The Everett High softball team gave Coach Stacy Poste a good start on her way to victory number 300 (the Lady Crimson Tide gave Poste her 200th career coaching triumph two weeks ago) with a pair of wins last week over Greater Boston League opponents Somerville and Cambridge.
Lady Crimson Tide hurler Franki Perreault turned in two fine outings, allowing just two hits to Somerville and eight to Cambridge in her route-going efforts.
Everett started fast and furiously against Somerville and kept the pedal to the metal until the end. Tori Cyrus hit a lead off homerun to start the game, but Somerville bounced back in its half of the inning with a pair of runs, which were aided by an Everett error and a wild pitch.
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However, the Lady Crimson Tide exploded for seven markers in the third to move out to a commanding 8-2 advantage. Kayla Lombardo singled and raced home on a double by Cyrus.
After Tori stole third on a delayed steal, Erin McLaughlin knocked her in with a single into the deep part of the infield. Janyne Sierra followed with a triple, bringing around McLaughlin. Brianna Uga then laid down a nice sacrifice bunt, allowing Sierra to score when Somerville made the throw to first base.
Perreault kept the inning alive with a two-out base hit and freshman Talia Mirra came in as Perreault’s courtesy runner. After Samantha Batres singled into outfield, Jess Wade socked a home run to clear the bases.
Everett’s third homer of the day, a solo roundtripper by McLaughlin in the fourth, upped the count to 9-2.
The Lady Crimson Tide tacked on three more tallies in the fifth. Uga started the rally with a single, which was followed by another safety by Perreault. After a pair of fielder’s choices erased two EHS runners from the basepaths, Lombardo stepped up and swatted the fourth home run clout of the day for Everett, making it a 12-2 affair.
Somerville got two runs back in its fifth with a pair of bunts and an error, but Everett put the game away in the sixth with five more markers. Alea Martinelli drew a walk, McLaughlin singled, and Sierra delivered both homeward with a double. Another two bagger by Uga brought in Sierra. Junior Jess Nelson, playing in her first varsity game, singled into left field, as did Wade, which brought Uga across. Nelson finished off the Everett scoring when Cyrus singled into center.
“The girls’ bats were right on this game,” said Poste. “They timed the pitching and by the
third inning they came around and continued the rest of the game. The defense was less to be desired. We (coaches) know these girls are a better team than what they showed today. Franki did a great job pitching, giving up only two hits and one earned run.”
The Lady Crimson Tide next took on another GBL foe, Cambridge, and came away with an 11-7 victory. Perreault once again went all the way, giving up eight hits and four earned runs over the seven innings.
Everett took a quick 1-0 lead in the opening frame when Martinelli reached first on a bunt, stole second, moved to third on a ground out, and then took advantage of a lazy throw back to the pitcher and worked a delayed steal of home plate.
Cambridge knotted matters in the bottom of the inning, but Batres socked a homer with freshman Sophia Marchant (who was a courtesy runner for Perreault) aboard for a 3-1 Everett advantage.
The Lady Crimson Tide added two more in the third when Martinelli singled up the middle, stole second, and scored on McLaughlin’s single into the outfield. Erin advanced to third on the throw home and scored on a base hit by Sierra.
Cambridge kept it close with two runs in the bottom of the third, but McLaughlin poled another homer with Martinelli, who had singled with two outs, on base, to make it 7-3 midway through the fourth. Cambridge once again fought back with two markers, thanks to some Everett errors, but Everett put some distance with Cambridge with four runs in the fifth.
Cyrus tripled and scored on a wild pitch. Martinelli walked and stole second and third. A walk to McLaughlin was followed by an RBI base hit by Sierra. Uga then stepped up and cleared the bases with a homer for an 11-5 Everett lead.
Cambridge threatened in the bottom of the seventh and pushed across two runs, but the game ended when Martinelli threw to Kayla Lombard to nab a Cambridge runner at the plate.
EHS baseball team tops Cambridge, Somerville
The Everett High baseball team opened the defense of its Greater Boston League title with victories over GBL foes Cambridge and Somerville last week.
