RHS Boys Track Easily Handles Beverly, Salem; Meets Peabody Tuesday for NEC Large Crown

The Revere High boys track team rolled to two more victories this past week, easily handling Beverly, 96-40, and Salem, 88-48, to improve to 6-0 on the season. The Patriots now will face Peabody Tuesday in a showdown for the championship of the Large Division of the Northeastern Conference.

In the Beverly meet (full details of the Salem meet will appear in next week’s Journal), the Patriots captured nine of the 14 individual events as well as the 4 x 100 relay, which alone accounted for 50 of their points on the day. However, Revere’s superior depth also helped carry the day, with the numerous second and third place finishes turned in by Patriot performers adding 46 points to put Revere well over the top of the 69 points needed to win a meet.

Omar Morales and Joey Ritchie were double winners for Revere. Omar captured the shotput with a toss of 46-1 and the discus with a spin of 120-6. Ritchie sped to victory in the 100 dash in 11.2 and captured the triple jump with a distance of 38-8.5. He added another three points to the Revere side of the scoresheet with a second place javelin throw of  l18-0.

Bobby Rose scored 11 points on the day with a first in the 200 dash in 23.2 and second places in the long jump with a leap of 5-6 and the high jump with a clearance height of 5-6.

Other first place winners for Revere were Lionel Forbes in the 400 low hurdles in 70.1; Karim Sahila in the 110 high hurdles in 15.9; Serey Morm with a javelin throw of 123-0; and Tarik Maddrey with a high jump of 5-10.

Second place efforts for Revere came from: Riyad Douane in the 400 hurdles in 73.8; Maddrey in the 100 dash in 11.5; Frank Davidson in the mile in 4:57.9; John DelloRusso in the two mile run in 11:08.5; Zachary Primo in the 400 dash in 55.0;  Kristi Nushi in the 800 in 2:07.4;  Chea Bourlaing in the 200 dash in 25.0; and Mirza Liskovica with a discus twirl of 106-11.

Third place performances that added single points to the Revere cause were forwarded by:  Damond Khat in the 400 hurdles in 76.0;  Sala Barhoum in the two mile in 11:24.7;  Lionel Forbes in the 110 hurdles in 20.7;  Karim Sahila in the 400 dash in 61.1 and a triple jump of 35-1; Mo Benzadok in the 800 in 2:22.7; Liskovica with a shotput heave of 38-8; and Alex DeRosa in the discus in 89-0.

Portrait, Jaynes toss gems for baseball team

The Revere High baseball team received two outstanding pitching efforts from their dynamic 1-2 punch of Tom Portrait and Noah Jaynes this past week, but emerged victorious in only one of the two contests.

Portrait tossed a three hit gem last Wednesday against Marblehead, but a lack of timely hitting by his teammates resulted in a 1-0 loss to the Magicians.

“Tommy pitched a great game,” said RHS head coach Nick Faggas of his junior hurler . “We played excellent defense behind him, but we couldn’t get the big hit when we needed it,” added the coach, noting the several scoring opportunities that his Patriots squandered, including a last-ditch, first-and-third rally in the seventh with two out that ended with a ground out.

Jaynes had much better fortune two days later against Swampscott as his mates tapped enemy pitching for eight runs en route to an 8-2 triumph. Jaynes went all the way, allowing just three hits and whiffing six. Once again the Patriots were solid in the field, but this they also swung some heavy lumber, including a four run fifth frame that broke open a 2-0 contest.

Sophomore Jake D’Angelo, who has been doing it all both at second base and at the plate, had three hits, including a double and two RBI. “Jake is our lead-off man and has been doing a super job for us,” said Faggas, who noted that Jake also had two hits in the Marblehead contest.

Other Patriots who had big hits in the win were Jonathan Van Buskirk, Jon Papasodora, T.J. MacDonald, and Portrait. Revere also ran the bases against the Swampscott pitcher/catcher duo and swiped 10 bases on the day, as well as using the hit and run to full advantage.

One positive common denominator for the Patriots in both games, as it has been all season, was the fine work behind the plate of Steve Selevitch. “Steve has been doing an outstanding job working with our pitchers all year,” said Faggas.

The Patriots have been without the services of key player Mark Maloney at shortstop, who has been out with a hip injury. Portrait has filled at the six position.

Faggas and his crew, who stand at 4-8 this season, were set to face Winthrop Monday and trek to Cambridge yesterday (Tuesday). They play under the lights tonight at 7:00 at Fraser Field against Lynn Classical and travel to Beverly Monday.

Silence of the bats for RHS softball team

The Revere High softball team received fine pitching and did a nice job in the field in its two contests last week against Marblehead and Swampscott. But the third ingredient necessary for winning softball, some timely offensive punch, was lacking in losses of 4-1 and 3-1.

“This was about as poor a pair of games at the plate as we’ve had in a couple of years,” said RHS head coach Joe Ciccarello.

Timely hitting was missing in the Marblehead tilt. The Lady Patriots banged out eight hits, but stranded 11 runners on base. Christine Stella had two hits and drove home Cassandra DiBella with the lone Revere run.

Stella scored the Revere marker in the Swampscott tilt, coming home in the third inning on a ground out by Julianna Cecere that closed the gap to 2-1. However, the Lady Pats would not score again and Swampscott added an insurance tally for the 3-1 finale.

