RhS sports Roundup
RHS softball team opens tourney play with 5-0 victory
The Revere High softball team opened the defense of its MIAA Division 1 North Sectional title with a 5-0 victory over Billerica Friday evening at the St. Mary’s parish field.
Lady Patriot ace pitcher Sabrina Palermo, one of Revere’s three senior captains who was the Most Valuable Player in the Northeastern Conference this season, tossed a three-hit shutout, fanning four enemy hitters.
The Revere defense backed up Sabrina’s outstanding performance with a “Stellaâ€r effort, led by fellow senior captain Kristina Stella, who made some superb plays at her shortstop position. Palermo herself also turned in a fine defensive display from the pitcher’s circle with six assists for putouts.
Revere’s other senior captain, Victoria Russo, was a major contributor offensively with a home run over the fence in centerfield in the fifth inning and a base hit and run scored in the three-run Revere third frame that broke open a 0-0 deadlock.
“We asked our three senior captains to provide the leadership for us in the tourney and they did it in exemplary fashion,†said RHS head coach Joe Ciccarello.
The other major contributors at the plate for Revere were junior Julianna Cecere, who came through with a two-RBI base hit in that third inning rally; freshman Victoria Correia, who stroked a ground-rule double for an RBI in the third; and Stella, who scored two runs, including a steal of home (after Kristina had walked and stolen second and third) to account for the fifth and final Revere run in the fifth.
Cicarello and his crew had been expecting to travel to Chelmsford yesterday (Tuesday) for a quarterfinal match with #3 seed Chelmsford, but Westford Academy, the 19th seed in the D-1 North (of 25 teams in the bracket), pulled off the upset of the tourney thus far with a 1-0 win over Chelmsford Saturday. This marked Westford’s second straight upset in the tourney, the first coming with a 7-3 win over 14th-seeded Lincoln-Sudbury in a preliminary round encounter.
Revere (which was the sixth seed in the D-1 North with a 15-5 regular season record) and Westford (which finished 11-9 on the year) coincidentally met in the regular season more than three weeks ago. Westford prevailed in that one, 4-1, in a Saturday morning encounter that was the day after the Revere High senior prom, which was attended by five Lady Patriot starters.
If Revere wins the quarterfinal contest, the Lady Patriots next will play Thursday, June 11, at 6:30, at Martin Field in the semifinal against the winner of the Methuen vs. Andover battle. Andover, the 23rd seed with a 10-10 record, is another over-achieving team, having defeated #10 Framingham and #7 Concord-Carlisle by identical scores of 2-0. Methuen, the #2 seed which drew a bye in the preliminary round, edged Everett, 2-1, in its first-round encounter.
The winner of the semifinal then will play the survivor from the other side of the bracket for the D-1 North championship on Sunday, June 14, at 4:00 at Martin Field.
