Showdown Set with Medford Today for Everett High Softball
The game of the year in the Greater Boston League (GBL) is set for today (Wednesday) on the softball diamond at Glendale Park when once-defeated Everett hosts undefeated Medford in a showdown for a share of the 2024 GBL title.
Everett came out on the short end of a 5-2 decision to the Lady Mustangs in their first meeting this season more than three weeks ago, but since then coach Stacy Poste-Schiavo’s Lady Crimson Tide have reeled off 10 straight wins, all but two by wide margins of 10 or more runs.
Medford also has been on a rampage since that first meeting, likewise dispatching their GBL opponents with ease to keep their perfect record in the GBL intact. The Lady Mustangs have dropped two non-league contests to Arlington Catholic and Whittier Regional.
Both teams dueled for the GBL crown throughout the 2023 season, with Everett eventually claiming an undisputed title.
The opening pitch at Glendale today is set for 4:15.
Boy Volleyball Wins Two, Now Stands at 8–6
The Everett High boys volleyball team edged closer to qualifying for the post-season state tourney with a pair of victories this past week. The Crimson Tide now stand at 8-6 on the season and need two more victories to assure themselves of the .500 record that is necessary to punch their ticket for a Journey to the Tourney.
Everett swept Greater Boston League (GBL) foes Lynn English last Monday and Somerville at home on Wednesday. The Tide opened up a 2-0 lead against non-league opponent Essex Tech Friday, but couldn’t put Tech away and fell 15-13 in the fifth set.
“It definitely left a bitter taste at the end of an otherwise positive week,” said EHS head coach Michael Fineran. “We just have to put it behind us and move on.”
Everett was scheduled to play back-to-back-to-back matches against GBL rivals Revere (a 3-2 loss), Somerville, and Medford this week on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. They will host GBL foe Malden next Monday and entertain non-league opponent Wakefield next Wednesday.
“I was happy with the way we started the week, traveling to Lynn English and winning in straight sets, despite missing junior captain Henrique Franca, who leads the team in kills,” said Fineran. “We needed other hitters to step up, and they did. Junior Bryan Soares Gomes had four kills, fellow junior Jefferson Umana tallied six and was 9-for-9 serving, and senior Nischal Tamang had six kills as well.”
Also making major contributions for the Tide were senior Mark Pierre with three aces, senior Kalleb Miranda with four kills and two blocks, and juniors Donald Vo and Matheus Queiroz combined for five aces and five kills.
Two days later the Tide played what Fineran described as “perhaps our best match of the season, another straight-set victory over Somerville, a team against whom we normally have to scratch and claw for every point. It certainly helped to have Franca back, who set the tone with a powerful kill from the right side on the first point of the game, his first of 18 in the match. He also added two aces and four blocks. “
Tamang was 25-for-25 serving, with 8 kills and a block. Miranda had three kills and two blocks, Vo had three kills and a block, and Steve Flores was 9-for-10 serving while playing incredible defense as the libero, subbing in for an injured Christian Ramirez.
“We looked just as strong in the first two sets against Essex Tech, going on a 24-8 run to take the first set, thanks to eight serves from Pierre and seven kills from Franca,” Fineran continued. “In the second set, junior Sidney Valentim had two aces in 10 serves, and Franca had nine kills. Umana had three, and Flores scored four points on serves.
“We had chances to put them away in the third set, with Franca serving two of his four aces in the set to give us an 18-16 lead, but we only set him up for two kills, and we allowed Essex to hang around. We hit four serves out and dropped the set 25-20. But that should have been fine. We regrouped in the next set, setting Franca up six times. Miranda had three kills and two blocks, but we didn’t get any separation,” said Fineran.
“We missed a serve after an ace put us up 21-20. We couldn’t get the point serving tied 22-22, and lost the point serving down, 24-23, which pushed the match to a fifth-set tiebreaker, our fourth of the season,” Finera added. “We looked to be on our way to win number nine, with Tamang serving seven times and Franca getting four kills to give us a 7-2 lead. Umana served twice to build an 11-5 lead. We had the serve leading 13-11. But a couple of bad bounces later, we had lost 15-13.
“There wasn’t anything that we did wrong, no bad plays that stick out,” Fineran said. “We have said all season that we can beat anyone, and anyone can beat us. If we want to achieve our goal of playing in the tournament, we have to earn it — no one will give it to us. Beating a team once doesn’t matter. Winning two sets doesn’t matter. It’s a lesson we had to learn the hard way last year, and it cost us the postseason. We have rematches against Revere, who made us look bad a couple of weeks ago, and on the road against Somerville and Medford, two teams that will be looking for revenge. We need to be locked in and we can’t let up.”
EHS Softball Rolls Past All Opponents
The Everett High softball team set up its showdown for a share of first place in the Greater Boston League (GBL) with Medford with four impressive victories over Lynn English (14-0), Cambridge (12-3), O’Bryant (13-0), and Revere (16-9) this past week.
Among the highlights of the stretch were a complete-game shutout by Peyton Warren vs. English, Peyton’s third shut-out of the season, in which she allowed just three hits and struck out 11 Lady Bulldogs.