RHS hurler Sabrina Palermo deserved a batter fate in both contests. Sabrina allowed just three hits against Marblehead, but one of those hits was a three run homer in the first inning after she had issued two walks. However, Sabrina settled down thereafter, ending up with 12 strikeouts on the day.

Palermo spun a four hitter and fanned eight against Swampscott, which pushed across two of its three runs on squeeze bunts. “Sabrina has been awesome for us,” said Ciccarello, “but we need to give some run support.”

The Lady Patriots, who fell to 5-6 on the season, were set to host Winthrop Monday and will entertain Lynn Classical today (Wednesday). They will journey to Peabody tomorrow and return home to face Beverly Monday and Lynn English next Wednesday.

Girls tennis team comes close to wins

The Revere High girls tennis team came close to winning its first match of the season this past week, but fell just short in two matches.

In a 3-2 loss to Salem, junior Sara Grujic, playing at first singles, defeated her Salem counterpart in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1. Teammate Mariah Rivera, playing at second singles, likewise was a straight set victor, 6-1, 6-4.

In a 4-1 defeat to Medford on Friday, Grujic at No. 1 once again emerged triumphant in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0. Rivera started well against her rival in the second singles slot, winning the first set 6-4, but then narrowly fell in the second set in a 7-6 tiebreaker before dropping the third set by a 6-3 margin.

Evelyn Bonilla, playing at third singles, likewise went to three sets with her Medford foe. Evelyn won the first set in a 7-6 tiebreaker, but then dropped the next set 6-0, before battling back to narrowly lose the third set, 7-5.

The Lady Patriot doubles tandems of Leila Derouy and Krystal Burbank at first doubles and Andrea Dueda and Alejandra Escobar, all of whom are sophomores, also turned in nice performances. Derouy and Burbank, who have been playing in the first doubles slot because of injuries to the regular first doubles duo of junior Carmen Peralta and sophomore Rim Lereri, fell 6-4, 6-3. The second doubles team of Rueda and Escobar came up short in their match, 6-1, 6-2.

Also seeing action for Coach Carla Maniscalco’s squad this week was freshman Lybaz Kahn, who played at second doubles with Dueda against Salem.

“Our singles players have been playing well and our doubles girls are getting better with experience,” noted Maniscalco.

The Lady Patriots will play at Winthrop today (Wednesday), host Peabody Friday, and trek to Lynn Classical Monday.

Boys tennis team still working hard

Although the Revere High boys tennis team came out on the short end of its three contests this past week, RHS head coach Mike Flynn said he was pleased in many respects with his team’s effort.

“We were short handed at times, but the team stepped up when they had to and did a nice job for us,” said Flynn.

In a match with Danvers, Satyak Som, usually a double player, moved into the third singles         slot in the absence of a teammate (Ryan Tran at second singles) and won his match in three sets, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. “Satyak played very well,” noted Flynn.

Nick Mucci was another Patriot cited by Flynn. Nick moved up to the second singles spot in place of Tran in the Danvers match and put up a good battle in a 6-3, 6-3 loss.

Patriot number one singles player Mladen Pepic also earned plaudits from Flynn for his effort in the Danvers match, turning in a good performance, despite being under the weather, in a 6-4, 6-0 loss. “Mladen gave it his best, but ran out steam in the second set,” said Flynn.

The Revere doubles teams of Danny Talic/Brian Monroy at first doubles and Talal Kahn/Henry Mancia also turned in solid efforts despite playing in different combos than they typically do.

“All of our kids are great team players who also are great student-athletes,” said the coach. “I’m very proud of the fact that all of these boys are playing a varsity sport and also are in the top of their class.”

Flynn’s senior captains, Pepic, Mucci, Monroy, and Kahn, all will graduate in the top 15 of the Class of 2013.

Flynn and his crew will travel to Peabody Friday and host Lynn Classical Monday.

Middle School softball team off to 5-0 start

On the heels of highly successful Middle School girls cross country and basketball teams, the Revere Middle School softball team is off to an undefeated start with a 5-0 record, defeating their counterparts from Medford, Danvers, Gloucester, Marblehead, and Saugus.

The Revere squad, which consists of seventh and eighth grade girls from all three middle schools and is coached by Richie McManus, has been playing mostly teams comprised of ninth graders.

The Junior Lady Patriots not only have been winning, but they are doing so in convincing fashion, their closest contest to date being a 7-5 win over Gloucester.

A combination of stellar pitching, timely hitting, and a practically impenetrable defense have made the team all but unbeatable. The roster reads as follows: eight graders are twins Victoria and Vanessa Puopolo, Samantha Woodman, Tia Fichera, Gianna Berkowitz, and Linda Diaz. The seventh graders who fill out the team are Gia Santaniello, Victoria Correia, Melaina Polan, Meghan Maguire, Tatianna Iacoviello, Alina Giuliano, Marina Robinson, and Isabella Ciciulla.

Revere’s Middle School teams continue to be highly competitive and successful and hopefully will be great feeder programs for varsity teams at the high school.

“Our team is made up of 14 excellent players, but more importantly, 14 great kids,” said McManus. “They are Revere students who make this city proud both on and off the field.”

The girls have three encounters left in their season against Winthrop, Beverly, and Marblehead.