Sports 04-28-2011

WHS baseball team seeking winning edge

The Winthrop High baseball team still is looking to find the winning formula after dropping both of its contests this past week to Saugus and Swampscott.        “We’re still struggling, especially at the plate,” said WHS head coach Frank DeMarco. The truth of the coach’s observation was most evident in a 10-2 loss to Saugus in which the Vikings left 14 runners stranded on the basepaths   Justin Rowe pitched well for Winthrop through the first four innings, but a key error allowed the floodgates to open in the fifth and broke open what had been a 4-0 affair to that point.

A 7-4 defeat at Swampscott was highlighted by two home run clouts by Nick McCarthy, who is enjoying a stellar season. “Nick just continues to do great things for us,” said DeMarco of the senior captain, who will play football and baseball at Bentley next year.

“We fall behind early and then we start to press,” observed DeMarco. “The team is giving it 100 percent, but we need to break out to build our confidence and make the other teams chase us.”

DeMarco and his crew face a busy week ahead. They took on Peabody yesterday (Wednesday) and then travel to Revere Friday. They host Bishop Fenwick Sunday at noon in a make up game and then journey to Beverly Monday before returning home to entertain Lynn Classical Wednesday.

Girls track edges Salem with victory in final event

The Winthrop High girls track team pulled out a dramatic triumph over Salem Friday, 69-67, thanks to a victory in the final event, the 4 x 400 relay.

Maria Rago took the baton on the third leg and opened up a nice 20 meter lead for anchor Gina Giuliano to speed home ahead of the Salem girl for the well deserved win in a time of 4:41. Jessica Dowson and Cory Charvis ran legs one and two for the meet-deciding relay team.

Alyssa Mackey led the individual point parade for the Lady Vikings with two convincing victories in the 100 (13.2) and 200 (27.9) meter dashes. “The sensational soph. is truly coming into her own,” noted WHS head coach Warren MacPhail.

Fabulous freshman Lexi Vaccaro had another terrific day. She placed first in the long jump with a leap of 13-9, second in the triple jump with an effort of 30-9, and ran the lead leg of the winning 4 x 100 . Mayami Meggison, Teresa Jones, and Felecia Jones ran the other legs in the winning time of 54.1.

Carly O”Keefe grabbed a pair of second place finishes in the hurdle events. Carly ran the 400 low hurdles in 1:17 and the 100 high hurdles in 18.2. Carly is now tied with Lexi as the team point leaders with 21, which is may rank as a first in school history that an eighth grader is leading the Lady Vikings in points.

Team Captain Kaitlyn Hersey won the mile with a time of 6:23, while Amy Sena finished third in 6:27.  Sena also placed second in the 400 meter dash in 67.0 and third in the high jump with a leap of 4-6.

Sena, another eighth grader, is the team’s third leading scorer with 18 points.

Liz Anderson continued her strong freshman year with a second place in the shotput with a toss of 24-6.  Julia Wallace snatched a much needed second in the high jump with a leap of 4-8. Charvis and Mia Simonetti proved to be a powerful one-two punch in the two mile run, finishing in 14:22 and 14:32 respectively.

Captain Laureen LoPresti took third in the discus with a twirl of 69-0 to grab a much needed and important point. “In this very close meet, every point was needed to win,” said MacPhail.

The girls track team was scheduled to be at Lynn English yesterday (Wednesday).

WHS boys tennis team shuts out Lynn English

The Winthrop High boys tennis team recorded a 5-0 shutout over Lynn English last Friday, dropping just one set in the five matches.

Viking number one singles player Jake Rand handily topped his English counterpart, 6-1, 6-1.  Ryan McKinnon at second singles triumphed 6-4, 6-3 and Tom Lund was an easy winner, 6-1, 6-2, at third singles.

The first doubles duo of Jake McKinnon and Luke Hodgkins swept to a 6-1, 6-2, triumph, with the only close match of the day coming at second doubles. After the Viking tandem of  Michael Psomos and Alex Patnod lost their first set  4-6, they came back to win the second set, 6-4, setting the stage for a deciding super tie breaker in lieu of a full third set. (A super tie break requires the winner to get to 12 points, winning by two, instead of the usual tie break where the winner gets to seven points, winning by two.)

