Sports 06-07-2017

RhS sports Roundup

Tough loss in extra innings for RHS softball

The Revere High softball team was eliminated from the MIAA Division 1 North Sectional of the state softball tournament with a 7-5 loss in nine innings to Medford Friday afternoon on their home field at St. Mary’s.

The Lady Patriots, who had compiled a 13-7 record during the regular season, entered the tourney as the eighth seed in the D-1 North. Medford likewise had finished the season with a 13-7 record, along with two other teams, but the Lady Patriots earned the home game thanks to winning the coin flip among all four teams to grab the spot as the No. 8 seed.

Medford jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to a double and a base hit and added to its margin in the third with a solo home run and a pair of doubles for a 3-0 lead.

Revere finally got on the board in the fourth, powered by a two-RBI double by Victoria Correia that scored Gianna Berkowitz and Eve Lescovitch, both of whom had singled. For Lescovitch, a freshman who had opened the season as Revere’s starting shortstop, the contest marked her first return to action since being sidelined during the second game of the year following a collision with a teammate while chasing a pop-up into centerfield.

The Lady Patriots forged ahead in the fifth with another two-run rally, this time when a squeeze bunt with runners at second and third was thrown away by Medford, allowing both Revere runners to score.

However, the Lady Mustang tied matters in the seventh with a pair of doubles. The Lady Patriots had a golden opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the seventh when they placed runners at second and third with only one out, but  a pop-up and a ground-out failed to produce the walk-off victory.

After a scoreless eighth frame, Medford scored three runs in the ninth on a two-run homer and a pair of doubles.

Revere fought back in its half of the ninth with a two-out rally. Correia socked a home run and a base hit by Elizabeth Lake and a walk to Olivia McManus placed the tying runs on base. However, the last Lady Patriot flew out to left to end Revere’s season.

“Medford earned the win,” said RHS head coach Joe Ciccarello. “They hit the ball hard and came through with some timely hitting. We had our chances to score and win the game. We had runners in scoring position in three of the last four innings, but we could not come though with the big hit when we needed it.”

Although the loss marked the first, first-round loss for the Lady Patriots’ softball program in the state tourney in the past seven years, Ciccarello was heartened by his team’s performance this season and is looking forward to the future.

“We came into this season having lost five starters, four of whom were NEC all-stars, to graduation. And then we lost out starting shortstop (Lescovitch) in the second game the year, forcing us to make some more adjustments,” said the coach. “But we ended up with the same record as the 2016 team, while scoring more runs and allowing fewer runs.”

The loss to Medford,  was particularly hard to take, not only because the Lady Patrots had defeated the Lady Mustangs, an NEC rival, during the regular season, but also because 16th-seeded Chelmsford had knocked off the D-1 North’s top seed, Concord-Carlisle, which would have given Revere another tourney home game and a good shot at reaching the semifinals.

So, as the saying goes, “If ifs and buts were candies and nuts….”, the Lady Patriots might still be playing in the tourney.  But with a strong program and with most of the starting nine returning, the future looks bright for bigger and better things for Revere softball in the years ahead.

 

RHS boys and girls lax teams fall in tourney

 

Both the Revere High girls and boys lacrosse teams were eliminated from play in the Division 1 North sectional of the MIAA state across tournament in first-round contests last week.

On the girls’ side, coach Karen Atkinson’s Lady Patriots came out on the short end of a 17-1 decision at Winchester last Tuesday. Revere came into the tourney as the 12th seed  with an 11-8 record during the regular season, while Winchester was the fifth seed with  a 13-5 mark.

“The girls played well, but couldn’t keep up with the fast pace that Winchester set,” said Atkinson. “But there were a lot of great things that occurred during the game. Our goalie, Shateya Travis, had a huge game with multiple big saves, one after another. Allegra Penn played fantastic defense and worked hard to get the ball out of our defensive zone. Wafae El Arar and Cindy Murphy, both seniors, played great in the last game of their high school careers.”

The Revere High boys lacrosse team, the champion of the Northeastern Conference South Division with a 17-2 overall record, dropped a 14-11 decision to Central Catholic last Wednesday on the turf at Harry Della Russo Stadium.

Coach Austin Powers’s Patriots had entered the D-1 North as the sixth seed, with Central Catholic coming in as the 11th seed with a 10-8 mark.

 

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