Beverly | McClelland Miscellanea

Category Archives: Beverly

June 3, 2011 · 9:59 pm

Middle Innings’ Explosion Big in Beverly’s Win Over Andover 8-1 in D1 North Softball

Ashley Chalifour (#4) backs up third and prevents a run in the Andover first. At the bat, Ashley had three hits and drove in three runs.

Beverly celebrates victory at dusty Innocenti Park.

(Beverly) The Beverly Panthers exploded in the fourth and fifth innings and defeated the Andover Warriors, 8-1, in the preliminary round of the Division 1 North softball tournament on Friday afternoon.

The game was played at dusty Innocenti Field in Beverly on a sunny, breezy afternoon.

#16 seed Beverly (12-9) advances to the first round with the victory and gets to play #1 seed Chelmsford (19-1) at Chelmsford on Monday afternoon at 3:30 PM.

Enough of the potential bad news ahead. The good news for Beverly was the way they played in this game, especially in the 4th and 5th. Andover entered the 4th a run up but when those innings were over they trailed, 8-1.

Aimee McKenna (#2) chases Alex Coults (#8) around second in Beverly’s four-run 5th.

The Panthers batted around in both innings and collected ten hits. They also benefited from two Warrior miscues.

The bottom of the Beverly batting order was huge. Kate Silvestri, Natalie Shea, Jen Ashton, and Ashley Chalifour were a combined eight-for-eleven, drove in seven runs, and scored four runs.

In fact, everyone in the Panther starting lineup, except Monica Cassola, had hits.

Jen Powers started for #17 seed Andover (10-11) and cruised 1-2-3 through the first two innings. In the third, the first three Panthers reached but Jen escaped by retiring the next three batters.

In the 4th, a Jen Ashton sacrifice fly tied the score and was the second out of the inning. However, Ashley Chalifour followed with a 2-run single up the middle. Later in that inning Ashley was driven home by Erin Silvestri’s single to left.

In the 5th, Aimee McKenna’s double put runners on second and third. Kate Silvestri drove in the two of them with a triple. Jen Ashton followed with a triple to drive in Kate and later Ashley Chalifour’s single delivered Jen.

Nicole Ericson singled and later scored Andover’s only run in the first inning.

Andover arrived late (Beverly traffic) but started hitting right away. Nicole Ericson hit a hard single to right in the first inning that got by Hannah Pitman for a 2-base error. Shannon Tully followed with a long triple over center fielder Jen Ashton’s head. The triple drove in Nicole with the only run the Warriors would get.

On that triple, there was a high throw to third. However, left fielder Ashley Chalifour alertly backed up third and prevented a second run from scoring by catching the overthrow.

Andover ended up with eight hits for the game with Dina Hagigeorges leading their attack with two hits.

The Warriors stranded ten runners. They were also unable to take advantage of four Beverly errors over the last four innings.

Beverly had errors by 3B Monica Cassola and 2B Natalie Shea in the seventh after two were out to load the bases but shortstop Erin Silvestri’s seventh assist prevented any runs from scoring.

There were several excellent fielding plays in the game. Beverly catcher Jenna LoVasco made a nice catch on a foul pop. Andover second baseman Molly Awiszus went a long way to get a foul pop outside the first baseline.

The middle of Beverly’s double play in the fifth inning.

Most memorable play? Watching Beverly turn a 6-4-3 double play in the fifth. It went Erin Silvestri to Natalie Shea to Kate Silvestri.

(I collect my own stats and take my own pictures. I apologize in advance for any mistakes made on my part.)

Rachel Willwerth – complete game winner

Jen Powers – Andover starter

Nicole Ericson reaches in the 7th

Meg Leary out at first in the first. Mariah Dodd takes throw.

Beverly Falls in Overtime to Reading 69-67 on Last-Second Layup

Kenny Reed (26 points) gets a ride from celebrating Reading fans after his last-second layup defeats Beverly.

(Reading) Denied a chance to win the game in regulation, Reading’s Kenny Reed (26 points) wasn’t denied in overtime.

The Rocket senior twisted in for a layup just before the buzzer to oust Beverly, 69-67, in the first round of Division 2 North basketball on Monday night at Reading.

A Beverly turnover (Felix Zamot travel after getting trapped in front of the Beverly bench) with 14.6 seconds left kept the Panthers from setting up for the final shot and gave Reading a chance to organize for the game-deciding last shot.

The Rockets came out of the timeout and put the ball into the hands of Reed at midcourt with eleven seconds left and cleared out to give him room to operate. With Curtis Manuel (17 points) in tight coverage, Reed spun in from the right and beat the buzzer with the game-winning shot.

Kenny Reed (arms folded) waits at the end of regulation to see if he’ll get a chance to win the game in regulation with a free throw.

Earlier, this same Kenny Reed was fouled in regulation at the buzzer, or so we thought, with the score tied at 61. A discussion among the officials and the supervisor of officials, that lasted ten minutes, ended with the ruling that the foul had been committed after the game had ended. This led to overtime. Believe me, the most relieved player in Reading at that announcement was Zach Zigglebaum who had been charged with the foul.

Few players have ever been “iced” the way Kenny Reed was during the excruciating delay. Even an amateur student of body language can detect in the photo that he was feeling the pressure as the delay went on-and-on. Could he have made the free throw to win the game, with two chances at it? We’ll never know.

At the start of the game Reading ran twelve straight after a couple of treys by Justin Marrs (14 points) had given Beverly an 11-4 lead. The Rockets led 21-15 at the end of the first quarter and Kenny Reed already had fifteen points. Six of the points came on 3’s, one that looked to be NBA range.

Reading built the lead to 31-24 at the half and there was little reason to think that Beverly had the firepower and defense to make a game of this one in the second half.

Turned out they did. Michael Clayton (13 points) and Justin Marrs combined for Beverly’s next seventeen points. Clayton’s put-back tied the score at 41-41 with a minute left in the third quarter.

Reading started fast in the final quarter as Kenny Reed and then Trey Jones found room for layups. Trailing 49-43, the Panthers took an eight-point run, with Curtis Manuel adding the last two baskets and Beverly led, 51-49, with five minutes left in regulation.

There were seven lead changes over the next three minutes. Trey Jones (16 points) put a three, a steal, and a layup into this late-game segment and gave Reading a 4-point lead (61-57) with two minutes to go.

Michael Clayton – 13 points for Beverly

Curtis Manuel – 17 points including 8 in the last quarter

Reading did not score again in regulation while Beverly got a layup from Michael Clayton and a Rocket turnover and a layup with 13 seconds left from Curtis Manuel to tie the score. Then there was the debated foul at the buzzer before the game went into overtime.

In the overtime, Jerry-Ellis Williams (15 points) gave Reading an early 65-61 lead with a layup and a jump shot. Beverly answered with a Clayton three and a free throw from Zach Zigglebaum. Brian Borque (10 points) hit a jumper. Curtis Manuel answered in kind.

Trey Jones missed a shot. Beverly turned the ball over. This set the stage for Reed’s game-winner at the buzzer in overtime.