Category Archives: Lynnfield

April 17, 2013 · 5:46 pm

Amesbury rallies from 5-run deficit to defeat Lynnfield 9-5 in Cape Ann League softball

Fly balls gave Lynnfield trouble in the sixth inning.

Malia Roberto (#7) after her homer in the first inning.

(Amesbury) Lynnfield took a four-run lead into the sixth inning before falling apart in the field and losing to undefeated Amesbury, 9-5, on a sunny Wednesday morning in Cape Ann League softball.

The Pioneers (2-3) had six errors in the final two innings and therein squandered an impressive hitting display in the first two innings.

Lynnfield had four runs after four batters to start the game. Two singles (Rachel Buzzotta and Mandy McQueen), a triple (Jade Palladino), and a home run (Malia Roberto) in the top of the first inning had me wondering what the Pioneers had been served for breakfast!

pitcher Carolina Merrill after the game

But a strikeout by winning pitcher Carolina Merrill enabled the Indians (3-0) to end that first inning with two Pioneers stranded and only four runs given up.

Lynnfield had a run in and two more runners on in the second inning when centerfielder Janine Fatal made a nice running catch to limit the damage to one run.

Surprisingly, the Pioneers had just two hits over the final five innings but their defense held Amesbury to one run through five innings.

Leftfielder Malia Roberto, third baseman Lauren Guerra, and shortstop Rachel Buzzotta made terrific plays in the 4th and 5th innings.

However, that 5-1 Lynnfield lead after 5 ½ innings melted like a Hodgies ice cream cone on a hot day in the bottom of the sixth inning.

That sixth is probably an inning that has been deleted from the Lynnfield scorebook by LHS coach Peter Marinelli. And no one could blame him!

Jade Palladino

Things got so bad that I heard pitcher Jade Palladino yell out in the midst of it, “Let’s get it together out here!”

When you put together a mixture of five hits, four errors, and a wild pitch, bad things will happen. Twelve Indians batters took part in that sixth inning and eight runs scored. More than enough to win this one for Amesbury.

By my (unofficial count) only two of Amesbury’s nine runs were earned. LHS starter Jade Palladino obviously deserved a better fate.

Junior Malia Roberto had a 3-hit morning including a 2-run homer to right-center in the first inning.

Senior Mandy McQueen had two singles and scored a run for Lynnfield.

Jade Palladino tripled to straightaway center in the first inning driving in two Pioneers runs.

Amanda Schell

Junior Amanda Schell had two hits and scored two runs for the victorious Indians.

Autumn Kligerman made a nice play on a line drive to go along with scoring a run, getting a hit, and driving in a run.

A key in the Amesbury win was the way senior Carolina Merrill took charge in the last five innings. When she started mixing in a very good changeup with her fast pitches, LHS batters lost some of their early-inning aggressiveness at the plate.

I suspect that the LHS outfield defense will be getting some serious practice time in the near future. Two drops on routine fly balls were a big part of the Pioneers demise in that fateful sixth inning.

Both teams return to action on Friday. Lynnfield hosts Malden (10:30AM) while Amesbury visits Pentucket (10AM).

Amesbury boxscore

Lynnfield boxscore

(All of the pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Rachel Buzzotta steps on home in the first inning

freshman Lauren Fedorchak

Two Indians chase a popup

Cassie Schultz

Rachel Buzzotta

Carolina Merrill about to catch a popup in the seventh inning

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Filed under Amesbury, Lynnfield

Tagged as Amanda Schell, Carolina Merrill, Jade Palladino, Malia Roberto, Rachel Buzzotta

April 9, 2013 · 11:53 am

Newburyport gets two wins over Lynnfield in outdoor track

Steve Preston won the shot put, discus, and finished 2nd in the 100

DJ DeGeorge finished 2nd in the shot put and discus

(Newburyport) Plenty of sunshine and plenty of success for Newburyport in outdoor track competition with Lynnfield on Monday afternoon.

The Clippers (1-1) recovered nicely from last week’s losses to North Reading in their Cape Ann League opener.

The Newburyport boys defeated the Pioneers, 92-51, while the Clipper girls came out ahead, 90 ½ – 54 ½.

On a bright day (I’m making excuses for the pictures already!) I took a number of pictures of the participants.

I prepped for the race by taking a look at the 2012 CAL outdoor track championships at North Andover. That research alerted me to the best matchup in this meet – Steve Preston (Nbpt) versus DJ DeGeorge (Lynnfield).