After Warren ended a bases-loaded threat by English in the first with one out by fanning the next two Lady Bulldogs, Everett grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the inning on an RBI base hit by Bryanna Mason, scoring Emma Longmore, and struck for two more in the second, the key blows being a triple by Arabella Cvitkusic and an RBI base hit by Olivia Dresser,.
The Everett defense pulled off a 6-4-3 double play in the third (Gianna Masucci to Longmore to Mason) and the Tide added two more in the fourth on triples by Longmore and Mason and a base hit by Alexa Uga. Two more runs came across in the fifth on doubles by Ashley Seward and Jayla Davila and a base hit by Dresser.
The Tide then brought on the mercy rule with five more markers in the sixth behind an RBI-double by Emilia Maria-Babcock, a two-RBI single by Davila, an RBI hit by Longmore, and an RBI triple by Dresser.
“Peyton was amazing on the mound and when runners did get on base, our defense made all the plays they needed to to keep runners from scoring,” said EHS head coach Stacy Poste-Schiavo. “The first inning was stressful with bases loaded, but Peyton adjusted her pitching and struck out the last two batters to stop them from scoring. Emilia Maria-Babcock also was strong behind the plate, stopping any passed balls which could have allowed them to score. Our hitting came out a little late in the game, but I believe that is because we had to adjust to some faster pitching we had not seen.”
In the 12-3 win over Cambridge, Warren went the full seven-inning route, yielding just four hits, walking five, and fanning nine to pick up the “W.”
After Everett pulled off another 6-4-3 DP in the top of the first, The Tide bats wasted little time in giving Warren all the runs she would need with a six-run outburst in the bottom of the inning, with RBI doubles by Mason and Longmore providing the big hits.
The Tide made it 9-0 in the second, with a sac bunt by Warren and a triple by Cvitkusic proving the RBI highlights.
The Everett defense came up big again in the third when catcher Alessandra Foster threw out a would-be Cambridge base-stealer (one of two that Alessandra made on the day) to Masucci at second and Gianna made it 10-0 in the bottom of the third when she tripled and came home on a passed ball.
A solo homer by Kassidy Rivera in the fifth made it 11-0. Cambridge reached Warren for three runs in the sixth to prevent the mercy rule from coming into play when Everett added its 12th run in the sixth.
“Peyton had a shutout going into the sixth inning, but Cambridge caught up to her speed and started to hit her,” said Poste-Schiavo. “However, she came back strong in the seventh inning to keep them from getting on base. Alessandra Foster did a great job behind the plate and had two throw-outs at second on steals. It was an overall great effort and win by the team.”
After today’s (Wednesday) big game with Medford (see above), the Lady Tide will host non-league opponent Lowell on Friday and trek to Somerville next Tuesday.
Everett Boys Track Runs Past English
The Everett High boys outdoor track and field team swept to a 103-21 victory over Greater Boston League rival Lynn English last Tuesday.
Leading the way for coach Jehu Cimea’s Crimson Tide was sophomore speedster Kayshaun Eveillard, who scored 15 points by capturing first place in three events: the 100 meter dash with a sprint of 11.4; the 400 dash in a time of 51.4, which was a personal record (PR) for Kayshaun; and the long jump with a flight of 19’-5”, which also was a PR.
Senior captain Jalen Jones won two events, the triple jump with a season’s-best final landing of 38’-2” and the high jump with a leap of 5’-8”, and took third in the 200 dash with a season’s best sprint of 24.5 to tally 11 points on the day.
Fellow senior captain Shane MacKenzie was a double-winner for Everett, taking first place in the javelin with a throw of 123’-1” and the discus with a spin of 117’-8” to score 10 points on the day.
Senior captain Dawens Germain scored nine points for Everett with a trifecta of second-place performances in the high jump, triple jump, and 400 hurdles (in a PR of 1:05.2)
Junior Fabrice Michaud scored eight points with a first place in the shot-put with a toss of 39’-1” and a second in the discus with a PR throw of 103’-2”.
Junior Luvens Hector scored eight points with a first in the 400 hurdles with a PR time of 1:04.7 and a second in the 200 dash with a PR of 24.3.
Senior captain Donald Michel contributed six points to the EHS side of the scoresheet with a first place in the 110 hurdles with a PR clocking of 16.3 and a third place in the high jump.
Junior Kawan Medeiros contributed six points to the Everett side with second-places in the javelin (a PR throw of 107’-8”) and the long jump.
Additional first-place finishers for Everett were sophomore Anthony Whitlow in the 2-mile run in 11:49.6 and senior Jeremiah Jeanlouis in the 200 dash with a PR of 24.0.
Adding three points for the Tide with second-place performances were: sophomore Jeremy Whitlow in the 1-mile; sophomore Adrian Reyes in the 800; and senior Jason Stark in the shot-put.
Scoring one point with third-place efforts were: sophomore Jonathan Goes in both the discus (a PR twirl of 83’-7”) and the javelin (a PR throw of 102’-1”), senior Oliver Felix in the shot (a PR throw of 34’-7.5”); sophomore Tyre Luie in the 800 (a PR of 2:28.2); senior Matthew LaMonica in the 100 dash; and junior David Huezo-Erazo in the 2-mile.
