Winthrop High School Sports Roundup

Lady Vikings top two NEC rivals

The Winthrop High softball team stretched its wining streak to five games this past week with wins over Northeastern Conference rivals Salem, 4-2, and Lynn English, 8-1, behind two strong pitching efforts by sophomore Maura Lanza, who rapidly is becoming the talk of the North Shore in softball circles.

Maura went the full seven inning route in the Salem contest last Wednesday, allowing just four hits and one earned run while fanning nine and walking none.

Lanza helped her own cause in the second inning when she led off by drawing a base on balls, moved to third on a pair of sacrifices, and then scooted home on a wild pitch for a 1-0 Winthrop advantage.

Salem got that back in the top of the third when the lead-off hitter tripled and came home on an errant pick-off attempt, but Winthrop struck back in the bottom of the frame with two markers. After Olivia Grillo reached on an error, base hits by Michelle Lasala and Lanza brought her home. Amanda Pelletier then laid down a nifty bunt for a suicide squeeze to bring Lasala homeward for a 3-1 Winthrop lead.

The Lady Vikings utilized the suicide squeeze once again in the fifth. Lasala led off with a hit and got to third when a bunt by Lanza was misplayed by Salem. Pelletier once again came through with the squeeze to bring in Lasala.

Salem got one back in the sixth, but that would be as close as the Witches would get against Lanza.

Two days later the Lady Vikings had an easier time with Lynn English. Lanza and Taylor Thomas split the pitching chores, with Maura going the first four frames in which she allowed just three hits and an unearned run, while whiffing eight batters (of the 12 English outs she accounted for), and no walks. Taylor finishing up the final three stanzas, yielding just one hit, no runs, and fanning two.

English grabbed a 1-0 advantage in the opening inning, but that would prove to be the apogee of the Lady Bulldogs’ success on the day. The Lady Vikings took the lead for good with two runs in the second, piled on five more in the third, and tacked on another in the fourth.

Grillo had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double, two singles, two runs scored, two RBI, and a stolen base.

But as we know, all good things must come to an end, and so it was for the Lady Vikings whose unbeaten skein was halted at five by Revere on Monday by a 3-1 margin.

Winthrop rapped put seven hits, but could push only base runner across the plate, that coming in the sixth inning when Lasala scored on a base hit by Kelly Swanson. The Lady Vikings had runners on base and in scoring position in four innings, but 12 strikeouts by Revere’s own sophomore star hurler, Sabrina Palermo, played a big part in preventing more Lady Vikings from reaching home plate.

“This was not one of our best games,” said WHS head coach Dave Guffey, “and we certainly can’t strike out that many times and expect to win a ballgame.”

Lanza matched Palermo fairly evenly over the full seven inning route, allowing nine hits and two earned runs while fanning nine.

Lady Viking Liana Ferullo made the defensive play of the game from her spot in centerfield when she cut down a Revere runner at the plate to end the sixth inning.

The Lady Vikings, who now are 7-3 in the NEC (8-4 overall), were set to host Gloucester yesterday (Wednesday), trek to Salem tomorrow, journey to Danvers Monday, and travel to Swampscott next Wednesday.

JV softball team wins first contest

The WHS junior varsity softball team recorded its first win of the season, 9-6 over Lynn English.  Taylor Impemba (who has returned to action after being on the injured reserve list with a broken arm), Emme Carney, and Kaitlyn Carter shared the pitching duties and all pitched well, walking only three enemy hitters.

Solid defense all around was highlighted by plays from Jess Martin and Sydney Adamson. Power hitting came from the bats of Jaida Hightower (who then played an inning with the varsity),  Martin,  Maddy Fingaa’, and Adamson.

WHS girls finish 6th at NEC Fr.-Soph. Meet

A large contingent of members of the Winthrop High girls outdoor track team finished in a strong sixth place out of 12 schools with 42 points at the Freshman and Sophomore Meet of the Northeastern Conference held Saturday at Frazer Field in Lynn.

Amy Sena was a  major contributor to the Lady Viking cause with 14 points. Amy took second in the high jump with a leap of 4-8 and grabbed third in the 400 intermediate hurdles in 1:13.46.

Carly O’Keefe brought a second place ribbon in the 100 meter high hurdles with a clocking of 16.8. Christa Vaccaro earned a fourth place ribbon with a long jump of 15-1. Christa also competed in the 200 meter dash with a time of 29.7.

