WHS boys lacrosse qualifies for tourney; hosts Masco today
The Winthrop High boys lacrosse team turned in what head coach Brian Donnelly characterized as “a massive week of games against some solid NEC competition” to improve to 10-1 on the season.
In the process, the Vikings punched their ticket for a Journey to the Tourney and all but clinched first place in the South Division of the Northeastern Conference.
Last Tuesday Donnelly and his crew traveled to Peabody and came home with a 9-7 victory.
“We came out a little slow on the road, putting ourselves in a deficit at the beginning,” said Donnelly. “I will give our guys credit though. They were able to slowly battle back into the game before taking the 9-7 win.”
Seth Sacco and CJ Cifuni both found the Tanner net four times, with Sacco also earning four assists. “Seth has really progressed this year,” said Donnelly. “He is able to create space that allows him to get to goal or open up options for the players around him.”
Winthrop then trekked to their chief NEC South rival, Swampscott, on Thursday and defeated the Big Blue for the second time this season with a dramatic win in double OT, 8-7.
“We had a super hard-fought battle against Swampscott,” said Donnelly. “They are a great team with whom we have had some battles over the last couple of years. We were able to pull the win out in double overtime.
Sacco delivered another stellar performance, netting four goals on the day. Junior Colin Cifuni also played incredibly well with three snipes from up top of the Big Blue goal.
Goalkeeper Nick Romano played excellently in the Winthrop net, coming up with some massive saves. “Our defensive unit played super tight,” said Donnelly. “To limit a team like Swampscott to only seven goals is a challenge and that unit was able to really step it up in a huge moment.”
With about three minutes left in double overtime Luke Githinji was able to feed from X (the area behind the opponent’s goal) to find Michael Holgerson, who got open off a nice cut, to win the game.
“This was a huge win to put us one step closer to our goal of winning the NEC South title,” noted Donnelly.
The Vikings then engaged on Friday in another hard-fought battle against Shawsheen Tech, a very strong Division 3 division team that is 10-1 on the season.
“Playing the next day after a huge win like that is always tough, but after going down 11-7, our guys fought back,” Donnelly said. “This team has a lot of heart and a ‘never give up’ mentality and that was clear in this game. We had a couple of looks at the end of the game to try to tie it up, but we couldn’t finish, losing 12-11.”
This past Monday the Vikings made the trip to non-league opponent Stoneham and earned a 14-6 triumph.
“This was a nice team win,” said Donnelly. “It’s great when everyone is able to get involved. We played a solid four quarters of lacrosse with few let-ups.”
Sacco netted seven goals on the day, CJ Cifuni scored three, Luke Githinji added two, and Mike Holgerson and Charlie Ferrara scored a goal apiece.
“Overall, the team is grinding hard and is coming together to play some solid lacrosse,” said Donnelly. “It’s great to see our offense playing loose and having fun while our defense continues to be a tight unit. Our goal is to show up every day and just take another step forward to be better than we were yesterday.”
Donnelly and his crew will host traditional NEC North power Masconomet today (Thursday). The opening face-off on the Miller Field turf is set for 4:30.
“This will be a great challenge for us,” noted Donnelly of the battle with the Chieftains, who are in first place in the NEC North with an 8-0 record and are 9-2 overall.
The Vikings, who qualified for the post-season state tourney with their ninth victory (which assured them of the .500 record needed for a tourney berth), will entertain Gloucester this Monday and will trek to Salem next Wednesday.
WHS baseball team on the road for four
The Winthrop High baseball team will be on the road for four contests over an eight-day stretch. They donned their Road Warrior personas starting at Swampscott yesterday (Wednesday) and will travel to Masconomet tomorrow (Friday), at Wakefield Saturday, and at Amesbury next Wednesday.
Coach Jack Wallace and his crew have been going through a tough stretch over their past four games. The Vikings engaged at Manchester-Essex in what Wallace termed “a hard-fought game by two very similar teams,” but came up short by a score of 3-2 in which Manchester–Essex eventually won on a walk-off.
