Weekly Sports Roundup, May 8-May 13

As the spring season marched on, the student athletes of Melrose enjoyed a beautiful week for sport, and certainly took advantage with a full schedule. The Red Raider squads were in action last week as the season approaches the stretch run, the time for a playoff push is at hand. Here’s the way it all went down.

Baseball Goes 2-1

Melrose baseball played three games in three days last week and came home with a pair of big Middlesex League wins over Woburn and Belmont, while falling to the Reading Rockets to split the season series.

May 9 saw the Red Raiders travel to Woburn and serve the Tanners with a 10-6 defeat. The following day, Melrose did the same to Belmont, laying an 8-6 beating at the doorstep of the Marauders.

For the finale, the Red Raiders (11-5, 10-3 ML) took on Reading on May 11, but late-inning heroics weren’t forthcoming on this occasion, and the Rockets took a 7-3 win home with them.

Dan Riordan had a good game, as usual, for Melrose.

Softball Goes Winless 

On the softball diamond, it was a tough week for the Lady Raiders as they played three times but failed to find the proper form for victory. Facing Woburn on May 9, Melrose fell by a lopsided 15-3 scoreline, despite Alyssa DiRaffaele scoring two runs and Lindsay Bright scoring one, ending a four-game winning streak. It was a grim premonition of what was to follow.

Next it was the Reading Rockets who beat Melrose like rush hour traffic. Reading came to Pine Banks and routed the Lady Raiders 17-4. Reading stepped off the bus and promptly plated seven runs in the first inning, and Melrose never recovered.

Then it was Stoneham who handed the Lady Raiders their third and final defeat last week, by a 16-4 margin, proving the volatility of Middlesex League softball, as the four-game winning streak the Lady Raiders (5-10, 5-8 ML) brought into the week gave way to a three-game slide by week’s end.

A Mixed Week for Boys, Girls Tennis

Red Raiders boys tennis got a solid 4-1 win over Woburn on May 12, with big wins at second and third singles for Tim Cobau and Zach Bachiri. Melrose also dropped a pair of contests last week, falling 3-2 against Stoneham on May 9 and 5-0 to Lexington on May 13. The Red Raiders are now 4-9.

The girls split a pair of contests, beating Woburn 4-1 on May 11 in a Middlesex League battle. Sarah McGowan won at second singles, 6-0, 6-0, while Shannon Tarpey prevailed at third singles, winning the first set 7-6 by virtue of a 8-6 tie breaker, and the second 6-2. Charlotte Mays and Olivia Ragon won at first doubles, 6-3, 6-1 and the Lady Raiders second doubles team of Natalie Kendall and Julia Mongeau won in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0.

Girls Lax Win Three

Melrose girls lacrosse played five games in five days last week and came out ahead, winning three of them. On May 9, the Lady Raiders beat Malden 13-6, and then lost to league rivals Woburn the following day by a 15-5 margin.

Then Melrose picked up a big win over Cambridge Rindge & Latin, running away with a 23-4 rout, but was handed a similar fate by Reading the following day, losing 19-2. To end the week, the Lady Raiders edged out a 17-15 win on Friday the 13th.

The boys dropped two last week, falling to Lexington 17-1 on May 10, and losing on the road to North Quincy 15-4 in a non-league test on May 12.

Boys, Girls Track Split 

The Red Raiders (2-4) boys track squad beat Watertown on the road May 10, by the score of 75-60, but was felled by Reading 83-52 on May 12.

On the girls end of things, the Lady Raiders (3-3) outpaced Watertown 89-47 on May 10, and fell to Reading by a narrow 72-64 margin on May 12.