Everett baseball team surges with multiple wins to even record at five as the second half of the season begins

Crimson Tide welcomes Lynn English to Glendale Monday afternoon after beating Somerville, Chelsea

  It was a winning week for the Everett High School baseball team (5-5) after victories against Medford (16-15) and Somerville (5-4), with only a 5-0 loss to Malden preventing a sweep. But they started this week off the right way once again with a 12-2 triumph over visiting Chelsea.

  The Tide showed their power against the host Mustangs on April 24, accumulating 16 runs on 12 hits. Pitcher Matt Turilli threw five-plus innings, giving up five earned runs. His teammates helped him out offensively by jumping out to a 14-6 lead heading into the sixth at Medford’s Playstead Park, led by multiple players with multi-hit games. Alex Velasco chipped in with two hits and also reached base two other times to account for four of his team’s 16 runs. David Saia also got two hits that resulted in three RBI, and he, too, scored four runs. Alex Lara scored twice on two hits. Enrico Vega, who scored once, knocked in a run while picking up two hits.

  Unfortunately, the Everett boys could not hang on to the eight-run lead, surrendering nine in the home half of the sixth as a result of a multitude of walks and hits by the Mustangs. However, in the top of the seventh, the Tide were able to push across two to regain the lead for good. Lara secured the win on the mound in relief.

  “As a coach, especially in the sport of baseball, it’s important to preach mental toughness,” said Head Coach Joel Levine. “You can’t get too high when things are going well, and by the same token you can’t get too low when you are struggling. I thought our kids showed great resiliency [against Medford] after having a really difficult inning, which saw them surrender such a large lead. It would have been very easy for them to have gone down in order in the top of the seventh, but they didn’t. They fought to the end, and their great efforts were rewarded with a victory.”

  But two days later, Malden held them scoreless at Pine Banks. “We were unable to get much going offensively against the Golden Tornadoes, although we did outhit them 5-3,” said Levine. “Some defensive blunders cost us a few runs early on in the game, and [we] were unable to recover.”

  Lara took the loss for the Tide, pitching 4.2 innings. He gave up two hits and one earned run.

  Albert Santana, Nick Gilbert, Lara, Saia and Turilli all chipped in with hits for the Tide. “It just wasn’t our day at the plate or for that matter in the field,” said Levine. “But I really like our approach at the plate over the past few games, and really think we are heading in the right direction as a team.”

  Levine’s squad then got back on the winning track last Friday afternoon at Glendale Park, beating Somerville by a run, their third victory in the last four games. Senior Omar Marshall was sensational – going the distance on the mound for the Tide. He yielded four runs, but fanned six over seven innings.

  With the game tied at one going into the home half of the fifth, Marshall was on third to start the threat. Velasco (2-3, 1 RBI, 1 run scored) then smashed a single to left to bring home the second run. However, Somerville tied the game again on a sacrifice fly in the sixth before taking a 4-2 lead in the final frame. Trailing by one with runners in scoring position, Nordeivy Santana completed the comeback with a two-out single down the leftfield line, scoring both runners to secure the walk-off win.

  Saia (2-3, 1 RBI, 1 run scored), Albert Santana (1-3, 1 run scored) and Lara (1-2) helped pace the offensive attack.

  “For the third time in our last four games, we trailed going into the final inning, but yet still ended up winning the game,” said Levine. “Something like that just shows you how much the kids believe in one another. They just don’t give up.

  “Besides a walk-off win to get us into the state tournament in our last regular season game in 2019, this one against Somerville was just as exciting of a win that I have ever experienced as any sort of coach here in Everett,” added Levine.

  After trouncing aforementioned Chelsea, the surging Crimson Tide went up against host Lynn Classical on May 3 (after press deadline) to close out this week. They will begin another week at home against Lynn English on Monday, May 8, beginning at 4 p.m.