Sports
Weekly Sports Roundup, April 18-24
Rain ruined much of the week's sports schedule for the student-athletes of Melrose High, but it wasn't a complete washout. Baseball, softball and boys lacrosse all managed to get their games in. Here's a look at how the locals fared.
Three weeks into the alleged “spring,” and Melrose High has yet to have a week of sports untouched by inclement weather.
Rainy conditions scuttled much of the Red Raider athletic schedule this week, but it wasn’t a complete washout. Melrose baseball and softball were both able to proceed as planned, and the boys lacrosse team squeezed a game in mid week as well.
Baseball continues quest for league crown
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Melrose baseball (5-1) continued its hunt for a Middlesex League Title, playing three games against league competition last week.
On April 18 the Red Raiders welcomed Woburn to town, and handed the Tanners a 13-8 defeat.
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Next up was Stoneham, and the Spartans couldn’t get out of town fast enough after April 22. The Red Raiders’ bats belted out an eye-popping 21 runs, as Melrose romped to a 21-6 win.
Dan Riordan, Paul Ardizzoni and Brett Barbati all scored three runs for the Red Raiders, while Ryan Hardy picked up the win.
Softball sputters, drops three league games
The week began with a 7-5 defeat to Woburn on April 18, and with two more tough ML tests on the horizon, matters figured to get no easier for Melrose.
Reading nudged out a 9-8 win against the Lady Raiders (1-5) on April 20 in a closely contested affair, leaving only the Stoneham game for Melrose to to get on the right side of the ledger during the week.
It looked as though the tough week was about to turn around for the Lady Raiders on April 22, when they took a 9-6 lead into the top of the seventh against visiting Stoneham. Looking a good bet for their second win of the season, Melrose couldn’t close it out, and the Spartans tied it with three runs in the seventh and completed the comeback victory with a run on a wild pitch in the eighth, sending the Lady Raiders home with a tough-luck 10-9 loss in extra frames.
Athena Ziavras and Alyssa DiRaffaele both swatted a pair of hits and scored two runs each in the losing effort.
Boys Lax loses to Lynnfield
Melrose (1-4) dropped a tough 12-8 decision to non-league rivals Lynnfield at Pine Banks Park on April 22.
The Pioneers rolled their way to a 7-1 advantage by the mid point of the opening half, but the Red Raiders fought back, though ultimately fell short in their comeback bid.
