THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JULY 23, 2021 Page 15 ~ GREATER BOSTON LEAGUE NOTEBOOK ~ Once a Tornado... A lot of baseball years reunited Monday at Pine Banks Park Boudreau made his mark at Revere High; on to Curry College Previlon sets new Everett High track record in the 400 hurdles By Jason Mazzilli W hen a trio of two former Golden Tornadoes standouts and a “still going” Tornado coach just happened to reunite at their former “stomping grounds” at Pine Banks Parks Monday night, there were a lot of stirred-up memories... and lots of baseball years. Just by happenstance, when the Metro Red Sox team of the Boston Men’s Baseball League (BMBL) had a game at Pine Banks Park, it was the fi rst time two former Malden High School baseball players had competed on their old high school fi eld... since high school! For 1977 MHS graduate Billy Smeglin and 1987 MHS alumnus Sam Steed, that’s 44 years and 34 years, respectively, between games played on their former fi eld. Add to it that the umpire assigned to the game behind the plate was another Tornado, Steve Freker. He is also an MHS grad in addition to being the present Malden High School varsity baseball head coach. Since Freker will mark his 40th season coaching in the high school athletics ranks beginning in the 2021-2022 school year, that represents over 100 years of baseball between just the three of them, not to mention the years spent on the diamond before high school. “I’ve been playing baseball since I was six in Malden Little League and I never stopped,” Smeglin told The Advocate, making it over 50 years pitching in total in consecutive seasons, since the 1960s at Devir Park. “This is the fi rst time I played on this fi eld since the 1976 season.” Smeglin – a craf t y right-handed pitcher who was a teammate of MHS Hall of A LOT OF BASEBALL YEARS: There was a reunion of a lot of Golden Tornadoes baseball years at Pine Banks Park this week. Pictured from left are 1987 MHS grad Sam Steed, Malden High baseball coach Steve Freker and 1977 Malden High grad Billy Smeglin. All three are still actively involved in baseball on diff erent levels. (Courtesy Photo) Famers Shawn Brickman, John Furlong, John Stanasek, Donnie Roach and Tony Jesi on the MHS Baseball Team (his coaches were Frank Adorn and Bob Ware) – also spent many years in the local Intercity semiprofessional league for several teams, including the Medford Mustangs and Melrose Rams. Smeglin never stopped, still taking the mound regularly for the Metro Sox in the 38+ division of the BMBL, in his early 60s in age. Steed, a lefty ace who was 8-0 on the mound his senior year at Malden High in 1987, was also an undefeated pitcher for the Barons in Malden Babe Ruth in the mid-1980s and the Malden Bambinos in Senior Babe Ruth League, in the late 1980s. He went on to win two NCAA Division 2 National Baseball Championship rings with the University of Tampa in 1991 and 1992. Since college and a couple of pro ball tryouts, Steed has continued to play in the Intercity League for several teams, including a bevy of title seasons with the Lexington Blue Sox. On Monday night, he was the starting pitcher and was well on his way to a win when a lights malfunction cut the game short. Umpiring the game was Malden High baseball Head Coach Steve Freker. Coincidentally, he was an assistant varsity baseball coach in his second and third years at Malden High when Steed SPORTS | SEE PAGE 17 HEADED TO COLLEGE RANKS: Calvin Boudreau, one of the few Revere High student-athletes in school history to achieve Greater Boston League All-Star honors in three sports (football, basketball, baseball), is headed to the college football program at Curry College in a few short weeks for preseason camp. (Courtesy Photo/Revere High Athletics)
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