THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, MAy 16, 2025 Page 21 Mother Nature interrupts the momentum on the Everett High softball, baseball teams Tide girls bounce back from Lowell loss to beat Somerville; Boys suffer another heartbreaker By Joe McConnell Softball looks for better seed as regular season winds down T he Everett High School softball team (11-3) only played one game last week, but it wasn’t its fault. They can blame Mother Nature for the inactivity after blanketing the area with several days of rain. Their scheduled games at Lynn’s Breed Field on May 5 against Lynn Classical and on May 7 against Lynn English were rained out. These postponements only made this week even more hectic. Instead of two scheduled games against Somerville and Revere, the Tide added two more to the mix. But the good news is that they have already defeated the Highlanders on Monday (May 12), 9-4 at Glendale Park. The makeup against English was slated for the next day, smacked right dab in the middle of another scheduled league game against Revere at home on Wednesday after press deadline. After playing those three games on consecutive days, they got a much-needed day off, before heading to Lynn again later today (May 16) to take on Classical under the lights at Breed, starting at 6:30 p.m. The game that the Everett girls did play last week was against non-league host Lowell. However, they ended up losing that contest to the Red Raiders, 11-5. Both teams are in Division 1, and, despite Lowell’s 3-9 record, they are seeded just ahead of the Tide, according to the May 9 power rankings. The Red Raiders are 40th Everett is just two notches behind them in 42nd , while place. There are 55 teams in Division 1. In that Lowell game, Peyton Warren went the distance in the circle, going all seven innings. Warren allowed eight hits, five walks and 10 earned runs. She fanned two. The Tide took a 1-0 lead on Lowell in the top of the first. After Arianna Osorio-Bonilla reached base safely on an error, she then went to second on a fielder’s choice ahead of Alexa Uga’s double that drove her home. But Lowell came right back to take the lead with three in the home half. They added another run in the second. The Tide cut into the deficit to two with one in the third. Kassidy Rivera led off with a walk. Osorio-Bonilla kept the rally going with a hit. Both runners then successfully pulled off a double steal, before Olivia Dresser walked to load the bases. Mia Allen followed with a clutch, two-out hit, which scored Rivera from third. Everett regained the lead with three more in the fourth to go up 5-4. Warren started the inning off with a double. Rivera followed with a single. Osorio-Bonilla then reached on an error to load the bases for Dresser, who was safe on a fielder’s choice after Rivera was caught going to third. Warren scored the inning’s first run on that play. Ashley Seward then came to the plate to triple home two to put her teammates back on top. But Lowell quickly regained the lead, this time for good, with two in the home half of the fourth. They then widened the gap with two more in the fifth, before closing out the offense in this game with three in the sixth. Despite a mild threat by the Tide in the seventh on hits by Seward and Allen, the home team Red Raiders were able to get out of the inning unscathed to secure the win. “We showed some good fight in the middle innings, especially from players like Ashley Seward and Peyton Warren, who stepped up offensively. But we also gave away too many extra outs on defense, which ended up costing us,” said coach Stacy Poste. “Peyton battled through seven innings, but defensively we didn’t do enough behind her to support that effort. It’s important that we tighten up our fundamentals in the upcoming games to bring more consistency (in all aspects of the sport, before the state tournament gets underway).” After taking on aforementioned host Lynn Classical at Breed Field tonight (May 16) at 6:30 p.m., the Tide will stay on the road to begin next week at Medford (May 19, 5:30 p.m.) and nonleague Swampscott (May 21, 4:30 p.m.). They will then get a chance to avenge the loss to Lowell next Saturday (May 24) at Glendale, beginning at 10 a.m. Tide baseball remains alive for postseason berth C oach Malik Love’s team (7-8) was not immune by the unsettled weather either last week. They too played only one game, and that was a 1-0 loss to Lynn English at Glendale Park on May 7. It was the third time this year that the Tide lost by just one run. Lynn Classical also pinned a 1-0 defeat on them in an early April game, and at the end of last month Malden was able to escape past the Tide, 3-2. Sophomore starting pitcher Derek Soper was on the mound for all three games, and certainly deserved a better fate. But he also has two of the team’s seven wins, which has helped his teammates remain in postseason contention this late into the regular season. “We have certainly grown a lot this year, but still have to find a way to capitalize in clutch situations,” said Love. “We could easily be 10-5 right now, instead of 7-8, but the opportunity is still there for us to be in the playoffs. That’s been the plan since the start of the season. I wanted to be able to compete against some of the best teams in our league, and we did just that. But with five games left on the schedule, we have to start hitting better and with more consistency.” In last week’s game against the Bulldogs, Soper was sharp once again on the mound. He gave up six hits, but just one walk, while striking out six. The game’s lone run was earned off him. But unfortunately, the Tide literally couldn’t buy a hit off junior pitcher Engel Thomas, who allowed just one Everett baserunner throughout the entire game, and that was on a walk to sophomore Tyler Freni. “When Soper is on the mound, we expect to win that game, or at least be competitive,” said Love. The Everett boys started this week off with a 13-0 loss to host Somerville. They defeated the Highlanders the first time around at Glendale on April 16, 3-2 with Soper on the mound. “We just didn’t have enough pitching to beat them in the rematch,” said Love. There’s no doubt with freshman M.J. Guida and Soper on the staff, the future is certainly bright for the Tide. But Love knows that this year’s club is quite capable of getting into the postseason, and once there he wants them to win at least one round, as well. The Tide was scheduled to go up against host Revere on May 14 after press deadline, before coming home to face Lynn Classical later today (May 16) at Glendale, starting at 4 p.m. Medford then comes to town on Monday (May 19) to take on the local nine at the same time. Everett has already won four Greater Boston League games this spring, prior to Wednesday’s Revere contest, compared to three last year, and Love likes that positive trend that will only get better, because of the solid foundation of young talent on this year’s varsity roster, not to mention in the overall program, as well.
22 Publizr Home