Baseball Team Wins Tourney Opener, 6-0

The Everett High baseball team, seeded 10th in the North bracket with a 12-8 record, opened  play in the MIAA Division I North Sectional last Thursday with a solid 6-0 victory over Lawrence, the 23rd seed, on the local field.

Crimson Tide hurler Zerif Pajazetovic, who emerged as the ace of the Crimson Tide staff this season, spun a masterful four hitter through the first eight innings (tourney play expands to nine innings from the seven frames of the regular season), fanning 14 enemy batters and walking only two.

“Zerif was superb,” lauded EHS head coach Joe Marchese. “He maintained his focus and control from the beginning to the end.” Matt Cafarella came on in the ninth to earn the save, walking one and allowing no hits.

Cafarella provided what would prove to be the winning run with a solo homer in the third inning. The talented senior, who will be attending Salem State University where he will be playing baseball, scored three runs on the day with a hit and a walk to complement his roundtripper.

Other offensive stars for the Tide were Reardan Sweeney with two hits; Shawn Doyle with a hit and a run scored; Mac Singleton with a hit, a walk, a stolen base, and a run; Pajazetovic with a hit and a walk; and Chris DiNapoli and Jon DiBiaso, both of whom contributed RBIs in the four run Everett fifth when they were hit by pitches with the bases loaded.

“We played a solid game all around,” said Marchese. “It was a good tourney win against a good Lawrence team.”

That victory earned the Tide a date at the seventh seed, Acton Boxboro, Sunday afternoon. However, Marchese and his crew did not have as much success, coming out on the short end of an 8-0 decision. Everett mustered only two hits, a double by Cafarella (who also walked) and another two bagger by Pajazetovic. “We faced their top pitcher who is a lefthander and will be playing at a Division 1 college next year,” noted Marchese. “We just couldn’t get anything going against him.”

Nonetheless, Marchese reflected back upon what in some respects was an historic season for his Crimson Tide nine.

“This is the first group of seniors who’ve been with me for my four years,” said the coach. “We’ve qualified for the tourney in all four of those seasons and we’ve won three straight GBL titles, which I think is some sort of record for Everett High baseball.

“We overcame a ot of adversity, but everybody stepped up to fill the voids left by graduation and injury,” added Marchese. “This was really a super group of kids who worked hard from day one. They were a lot of fun to coach.”

Post season accolades for the Tide included all-star honors for DiNapoli, Pajazetovic, and Cafarella, and the GBL MVP Award for DiNapoli. “Chris did it all for us at the plate, in the field, and on the mound,” said Marchese.

In addition to Cafarella and DiNapoli, other seniors who played their last game in an EHS uniform were Chris McCarthy, Teddy Feble, and DiBiaso.

Waiting game for EHS softball team

“Rain, rain, go away,” has been the theme for the Everett High softball team this past week, which has seen its first round game of the MIAA state tournament with Framingham be postponed twice thanks to the lack of cooperation from Mother Nature. Coach Stacy Poste and her squad were slated to try again yesterday (Tuesday).

The Lady Crimson Tide, who are seeded ninth in the Division 1 North bracket with a 14-6 record, will journey to eighth seeded Framingham if the weather clears enough for the teams to play.

College basketball coach offers clinic at CCS

Cori Hughes had few opportunities growing up in a small, rural town in upstate New York.  For her, the prospect of college was nonexistent, and neither was the encouragement.

Now the head women’s basketball coach at Salve Regina University, Hughes will share her experiences and expertise with Chelsea youth in a three-day clinic hosted by Chelsea Community Schools (CCS) June 25-27.

This summer Hughes will celebrate her seventh year working with Chelsea youth.

“I’m always amazed by their excitement, gratitude and willingness to learn,” says Hughes. “The kids are genuinely excited, and I feel respected.”

Hughes discovered early on that she loved basketball.  One day, Madison High School Blue Devils varsity basketball coach saw a 12-year-old Hughes playing ball in the park and invited her to try-out for the team.

“It was very unusual to have an eighth grader playing on the high school varsity team,” explains Hughes. “People thought I was crazy wanting to be a player at 5’2.”  Hughes’ love for the sport drove her to excel.

In her high school career, she scored over one thousand points and racked up over one thousand assists taking her school to the state finals her senior season.  In her time with the Blue Devils, she was a three-year team captain, a four-time all-conference selection, a two-year all-state honoree and league MVP.  Hughes earned a basketball scholarship to Boston University, and a captain position her junior year.

Hughes became a coach after graduating in 1992.  Working her way up from high school teams, Hughes became the head coach at Daniel Webster College in 2001 and then at Salve Regina University in 2007.

Hughes calls herself a progressive coach.  She focuses on the fundamentals and then builds on them.

“It’s like building a house,” explains Hughes, “Everyone wants a penthouse overlooking the ocean. But you first need to build a basement, a foundation and stairs.”

The CCS clinic is tailored to various ability levels and focuses on basic skills as well as the game experience.

The three day clinic will run Monday-Wednesday starting June 25 for ages 8-11, 3-5pm and ages 12-16, 5:30-8:30pm.  Register in advance at the Williams Building (Mon. – Fri. 4-8 p.m. and Sat. 9-4) or online at www.chelseama.gov/ccs.  Cost is $30.  Payment in cash or money order.  For more information, please call (617) 466-5233 or e-mail  [email protected].

Everett student wins in State Science Fair

On June 2nd, seventh grader, Rafaela De Oliveira, became the first middle school student from Pioneer Charter School of Science (PCSS) to win an award at the Massachusetts Middle School Science & Engineering Fair, held at the Worcester Technical High School. The statewide competitive science fair has approximately 300 student participants in individual and team projects. Rafaela’s project, “Banana Up!” won 3rd place at the State Science Fair.

Rafaela’s project involved the conversion of banana peels to ethanol. Ethanol is a bio-fuel that is a good alternative to gasoline. Rafaela feels that burning fossil fuels releases green-house gases into the air and causes global warming. Rafaela also feels that we are bound to run out of fossil fuels sometime in the future. However, the cost of ethanol production has being going up due to the demand. Most of the ethanol in this country comes from corn. Rafaela decided to investigate a cheaper, readily available alternative source.

Rafaela found that more than 95.6 million tons of bananas are produced annually in the United States and that most of these peels get thrown away. She thought, “Why not make use of the banana peels to make ethanol?” This helped her embark on an interesting project, where she also compared ethanol produced from organic bananas versus regular non-organic ones. She learned and made use of many techniques using the lab facilities at PCSS to come up with very interesting results, which led to her winning the third place award at the State Science Fair. Rafaela said, “I discovered that the organic banana peels were more efficient, because I believe that they have more natural ingredients and sugar molecules.”

Rafaela went on to say, “It was nervous and fun at the same time. Overall, it was a fun experience because I got to meet some friends and see their projects.” Rafaela said that in the future she would be interested in building a more efficient engine, but that doing so would take a lot of research. Dr. Chowdhury, Rafaela’s science teacher said, “PCSS is very proud of her achievements and hopes she will continue in her endeavors for using science to make a difference in this world.”

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