“It was extremely close,” said WHS head coach Barbara Hoffmann, “but Michael and Alex pulled it off,” as they triumphed by the slim margin of 13-11 in the super tie breaker.

The victory over English was sandwiched between a pair of losses to Peabody and Gloucester, both by 4-1 margins.

In the Peabody encounter, the second doubles team of  Psomos and Patnod pulled out a victory in three sets 6-7 (9-7), 4-6, 6-4. The first doubles duo of  McKinnon and Hodgkins also played well, though coming out on the short end of a  6-7 (4-7), 2-6 decision.

In Monday’s match with Gloucester, McKinnon and Hodgkins defeated their Gloucester counterparts at first doubles in straight sets. They fell behind in both sets by scores of 1-4, but rallied to win in tie breaks, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (8-6). “Even though we lost the match overall, it was a great win for them,” said Hoffman.

Ryan McKinnon at third singles turned in a fine effort before falling in a hard fought battle, 6-4, 6-4.

The Vikings played Lynn Classical yesterday (Wednesday). They travel to Salem tomorrow and host Revere Friday. They journey to Beverly Tuesday and to Swampscott next Wednesday.

Softball team drops two close encounters

The WHS softball team dropped both of its contests this past week, falling to Swampscott and Saugus.

The Lady Vikings found themselves down early in the Swampscott encounter, trailing 3-1 after the first frame and 6-1 after the third. Winthrop scored its first run when Liana Ferullo walked, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jen Adamson and to third on a ground out, and then came home on a base hit by Taylor Brown.

Winthrop got one more back in the fourth on base hits by Alyssa Moore and Rachel DelSolio, with Moore eventually coming around to score on a ground out to short by Brittney Lento.

The Lady Vikings evened the count in the sixth frame with a two out rally. DelSolio singled, Alex Ferri reached on an error, and Lento walked to load the bases. After Michelle LaSala drew another walk to force in a run, Ferullo banged a bases clearing triple to knot matters at 6-6.

However, Swampscott pushed across two runs in the seventh to come away with the 8-6 triumph. Ferri went the entire seven inning route for Winthrop, yielding just six hits and four earned runs. She fanned seven,  but 12 walks and two hit batters proved costly.

The match with first place Saugus on Monday was an old fashioned pitcher’s duel. Saugus drew first blood with a marker that came across on a safety squeeze, but the Lady Vikings answered back with a solo home run blast by Brown deep into the left field bleachers. However, Winthrop would muster only two more base runners the rest of the way.

Ferri meanwhile, was keeping Saugus off the board, most notably in the fifth when Alex pitched her way out of a no-outs, runner-on-third situation with a popped-up bunt attempt and two strikeouts.  Saugus put runners on base in the next three innings, but Lady Viking catcher Adamson erased four Lady Sachems from the base paths by gunning them down on steal attempts.

Saugus finally broke the deadlock in extra innings in the ninth with two runs for the 3-1 victory. Ferri went the entire way for Winthrop, allowing just four hits, fanning 16, and walking four while hitting three batters. The Lady Sachems’ Nikki Lowe also went all nine frames and yielded just four hits, struck out 15, and walked none.

The Winthrop JV season has been a successful one with the jayvees sporting a 5- 2 record.. The Lady Viking freshmen also are doing well at 5-1. The pitching duties have been split between Maura Lanza and Kelly Swanson. “The two are very different,” said WHS head coach Dave Guffey. “Kelly is a control pitcher and Maura is a power pitcher.”

The hitting star of the week for the JV team was Laura Kostigan, who put the game out of reach vs. Saugus with a grand slam in the fourth inning.

The varsity squad traveled to Peabody yesterday (Wednesday) and hosts Revere tomorrow. They will entertain Beverly Monday and travel to Lynn Classical next Wednesday.

Girls tennis team in action

The WHS girls tennis hosted Saugus yesterday (Wednesday) and Salem today. They go to Gloucester Monday and to Danvers Wednesday.

 

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