The event was the shot put. In the CAL championships DJ was the winner with a put of 48’11”. Steve was third with 46’4”.

On Monday afternoon Steve turned out the winner reaching 49’. I don’t know DJ’s distance this time around but he ended up second.

Steve also won the discus with a throw of 142’ 5”. That length would have won last year’s CAL meet in which Steve ended up second throwing 138’ 1”. DJ was second today in the discus.

Tom Graham wins the 100

Steve also had a second in the 100 behind teammate junior Tom Graham.

Watching the Newburyport distance runners is always entertaining. You go into having no idea what the “script” will be.

In the two-mile, the “script” was determined by how long Lynnfield’s Chase Davidson could stay in contention. When he dropped back the front four orchestrated the way the race would go, in conversion as the race went along. In the final stretch, Max Vye “pulled away) from Joe Santo, Nick Carleo, and Chris Orlando to get the win.

Nick Carleo cruises in the one mile

The one mile event was run without scripting and Nick Carleo won decisively. His time was 4:47 which is quite a ways from his 4:29.8 at the CAL championships last May.

Lexi Buonfiglio was a decisive winner for Lynnfield in the 800. The senior was 4th in the CAL championships and all of the girls who finished ahead of her have graduated.

Next for Newburyport will be hosting undefeated Masco (2-0) on Thursday. For Lynnfield, it will be a trip to Ipswich (1-0) on the same day.

(All of the pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

sophomore Lily Eagan won the 400 hurdle

Max Vye leaves the pack in the two mile

Sam Stansel takes the 400

Liza Twomey took the 100 and the 200

Lexi Buonfiglio captures the 800

Erin Carroll wins the two mile

DJ DeGeorge tosses the discus

Becca Speak in the triple jump

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Filed under Lynnfield, Newburyport

Tagged as DJ DeGeorge, Lexi Buonfiglio, Max Vye, Nick Carleo, Steve Preston

January 30, 2013 · 1:44 pm

Newburyport holds off Lynnfield in overtime 66-62 in boys basketball

Colton Fontaine (twenty points and twelve rebounds) breaks away in overtime

Pat Kearney (31 points) drives past Adam Traxler

(Newburyport) I overheard Clipper coach Tom L’Italien say to his team before overtime started, “I told you that this was going to be a struggle.”

And it sure was but Newburyport (9-4) held off a good Lynnfield (8-6) team, 66-62, in overtime on Tuesday night in Cape Ann League action.

The shorthanded Clippers were missing starters Ian Michaels (illness) and Matt Canning (injury) and labored to be consistent on offense and defense with replacements.

The Pioneers weren’t much better through three quarters missing a ton of shots. But in the final quarter (down 38-26 at the start) Pat Kearney (31 points) and Eddie Moore (10 points) caught fire and led the visitors through a 26-point quarter all the way back to overtime.

Conor Sullivan (#10) ties the score in regulation with ten seconds left

Pat had three long ones and Eddie had two in the remarkable comeback. An inbounds play with Corey Sullivan on the scoring end, with ten seconds left, finished the Pioneer run back to a tie (52-52).

The Clippers took charge in the five-minute overtime despite losing shot-blocking, rebounding, seventeen-point producing Dillon Guthro on fouls after little over a minute had gone by.

Senior John Baribeault tallied the go-ahead-for-good basket with 1 ½ left (60-57) in OT and Lynnfield ran out of the long-range success they needed to come back.

Senior Pat Kearney had eight points in the overtime to reach thirty-one points. It was hard for me to believe that this was the same player I saw held to four points by undefeated North Reading four days ago in the Hornets’ 62-36 win. When you’re hot you’re hot, when you’re not…….

Clipper John Baribeault (six points in OT) sees a possible turnover

This was a tough loss for Lynnfield. They have now lost four straight with a home game ahead with a strong Manchester-Essex team on Friday night at home.

The good news for Lynnfield, however, is that they are on top in the CAL Division 2 standings. That position alone, at the end of the regular season, would gain them a spot in the post-season state tournament. They could be formidable in Division Four.

Newburyport (9-4) moves a win short of making the tournament in Division Three. This was a win pulled off without several starters while losing formidable big man Dillon Guthro in overtime, and squandering a twelve-point lead. The Clippers continued to add “excitement” in overtime by missing six of fourteen free throws.

The Clippers visit undefeated North Reading on Friday night. I came away from NR’s 62-36 win over Lynnfield four days ago believing I had seen the best player in the Cape Ann League. That player is 6-4 John Mastascusa. The transfer from Malden Catholic had twenty points, including four dunks, without forcing his offense against Lynnfield. John plays on the perimeter so I suspect that Colton Fontaine will draw the very tough defensive assignment.