Everett also won the 4 x 100 relay, with the quartet of Jonathan Goes, David Roseme, Fabrice Michaud, and Jason Stark coming across the line in a time of 54.3, which was 3.8 seconds faster than their English counterparts.
Betancur-Cardona Sets New EHS Shot-Put Mark
Although the Everett High girls outdoor track and field team came out on the short end of an 87-44 decision to Lynn English last Tuesday, there were a number of impressive performances turned in by the Lady Crimson Tide.
Chief among them was the winning shot-put toss of senior captain Layla Betancur-Cardona, who set a new EHS school outdoor record with her throw of 33’-2.5”. Layla also took second place in the discus to score eight points on the day.
Fellow senior captain Darrynn Desrameaux won the discus with a spin of 86’-11” and took third in the javelin to score six points for the Tide.
Senior Kaesta Sandy completed the Lady Tide’s dominance in the throwing events by winning the javelin with a throw of 98’-6”, a personal record (PR) for Kaesta, and took third in the discus. Altogether, Everett grabbed 20 of the possible 27 points in the three throwing events.
The versatile Sandy also grabbed second place in the 100 dash to finish with nine points on the day.
Senior captain Malaica Guillaume took first place honors in the triple jump with a final landing of 30’-5.5”. Malaica also took second place in the 400 hurdles and third place in the long jump to finish with nine points on the day.
Senior captain Suzanne Maharjan was the other first-place finisher for the Tide, taking the top spot in the 2-mile run with a clocking of 15:57.8, a season’s best.
Sophomore Casey Martinez added three points for the Tide with a second place in the mile in a PR of 6:59.1. Junior Milena Antonio grabbed second in the 800 and senior teammate Gleidy Tejada took third in that event.
Girls Tennis Improves to 6-5
The Everett High girls tennis team won two of its three matches this past week to improve to 6-5 on the season.
The Tide had a huge win on Monday against a Medford team that had only two losses at the time and the Everett girls came ready to play.
Tracy Pham held her own at the second singles position, defeating her opponent in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1. Simran Tamang fought hard at third singles, as she has all season, but fell short to a tough foe, 3-6, 2-6.
Nga Ho and Rebecca Hickey also fought hard against some tough competition, taking the first set all the way to 5-7 before falling short in the second set. “I am really proud of how Nga and Rebecca have been playing together this season,” said EHS coach Courtney Meninger. “Things will start to click again for them.”
Alanna O’Brien stepped up big for Everett, playing with Jessica Du at second doubles, to win their match, 6-4, 6-2. “They are proving they are ready to play with anyone,” noted Meninger.
That left the match tied at 2-2, leaving the outcome on the racket of first-singles player Yasmine Laabadla. “Yasmine really stepped up for her team, taking the deciding match to three sets,” noted Meninger. “She dropped the first set 0-6, but she has really improved this season. She took the second set to figure out what she needed to do to win and she won the next two sets, 6-3, 6-0, to secure the victory.”
Everett traveled to Lynn Classical, but fell short to the very competitive Lady Rams, 2-3. Tamang played first singles, falling short 0-6, 0-6. Laabadla played second singles, winning 6-1, 6-3. Pham held it down at third singles, coming up with the win, 6-1,6-2. The doubles fought hard, but they both fell short, Ho and Hickey, 1-6, 2-6, and Pun and Du, who took their opponents to three sets 4-6, 6-2, 2-6.
The Lady Tide then took on non-league opponent Saugus. “This was such a good match and the girls really believed in themselves and fought hard to bring a win home,” observed Meninger. Pham had another big win, finishing the week with three victories, 6-4, 6-4. Tamang fought hard until the end of her match, falling short, 3-6 1-6. Ho and Hickey dug deep at first doubles, but fell short 5-7, 1-6. Pun and Du came up big again, winning in three sets 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
This brought the score to 2-2 with the first singles match once again proving decisive and Laabadla came up huge, winning her match in two sets, 6-4, 6-2, helping to seal the win for the Lady Tide and finishing the week strong individually with three huge wins.
“We have come so far from the start of the season and I am lucky to be a part of our team’s run,” said Meninger. “The girls work so hard and it is starting to show.”
Meninger and her crew will host Lynn Classical today (Wednesday) and Lynn English next Tuesday on the Rossetti Courts.
Boys Tennis Drops Close Match, 2-3
The Everett High boys tennis team dropped a heartbreaking 3-2 decision to Medford this past week.
The duo of Marcos Castro and Pablo Jimenez won their match at second doubles in straight sets and in the decisive first-doubles contest, the tandem of Tam Tran and Erik Vo dropped their match in a hard-fought three sets.
In the singles matches, Bryant Jimenez fell at first singles and Henry Chen came up short at second singles. Medford forfeited at third singles. Coach Gregory Bluestein and his crew are scheduled to travel to Lynn Classical today, to host Mystic Valley next Monday, and trek to Lynn English next Tuesday.