going in a positive direction.

Cutler and the Everett defense then held English scoreless in the home half to end the game, because of the mercy rule.

Since then, the Everett girls took on host Chelsea on April 15 after press deadline, before facing non-league Triton on the road in Byfield on Friday, April 17, at 4 p.m. They will then be at Medford (April 21, 4:15 p.m.) and Lynn Classical (April 23, 10 a.m.) to face those two Greater Boston League (GBL) rivals during spring school vacation week.

 

Tide baseball beats Lynn English to secure first win

After dropping their first five games of the season, the young and improving Everett High baseball team edged visiting Lynn English, 6-4 on April 13.

Coach Malik Love’s lineup this year consists of three freshmen – Luke Wood, Louis Quintanilla and Christian Bruno, and one sophomore – M. J. Guida – but they appear to be adjusting quite nicely to varsity life early on in the season. “We have a young team this year, but after only a couple of weeks, they seem to be adjusting quite nicely to a full seven-inning game,” said Love.

In that win against English, junior Derek Soper picked up his team’s first triumph after throwing 124 pitches over seven innings. Soper struck out nine, and gave up just one earned run. He also contributed to the offense, walking with the bases loaded to account for one of Everett’s six runs, while knocking in two more as a result of an error.

Wood and Quintanilla doubled home one run apiece. Guida singled in a run. Junior Tyler Freni and senior Charlie Govostes each singled once.

The Everett boys were back on the Glendale diamond on Wednesday, April 15, to take on Chelsea after press deadline to close out the week. During spring school vacation week, they have home games against Medford (April 21, 10 a.m.) and Lynn Classical (April 23, 10 a.m.).

 

Girls lacrosse doubles up Malden in home opener

After three games, the Everett High girls lacrosse team, now in its second year, has a record of 1-2, and coach Nicola Jones couldn’t be prouder of the effort to date. After losing to host Somerville, 12-1 in the opener on April 7, they returned home to 7-Acres for the first time this year two days later to double up Malden, 10-5. However, they began a new week on Monday, April 13, by getting dominated by non-league host Cambridge, 19-1.

Nicole Damaceno, Amanda Verteiro and Lindsey Cherichel-Paul are this year’s captains. “They have set a positive tone with their energy, leadership and heart that the whole team is (now picking up),” said Jones.

Verteiro scored the team’s lone goal against the Highlanders. “Even in defeat, we showed resilience, while also learning from this experience,” said Jones.

In the Malden game, Verteiro led the way on offense with four goals. Damaceno had the hat trick. Isabela Bicalho and Isabella Jimenez each contributed two scores. At the other end of the field, goalie Briana Sequeira was the leader on defense.

“After beating Malden, we then had to endure a difficult game against Cambridge, playing with only two substitutes,” said Jones.

Despite that challenge, Jones singled out Damaceno, Cheriichel-Paul, Verteiro, Samantha P. Lemus, Jacky Ramos and Isabella Aguirre Jimenez for keeping their heads up, while competing hard and supporting one another. The coach also praised goalies Allia Polynice and Sequeira for never losing their positive attitudes, despite the number of shots that they had to face during the entire game.

“Overall, I’m encouraged by the leadership, effort and the team-first mentality that’s already showing throughout the roster,” said Jones. “We’ll keep on working, while still having fun in order to have a meaningful season (that translates into) more success.”

The Tide closed out this week at Medford yesterday, April 16, after press deadline. They will then play host to non-league Lowell (April 21) and Somerville (April 23) back at 7-Acres over school vacation week. Both games will begin at 10 a.m.

 

Volleyball team falls to English in competitive matchup

Coach Mike Fineran’s volleyball team, now 1-5, lost to Lynn English at home last Wednesday, April 8, 3-1, and to host Somerville on the road to begin a new week on April 13, 3-0.

“Somerville had the height advantage, and they used it against us,” said Fineran. “They also returned a number of players from last year’s varsity team, so we knew we would have to play our best.”

The Tide was trailing early, and ended up losing 25-10 in the first set. But after that, they fought much harder, and had a couple of chances to take the second set, only to come up short, 27-25. In the third set, the visitors lost the first four points, and unfortunately never recovered.

Despite the loss, there were highlights. Matheus Teixeira Fernandes led the way with five kills. Captain Christian Ramirez returned after missing last week’s matches, and came up big on defense.

Last week’s match against Lynn English was much closer. “We had opportunities to take more sets, but couldn’t sustain our attack long enough to come away with a win,” said Fineran. “We found ourselves down early, losing the opening set, 25-16, but were much better in the second set, losing by just two, 26-24. We followed that up with a 25-19 win, only to come up short in the fourth set, 23-22.”

Senior captain Victor Rosa helped power the attack with four kills. Teixeira Fernades topped that with nine. Junior Akush Gurung had seven. Junior Adam Bousbaa led the team in serves with 21, while also chipping in with three kills. Sophomore Danilo Teixeira Fernandes served 16 times, and senior Noel Lopez Ardon was credited with 13. He also had a kill from the setter’s spot.

Following the Somerville encounter earlier this week, the Everett boys were at Revere on Wednesday and Lynn Tech on Thursday after press deadline. During spring school vacation week, they will host Medford on April 21 at 11:15 a.m., before heading to Malden the next day to take on the Golden Tornadoes at 11:30 a.m.

 

Girls tennis foresees better days ahead

The EHS girls tennis team opened up its season last week with three non-league losses against Lowell (April 6), Mystic Valley (April 8) and Saugus (April 9). As the weather gets warmer, Coach Courtney Meninger expects better results.

“Although it might take some matches to build up our confidence, there is a lot of potential throughout the lineup,” said Meninger. “With continued hard work and player development, we look to (be) stronger as the season progresses.”

Junior captain Brigette Parada, junior Trina Le, Sophia Hernandez, Thy Phanhang and senior Amelia McNally are the team’s returning players, and they are alongside many newcomers that are quickly learning the game, while also gaining valuable varsity experience.

“We have a strong showing of girls, who want to learn the game of tennis,” said Meninger. The veteran coach understands that there will be growing pains in the early going.

Against host Lowell, the Tide got shutout, 5-0. They then opened up the home season at Rosetti Park against Mystic Valley, only to lose the close match, 3-2.

Parada secured a solid first singles victory in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1. In second singles, Le turned in a competitive effort, coming up short, 4-6, 0-6.

Phanhang delivered a hard-fought win in third singles. After taking the first set, 6-4, and dropping the second set, 6-0, she showed resilience by battling back to win a tightly contested third set tiebreaker, 7-5 that secured her first varsity triumph.

Ashley Pineda and McNally, playing first doubles, lost 1-6, 1-6. Newcomers Luna Sepulveda and Abby Falkowski also came up short, despite an impressive performance in only their second match together.

Back on the road against Saugus, the Everett girls were blanked again, 5-0.

After taking on host Malden on Wednesday, April 15, after press deadline, the Tide returns to Rosetti on Friday, April 17, to go up against Somerville at 4 p.m. During spring school vacation week, they will play host to Lynn Classical (April 21, 10 a.m.) and Lynn English (April 22, 10 a.m.).