The Everett High baseball team maintained its hold on undisputed possession of first place in the Greater Boston League with a pair of key wins over GBL foes Cambridge and Malden this past week. Coach Joe Lento’s Everett squad now stands at 5-0 in the GBL and is 9-1 overall at the halfway mark of their 2013 campaign.
Ace Crimson Tide pitcher Zerif Pajazetovic tossed a pair of gems to pick up both victories. In a 3-2 win over Cambridge last Wednesday, Zerif fanned 13 enemy batters in a route-going effort. He then came back Monday against Malden with a dominating two-hitter that was a key part of the Tide’s 10-1 thrashing of their GBL foe.
“Zerif has been great all year and he came through for us again this week,” said Lento.
However, pitching is only one aspect of producing winning baseball. Defense and timely hitting are the other components necessary for success and Everett once again displayed both.
Mat Pothier belted a home run and drove in another run in the Cambridge contest and it was Tommy Woodward who came through in the clutch in the top of the seventh with two outs, swatting a double that brought in Justin Johnson with the winning tally.
The Everett bats broke open Monday’s encounter with Malden with a six run outburst in the third inning. Everett previously had scored twice in the opening frame and then added on solo markers in the fourth and fifth for good measure. Among the hitting stars for Everett were Mac Singleton, who went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI; Pothier, who was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI; and Justin Johnson, who was 2-for-3 with a pair of ribbies.
The Everett defensive work was flawless, committing no miscues in the field. Everett’s other ace hurler, Lawrence Falter, came on in the seventh in relief of Pajazetovic to mop up.
In between the GBL games, Everett took on North Shore Tech Saturday and came away with an easy victory.
The scheduling gods will not be kind to the Crimson Tide in the week ahead, with five games in seven days. Lento and his crew travel to Bishop Fenwick tomorrow (Thursday); trek to Peabody Friday; journey to Marblehead Saturday; meet Medford at Playstead Park Monday; and play at St. John’s Prep Wednesday.
The encounter with GBL foe Medford will essentially determine the GBL titlist. Medford is in second place with a 4-1 mark (the lone loss coming to Everett) and needs a win to have a shot at a co-championship with the Tide. An Everett win will put the Crimson Tide two games ahead of Medford in the GBL standings with just two league games left for both.
All of the other contests in the week ahead are non-league affairs and three of them are against some of the top teams in Eastern Mass. Fenwick has been ranked in the top 20, Peabody is number two, and St. John’s Prep is number one.
“We’ll have our work cut out for us,” said Lento. “We’ll need some of our other pitchers to step up and give us some solid innings.”
Softball team thrashes Somerville, Cambridge
The Everett High softball team showed no mercy, until the mercy rule was invoked, easily dispatching GBL rivals Somerville and Cambridge this past week by wide margins.
In last Monday’s 22-3 romp over Somerville, the pitching chores were split between Franki Perreault and Talia Mirra. Franki tossed the first two frames, fanning five enemy hitters and allowing only one hit, while Mirra, a sophomore, went the final three stanzas in which she yielded just two hits and one earned run.
However, this game was all about the action at the plate for the Lady Crimson, whose bats came alive with an onslaught of epic proportions in the third inning. Janyne Sierra started off the inning with a single, stole second base, and scored on double by Perreault (for whom courtesy runner Alicia Cataldo came on.)
Cataldo promptly scored on a two-bagger by Jess Wade. Although Jess was thrown out at the plate on a base hit by Sophia Marchant, Kylie Jepson doubled to bring in Marchant, who had stolen second. Freshman Talia Riccioli singled moving Jepson to third and Alea Martinelli tripled rescuing both Jepson and Riccioli.
After Samantha Batres walked and stole second, Sierra delivered her second hit of the inning to bring in Martinelli and Mirra punched another hit to bring around Batres.
The eight runs boosted Everett (which had scored four runs in the first inning on walks and a solo marker in the second on some more Somerville generosity) into a commanding 13-0 advantage.
“At that point we were able to get everyone into the game, allowing them to both hit and then play the field,” said EHS head coach Stacy Poste. “It was nice to see everyone starting to hit the ball when needed. It is hard when it is a varsity team to get playing time for everyone so when we get a lead we try to get everyone in the game.”
Everett tacked on nine more markers in the fifth. Liz Gerace led off with a walk. Martinelli singled and Gerace scored on a passed ball. After Batres walked, Martinelli came home on a base hit by Alicia Cataldo. Both Batres and Cataldo then scored on a double by Mirra.
After Mariana Miranda singled, both Mirra and Miranda advanced bases on a passed ball. Mirra scored on an error and Miranda got to third on a base hit into the outfield by Marchant. Regina DeSimone then singled, knocking in Miranda. After DeSimone advanced on a fielder’s choice, Martinelli doubled to score DeSimone. Batres then doubled to bring in Martinelli.
Two days later, it was more of the same for the Everett girls in a 16-1 cakewalk past Cambridge. The pitching combo of Perreault and Mirra combined for the win once again, with Franki going two innings with one hit and Talia tossing three frames with two hits.
Everett got on the board in the opening inning when Perreault singled to drive in Batres, who had reached on a base hit. The second frame saw the Lady Crimson Tide erupt for five runs, the big blow being a two run homer by Sierra. Jepson, Riccioli, Wade, and Marchant all had base hits in the uprising that left matters at 6-0.
However, the third stanza saw every Everett batter in the lineup get a hit. Batres, Sierra (two), and Marchant all had RBI base hits and Perreault socked an RBI triple (and was awarded home plate on dead ball), helping to boost the EHS lead to 15-0.
An RBI base hit by Mirra, sending home Batres (who had singled), applied the coup de grace for the final EHS run in the fourth.
“Talia Mirra did a great job coming in these past two games to relieve Franki,” said Poste. “We have a lot of games that are back to back and when we can get Talia in to rest Franki’s arm, we will.
“Talia has improved so much from last year,” continued the coach. “She has been working with a pitching coach, Alexis Lawrence, and it has shown that she has been working at improving her pitching in the off season. It is hard going back to back with these games, but Franki has done great at getting the job done.”
Vo Tran takes third in high jump at NB meet
A large contingent of members of the Everett High boys and girls outdoor track teams made the long trek to New Bedford last Saturday evening for the fourth annual Greater New Bedford Invitational Sunset Track Meet.
The top performer for the boys was Hieu Vo-Tran, who brought home a third place ribbon in the high jump with a leap of 5-10. Vo-Tran holds the EHS record in the event, which he set just last week with when he crossed the bar at 6-0.
Lorentz Etienne broke into the top 10 for Everett with a ninth place finish in the long jump with a leap of 18-8.75. Felipe Andrade turned in a pair of strong finishes in two events, the 200 dash in 25.29 and the shotput with a heave of 32-9.75. Felipe efforts landed him in 12th place in both events.
On the girls’ side, Djenny Lorjuste paced the Lady Crimson Tide with an eighth place finish in he 200 dash in 29.21. The girls 4 x 100 relay squad took fifth place in 56.49.