EHS softball team wins three straight to vault into tourney
The Everett High softball team won three games in four days last week to punch their ticket for a Journey to the Tourney.
The playoff-clinching victory came Friday evening with a 14-0 victory over Waltham that was an appropriate celebration of Senior Night festivities at Glendale Park.
Ariana Garay tossed all five innings (the contest ended early because of the mercy rule) for the Lady Crimson, allowing only three hits to post her second shutout of the season.
The Everett bats went right to work in the opening inning, scoring four runs. Base hits by Maddy Duraes and Veronica Bento set the table for an RBI base hit by Maddy Smith, a two-run triple by Kaylee Nearen, and an RBI single by Garay.
The Lady Crimson Tide then ended the contest for all intents and purposes with a 10-run outburst in the second inning. An RBI-triple by Duraes, a two-run homer by Bento, a double by Nearen, an RBI single by Yalixa Colon, and a two-run double by Bento accounted for the damage.
The Everett defense also shone throughout the contest in support of Garay.
“This was a great game, and even better that we got to honor our seniors; four- year starting catcher Kaylee Nearen and our seniors new this year, Yalixa Colon, Sidney Hennessy, and Rachel Zullo,” said EHS head coach Stacy Poste-Schiavo.
The following day on Saturday, the Lady Crimson Tide traveled to Salem and returned home with a 9-6 victory.
Celeste Fuccillo assumed the pitching chores and tossed all seven innings in which Celeste struck out nine enemy batters.
Duraes manufactured a run in the top of the first when she reached on an error, advanced to second and third on passed balls, and eventually scored on an infield error.
Salem threatened in the bottom of the inning when the first two Lady Witches singled, but the Everett defense held firm, with Bento making a nice play at second to tag out an advancing runner, Duraes making a catch of an infield drive at shortstop, and Maddy D. accounting for the final out on a ground ball with the throw to Garay at first.
“We stopped them from scoring early, which was a big plus,” said Poste-Schiavo.
Duraes made it 2-0 in the second with an RBI base hit that plated Haley Oteri, who had reached base on a bunt single. Fuccillo fanned the Salem side in the bottom of the inning.
The Lady Crimson Tide expanded their lead to 6-0 in the third, wthFuccillo once again striking out the side in the bottom of the inning. The Witches struck for three markers in the fourth, but that kept matters interesting only until the top of the sixth, when Everett responded with three markers to make it a 9-3 ballgame.
Salem once again threatened in the bottom of the sixth, but a nice play at third by Smith, who faked a throw and tagged out the runner, another “K” by Fuccillo, and a ground-out back to Celeste limited the damage to one run.
Salem rallied some more in the seventh, but the Everett defense and a strikeout by Fuccillo ended the contest at 9-6.
“This was our fourth game in a row this week because of all of our rainouts,” noted Poste-Schiavo. “We are taking each game one at a time at this point and focusing on improving our record for the tournament.”
Earlier in the week, Everett defeated Malden but fell to a Medford team that is ranked in the top 20 in Eastern Mass.
In the win over the Lady Golden Tornadoes, Garay tossed all seven frames, fanning seven opponents and allowing just two earned runs on five hits.
Everett moved out fast, with back-to-back doubles by Nearen and Garay accounting for three runs. An RBI base hit by Elizabeth Peach made it 4-0.
A lead-off double by Duraes and a walk to Bento set the table for two more Everett markers in the second, but Malden responded with three runs to leave matters at 6-3 after two,
Everett added a solo tally in the fourth and back-to-back, two-run doubles by Smith and Nearen upped the count to 10-3. Colon then put the icing on the Everett victory cake with a two-run double in the seventh for the 12-3 finale.
“Ariana did a great job pitching,” said Poste-Schavo. “ She was on her game and her defense backed her up when Malden did put the ball in play. After coming off of the loss against Medford, the girls wanted and needed this win.”
Although the Medford contest ended in a final score of 14-7 in favor of the Lady Mustangs, Everett held a 6-2 lead after two innings and led 7-5 going into the top of the seventh.
However, the Lady Mustangs erupted for nine runs in the final inning to pull away for the win.
Smith (3-for-4) had a big day at the plate with an RBI double and a solo home run. Bento went 2-for-4 with a double and a triple and Sidney Hennessy was 2-for-3 with a single and a double.
“Medford caught up to our pitcher by the end of the game,” noted Poste-Schiavo. “They just kept getting hit after hit. As for us, we just didn’t get the hits when we had the opportunities to score.”
The Lady Crimson Tide, who now stand at 11-6 on the season, will be looking to improve their seeding in the tourney in their final three contests of the regular season.
They were scheduled to trek to Greater Lawrence Tech yesterday (Tuesday). They will entertain undefeated Lynn Classical on Saturday at 5:00 and host Salem on Monday, June 3, at 4:00.
Cardinale wins medal at Division 1 Meet
Carolann Cardinale was the top performer for the Everett High girls and boys outdoor track & field teams at Saturday’s Eastern Mass. Division 1 Meet at Norwell High School.
Carolann earned a fifth medal in the javelin with her toss of 113’-7”, a distance that set a new EHS school record, breaking the mark Carolann herself had set earlier in the season.
“We’re waiting to see if Carolann’s throw will get her to the All-State Meet on Saturday, which we won’t find out until Tuesday (yesterday) at noon,” said EHS head coach Jehu Cimea.
Although Cardinale was the only Everett medalist at the meet, a number of other Crimson Tide tracksters, all of whom had qualified for the meet by virtue of performances during the season, turned in strong efforts.
On the boys’ aside, the 4 x 400 quartet of Brandon Previlon, Jason Louis, captain Mac Shillingford, and captain Eduardo Chaparro broke the EHS school record, running a 3:34.56 for a 13th place finish.
Previlon also ran a super race in the 400 hurdles, turning in a personal record (PR) clocking of 61.18 for an 18th place finish.
For the girls, the 4 x100 foursome of Piper Baker, captain Victoria Chaparro, captain Cyara Lambert, and Lucia Seide came through with a season-best time 52.48 for a 19th place finish.
For senior captain Lambert, the 4 x 100 marked her final race in an Everett uniform after three years competing for the Lady Crimson Tide.
“Cyara will be missed next year,” noted Cimea,
“Everyone competed well on Saturday,” the coach added, “with everyone achieving both a season-best and a personal-best.”