The big story in the Cambridge victory on Thursday was the fine pitching performance by Zerif Pajazetovic, who went six innings, allowing just three hits and three earned runs while fanning 11 and walking none.
“Zerif was great,” said EHS head coach Joe Marchese. “This was his second strong outing of the season for us. He didn’t walk anybody and was throwing strikes all game.”
His teammates gave him plenty of run support, with an eight run Crimson Tide explosion in the second inning all but settling matters on the day.
Reardan Sweeney and Chris DiNapoli both poled two run homers, with Jonathan DiBiaso contributing two RBI on two sac flies (to go with a base hit); Mac Singleton knocking in two runs and scoring a run; and Shawn Doyle adding two hits for two ribbies and a run scored.
Matt Cafarella came on in the seventh inning and pitched a scoreless frame.
Two days earlier the Crimson Tide banged out 17 hits to match their run output in a 17-3 thrashing of Somerville. Freshman Lawrence Falter tossed four strong innings in his first varsity start, yielding just two hits, one earned run, and fanning five. Teddy Feble also pitched well in the final three frames, allowing just one hit and whiffing six enemy batters.
Cafarella enjoyed a phenomenal performance at the plate. Matt led off the game with a home run and then banged another roundtripper later in the frame. Matt ended up with three hits, five RBI, and three runs scored on the day.
Singleton was a perfect 4-for-4 with three RBI and three runs; Chris McCarthy belted a two run homer and had another hit for three RBI and two runs scored; and DiNapoli came through with three hits, two RBI, and two runs.
Marchese and his crew were set to take on St. John’s Prep yesterday (Tuesday) and will host Malden tomorrow. They will entertain St. John’s Prep Saturday at 11:00.
Everett runners do well at Fr.-Soph. Meet
A contingent of Everett High boys and girls competed in the Greater Boston League freshmen-sophomore meet during the vacation week.
Among the top finishers for Everett on the boys’ side were Bryan Cedeno with a first place ribbon in the 100 dash; teammate Lorentz Etienne with a second place finish in the same event; Ricky Phan with a first place in the shotput; Jason Hanson with a second place in the discus with a toss of 66-6; Wibienly Joseph with a third in the discus with a twirl of 62-6; Jason Hansen with a third in the 200 dash; Brett Panarese with a fifth in the javelin with a throw of 56-11; Lordi Olivieri with a third in the 400 hurdles and a long jump of 14-11, good for fifth place; and Joseph with a sixth in the 200 dash.
The quartet of Mario Portillo, Lorentz Etienne, Jason Hansen, and Bryan Cedeno brought home first place honors in the 4 x 100.
On the girls’s side, Emila Ponikiewski turned in a superb effort to capture the 800 in 2:38, which was a personal record for Emila. Kathy Pham also was a first place finisher for Everett, winning the high jump with a leap of 4-2. Kathy also tied for sixth in the 100 dash in 15.6.
In the 100 hurdles, Elsbeth Colson took second in 22.7 and Vesna Imsirovic grabbed sixth spot in 28.3. Amanda Nabasaliza was third in the shotput and Lesa Duval took fourth in the discus with a toss of 42-6.
The 4×400 quartet of Colson, Pham, Bernyda Germain, and Ponikiewski also competed for Everett and took fifth place.
“Overall I was happy with how younger team members represented Everett at this meet,” said EHS head coach Shelanda Irish. “Lorentz and Bryan ran really well in their 100 meter dash and all of the relay legs ran very well. Sophomores Hanson and Joseph placed well in their events and have really improved over the last year.
“Ricky Phan had a great personal throw in the shot put as did Brett in the javelin,” continued Irish. “Emila had a fantastic run in the 800 and that was a personal best for her. I will look for her to run hard again at the State Relays and she will definitely have the competition to push her.
“Amanda continues to score for us in the shot put as well as Kathy in the high jump,” added the coach. “I think Elsbeth can run a faster in her hurdles, but she still ran a decent time in the event and continues to work really hard.”