Everett baseball clinches Division 1 postseason berth with win over Mystic Valley

The Everett High School baseball team (7-9 in the Greater Boston League, 10-10 overall) began the final week of the regular season on the cusp of a Division 1 state tournament berth. They needed two more wins in their last three non-league contests to qualify for a preliminary round game, and they accomplished it with victories over Greater Lawrence and the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School.

The tournament pairings were scheduled to be announced on Wednesday, May 31, after press deadline. As of May 26, the Everett boys were 60^th in the Division 1 power rankings. The final rankings were announced on Tuesday, the day before the aforementioned pairings came out. For the latest on the tournament pairings and rankings, check out miaa.net.

On May 22, the Crimson Tide took down visiting Greater Lawrence, 11-3.

Pitcher Matt Turilli was fantastic on the mound for the fourth straight game, according to coach Joel Levine. Turilli surrendered just two earned runs on three hits in a complete game seven-inning effort.

The Tide jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the second, and never looked back. Albert Santana led the way on offense with two hits out of four at-bats, knocking in one run, while also scoring once.

Omar Marshall (1-3, 2 RBI), Alex Velasco (1-3, 2 RBI), Nordeivy Santana (1-4), Alex Lara (1-4) and Enrico Vega (1-1, 3 runs scored) also contributed to the offense.

“It’s nice to get back to .500 (9-9), and give us an opportunity over the next two games to try and qualify for the tournament,” said Levine. “The kids have really worked hard over the past two weeks to put us in this position.”

But then, Greater Lawrence got even two days later to edge the locals, 4-3 in a game that got started at its place, but was completed the next day in Everett, because of weather issues. As a result, the Tide were unable to punch their ticket to the postseason.

The game was tied at three at Greater Lawrence when the skies opened up, which halted the proceedings. Both teams then finished it up last Thursday (May 25) at Glendale. The score remained the same until the bottom of the seventh, where a walk, two stolen bases and a throwing error won the game for the Reggies, who were still the home team.

Nordeivy Santana threw four innings, giving up three earned runs. The locals were led by David Saia and Matt Turilli on offense with two hits apiece.

“We were unable to capitalize early in the game when we had a number of runners on and in scoring position,” said Levine. “But just like last year, we were headed to the last game of the season needing a win to get in.”

And they did just that against Mystic Valley back at Glendale last Friday, 8-1.

Marshall was spectacular on the mound in this tournament-clinching game, when he went all seven innings, yielding only one hit and no earned runs.

Trailing 1-0 in the third, Marshall (2-for-4, two runs scored, 1 RBI), helping himself out at the plate, laced an inside-the-park home run to tie the game.

His teammates then tacked on two more runs later on in the frame, and never looked back.

Saia paced the offensive attack with three hits, two RBI and three runs scored. Nordeivy Santana, Velasco, Lara and Turilli also collected hits against Mystic Valley.

“It was really a great way to cap off the regular season, while also sending the seniors off on Senior Night with a win,” said Levine. “It was nice to see the excitement from the kids when the game was over. You can tell it meant a lot to them. Now, we need to see if we can go and shock someone, and with the way Matt and Omar are throwing the ball it’s not that farfetched.”

Again, the Division 1 state tournament pairings were announced on Wednesday. Check out miaa.net to see who the Everett boys are taking on first in the preliminary round.