Viking senior Timmy Vargus turned in a strong pitching performance, tossing 6-and-2/3 innings with seven strikeouts.
“This was Timmy’s third quality start,” said Wallace. “He has been a bright spot in the pitching rotation. He controls the game well and has had all of his pitches working all year.”
Batting highlights came from freshman Braedon Lounsbury with an RBI single and sophomores Jojo Pumphret and Dom Spinale, who were on base twice with a hit apiece. “These two have been our top two hitters all season and will be the backbone of the offense in the future,” noted Wallace. Senior Matt Noonan continued his hot hitting, slashing a single.
“This was a tough loss, but something to build on. The team played hard until the last pitch,” Wallace added.
Winthrop came up short in another one-run loss four days later at Peabody, 9-8. Senior Senior Philly Boncore took the ball and threw well for four innings, allowing only one run.
“Phil threw a lot of strikes and got out of some jams,” said Wallace. “However, defensively we did not help him out as we gave them a lot of runs.”
Sophomore catcher Ryan Murphy had a nice game behind the plate, gunning down a Peabody runner. Offensively, the Vikings were led by seniors Matt Noonan (two hits on the day) and Boncore with multiple RBIs. Freshmen Danny Connolly and Carmine DiPrisco had their first career varsity hits.
Winthrop battled valiantly in the seventh, scoring five runs, but the Vikings’ comeback fell one run short. Freshman Braedan Lounsbury threw 1-and-1/3 innings of shutout ball out of the pen.
“This year is extremely important for Braedan, as he will get a more expanded role in the coming years and has the potential to be a true ace,” said Wallace.
This past Friday the Vikings dropped a 4-0 decision at Saugus. “Saugus again shut us down with great pitching by their ace, Braedon Crawford,” said Wallace, whose squad was blanked by Crawford in their first meeting with the Sachems. “He has probably the best arm in the conference. We battled a little better than before, but he was better than us today.”
Sophomore Michael D’Ambrosio spoiled the Saugus no-hit bid with the only hit for the Vikings and reached base another time.
“Michael continues to work hard and have good at-bats,” said Wallace. “Our bats were quiet all day. We had some good swings, but Crawford dominated.”
Vargus got the starting nod and went six strong innings, allowing four runs. “Timmy threw really well against a good Saugus lineup,” said Wallace. “A couple of different pitches and it’s easily a 0-0 or 1-0 game. Timmy has turned into our legit number one starter who wants the ball whenever his name is called.”
This past Saturday morning Winthrop hosted Whittier Tech and dropped an 11-3 decision.
“This was one of our worst performances overall all season,” said Wallace. “Nothing worked or went well. It was a bad loss in a much-needed non-conference game.”
The highlights for the Vikings were provided by the senior trio of Matt Noonan, who had a nice, two-strike single to score a run; Boncore, who reached base three times with two singles; and Matt Reardon, who also had a base hit.
Cappuccio shines for WHS boys track
Although the Winthrop High boys and girls outdoor track and field teams came up short to Northeastern Conference rivals Peabody and Danvers in their tri-meet last week, a number of Vikings turned in superb performances.
Once again, as has been the case since he was a freshman, senior Nick Cappuccio was the class of the field in the dash events. Nick outsprinted all of his Falcon and Tanner foes in both the 100 meter dash in a time of 10.8 and the 200 dash with a clocking of 22.1.
Junior Liam Natareno turned in a fine effort in the 1-mile, taking first place vs. Peabody and second vs. Danvers with a time of 5:36.
Aaron Armitsdead took first place vs. Danvers in the 110 hurdles with a time of 16.6, which also was good for second place vs. Peabody.
Sophomore Thomas D’Amico tallied points in three events for the Winthrop column on the scoresheet. In the 400 dash, Thomas finished second vs. Danvers and third vs. Peabody; in the long jump, he flew to a second-place vs. Danvers; and in the triple jump, he landed in third vs. Danvers.