Seventh grader Isabella Kennedy likewise took home a fourth place ribbon, clocking a time of 2:35.44 in the 800 meter run, a performance which  qualified Isabella for a spot in the State Meet later this month. Isabella also took part in the triple jump competition for the Lady Vikings.

Two of the Lady Viking relay teams, the 4 x 400 and 4 x 800 quartets, also scored points for Winthrop, both finishing in third place. The 4 x 400 foursome of Kennedy, Vaccaro, Sena, and O’Keefe qualified for the states with their time of 4:41.2. The 4 x 800 crew of Abbey Love, Shanel Turransky, Olivia Rago, and Kristen Ford had a time of 11:54.6.

Turransky narrowly missed winning a meet ribbon, which is awarded to the top six finishers in each race, as she came home in seventh in the mile in 6:13.4. Teammate Alexis Lever also achieved a top-10 finish in her event, the discus, with a toss of 22-4, good for eighth position.

Roman, Gallo pace boys at Fr.-So. Meet

Jorge Roman and Anthony Gallo both scored points in two events, including a second place finish each, to lead the Winthrop High boys outdoor tracksters to a fine sixth place ranking at Saturday’s Northeastern Conference Freshman-Sophomore  Meet held Saturday at Frazer Field in Lynn.

Jorge took second in the 100 meter dash in 12.0 seconds and grabbed third in the long jump with a leap of  18-5 to contribute 14 points to the Winthrop scoresheet.

Anthony finished second in the 200 dash in 24.2 and fifth in the shotput to add 10 points to the Winthrop cause.

Reise Turransky brought home a third place ribbon in the 110 meter high hurdles in a time of 17.9. The Viking 4 x 100 relay quartet also earned third place ribbons with a clocking of 49.0.

Cal Garufo narrowly missed a ribbon, finishing in seventh place in the 400 dash in 61.1. Cal also competed in the triple jump. Other Vikings who participated in the meet were Daniel Dell’Anno in the 800 and Joey Bosco in the mile.

Fucillo spins one-hitter in 5-0 win over Revere

Junior Chris Fucillo tossed a one hitter for the Winthrop High baseball team to lead the Vikings to a 5-0 shutout victory over Revere Monday. Fucillo went all seven innings for Coach Frank DeMarco’s squad, fanning 11 Patriot batters. The lone Revere hit came in the second inning, an opposite-field poke to right field.

The triumph marked Chris’s second “W” within a week. He came on to pitch four innings of scoreless relief last Wednesday, enabling his teammates to rally for an exciting 6-5 win over Salem.

“Chris always has had great stuff, but it was just a matter of him being able to achieve consistency,” said DeMarco, noting that Fucillo now has tossed 11 consecutive innings of shutout baseball. “He’s improved his focus and is staying around the plate. It’s all really coming together for him.”

Winthrop did all of its damage in the opening two innings, scoring twice in the first and thrice in the second. Dylan Driscoll got the first frame rally going with a walk and Mike Rich followed with a base hit.  A Revere error  allowed Driscoll to scoot home and Rich scored on a sacrifice fly by Cody Wasson.

In the second stanza, three base hits by James Baxter, Jeff Collignon, and Zack Mills produced the first Winthrop run  and then Rich  delivered a two-RBI single to rescue Collignon and Mills, making it 5-0. After that, it was all Fucillo, who shut down Revere without a hit the rest of the way.

The Salem victory last Wednesday saw the Vikings score two runs in the bottom of the seventh to pull out the walk-off triumph. The rally started when Ben Spinazzola drew a walk and base hits by Baxter and Collignon filled the sacks with Vikes with none out.

Bobby Fisher then displayed patience at the plate to draw a base on balls to force in the tying tally and Mills followed suit with another walk, bringing Baxter homeward with the winning marker.

Fucillo, who allowed just three hits and fanned five in his four innings of relief work, also had a fine day at the plate with two hits, two RBI, and a run scored. Baxter had two hits, including a triple, and scored two runs. Driscoll and Collignon  had two hits apiece.

Sandwiched in between the twin wins was an 8-0 loss to one of the NEC’s top dogs in the Large Division, the Lynn English Bulldogs, on Friday. The major highlight of the game for Winthrop was the relief pitching of Mills, who went the final four innings and allowed just one run.

DeMarco and his crew were set to take on Gloucester yesterday (Wednesday). They host Brightion tomorrow in a non-league tilt and entertain Swampscott Monday.

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