Viking boys who also scored points in the meet (three points for 2nd place and one point for 3rd place) were:
— Senior Ryan Gillis in the 800 with a third vs. Danvers;
— Freshman Eli Lawton in the 2-mile with a third vs. Peabody;
— Junior Brady Tallent in the 110 hurdles with a third vs. Peabody; and
— Senior Owen Nargi in the 400 hurdles with a second place vs. both Danvers and Peabody;
On the girls’ side, Iris Clancy earned first-place honors vs. Danvers in both the shot-put with a throw of 23′-3″ and the discus with a toss of 43′-2″.
Additional Lady Viking point-scorers were:
— Sophia Bocci scored a third-place point vs. Danvers in the 200 dash;
— Lyla McCarey tallied a point vs. both Danvers and Peabody for her third place effort in the 400 dash and also scored a point vs. Danvers with a third-place in the triple jump;
— Hailey DeMarco grabbed third place point in the 800 vs. Danvers and finished second vs. Danvers and third vs. Peabody in the 400 hurdles;
— Bailey Ferguson scored three points for her second place effort in the mile vs. Peabody;
— Eloise Farnsworth scored three points for her second-place effort vs. Danvers in the shot-put and one point for her third place effort in the mile vs. Peabody;
— Danika Ripley earned a point vs. Danvers in the shot;
— Olivia Scorzella scored three points with a second place vs. Danvers in the discus;
— Mary Healy scored a point vs. both Danvers and Peabody with a third in the high jump;
— Diora Bytyqi took second place vs. Danvers and third vs. Peabody in the long jump; and
— Lylah Cassidy finished second vs. Danvers and third vs. Peabody in the triple jump.
WHS softball team giving it their all
Although the Winthrop High softball team fell short in its recent contests with Peabody and Saugus, head coach Erin Vercruysse was pleased with her team’s effort.
“We played Peabody at home, which was our first chance to play a game at Cellucci this year,” said Vercruysse. “We lost 23-4, but the score did not reflect how hard the girls played.”
The Lady Vikings carried a 4-2 lead into the top of the fourth, but that’s when Peabody’s bats came alive and the Lady Tanners erupted for 14 runs.
Key hits for Winthrop came from Lucy Boncore, who had a double to deliver two runs, and Deanna Nee, who had an RBI base hit.
This past Friday Winthrop hosted Saugus and fell by a score of 7-3. Sophomore Makayla Herdt took the mound for a full game for the first time this season and did well, striking out seven Lady Sachem batters.
Winthrop had 11 hits on the day, led by senior captain Amelia Spencer, who went 3-for-3 with two RBI. The Lady Vikings once again were aggressive on the basepaths, stealing four bases.
Vercrusse and her crew have three long road trips in the coming week: They will travel to Boxford to meet Masconomet Regional tomorrow (Friday); to Rockport on Monday; and to Gloucester next Friday.
JV softball team is playing well
The Winthrop High junior varsity softball team turned in a pair of impressive outings this past week. Although they fell to Peabody last Wednesday, 16-14, the JV offense accumulated seven hits (including a double by Molly Titemore), drew 12 walks, and stole 17 bases.
Two days later, the junior Lady Vikings defeated Saugus, 15-5. Ava Rogowicz delivered a three-run homer and Briella McFarland had a triple. McFarland also struck out 12 Saugus opponents in the pitcher’s circle.
WHS flag football splits two contests; at Miller next Tuesday
The Winthrop High flag football team split its two contests last Thursday, defeating Essex Tech, 13-12, but falling to the Peabody 1 team.
“Our MVP’s were junior Stella Osburn and senior Marwa Mimouni,” said WHS head coach John Cross, whose squad heads back to Essex Tech today (Thursday) for contests with St. Mary’s and Peabody 2.
The Lady Vikings will host Peabody and Barnstable next Tuesday evening for a pair of games starting at 6:00.