Colton Fontaine scores despite a block attempt by Pat Kearney

6-1 Colton led the Newburyport scorers against Lynnfield with twenty points and also took in twelve rebounds.

John Baribeault (11 points) and Colby Morris (10 points) also reached double figures for the winners.

Impressive ball-handling performance at halftime by a large delegation of Bresnahan students.

Newburyport boxscore

Lynnfield boxscore

(All of the pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Colby Morris (10 points) shoots over Traverse Briana

halftime performers

Drew Bourdeau rebounds

John Baribeault puts Newburyport ahead for good in OT

Eddie Moore (eight points in 4th quarter comeback) defends

Dillon Guthro beats Adam Buchanan to the hoop

Pat Kearney blocks the shot of Mike Shay

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Filed under Lynnfield, Newburyport

Tagged as Colton Fontaine, Dillon Guthro, John Baribeault, Pat Kearney

January 25, 2013 · 11:54 pm

Undefeated North Reading beats Lynnfield 62-36 to win thirteenth in boys basketball

One of the four dunks John Mastascusa (20 points) had against Lynnfield

Pat Kearney dribbled into some strong North Reading second-half defense

(Lynnfield) I swear it was the same group of North Reading Hornets playing the second half that played the first half.

You had to wonder, however, after the North Reading boys started the second half trailing by a point (23-22) and then just thrashed Lynnfield with a twenty-five point third quarter.

In that same big point-producing quarter the Hornets were able to limit the Pioneers (8-5) to only six points and won going away, 62-36, on Friday night in Cape Ann League action.

The win keeps the Hornets undefeated (13-0) and you have to wonder if anyone ahead in the CAL can keep them from a perfect regular season. Not likely, from what I saw in this game.

The attraction of this game was that on January 2nd these two teams had played a very tight, 44-41, match at North Reading. The Pioneers had the ball at the end of that game with a chance to tie it. So there was history to suggest that in a rematch played at Lynnfield, the NR streak might be stopped.

That thought was still in my head after a half. Undersized Lynnfield came out flying, and the taller, slower Hornets just couldn’t keep up for much of the first half.

Conor Sullivan (15 points) goes for a block against Chris Capozzoli

North Reading had a run of five straight turnovers to start the second quarter while Lynnfield ran six straight points (two layups by Connor Sullivan and another by Adam Buchanan) near the end of that quarter. The Pioneer point-streak put them up 23-18 with 1:23 left and led to a noisy Hornet timeout.

The visitors responded with all four points after that (John Mastascusa layup and a Tommy Hogan layup off a turnover) to trail, 23-22, at halftime.

I’m guessing that the noisy NR timeout extended into the locker room at halftime. The Hornets came out just before halftime ended and took no warm-ups.

The second half started with 6-4 John Mastascusa (20 points) jamming home a rebound and Pat Kearney answering with two free throws. So after a minute Lynnfield still had a one-point lead and another tight finish looked likely.

After that? You almost had to be there to even fathom the way North Reading went off and Lynnfield went under from there on. The simple math is that NR outscored Lynnfield, 38-11, the rest of the way.

It was a long second half for Lynnfield coach Scott MacKenzie

2 ½ minutes after Lynnfield had the one-point lead, North Reading ran off eleven straight points and Coach Scott MacKenzie had burned two timeouts trying to find some way to stop what was happening. The Pioneers were down, 35-25.

The difference? The Hornets took much better care of the ball. The Pioneers gambled defensively all over the court and when that tactic didn’t work the visitors had layups. Mike O’Brien had five in the run, while John Mastascusa had four, and Tommy Hogan two.

Conor Sullivan (15 points) finally hit a shot for Lynnfield to end their drought but only temporarily. The next 2 ½ minutes saw NR put another run together (ten points) to vault ahead, 45-27, with 1:25 to go in the third quarter. Mike O’Brien, Tommy Hogan, John Mastascusa, and Evan Wade registered points during this second big collection of unanswered points.

The rest of the game was played but not to determine the winner or loser. There are rules that say you have to! The Division Three Hornets, with a twenty-five point third quarter, had wrapped this one up early. There was plenty of reserve action in the final quarter.

One of the things that killed Lynnfield in the second half was getting caught in close on their offensive end. Over and over again, an NR player would get a rebound and send teammates off on fastbreaks. In the first half, the Pioneers made enough shots so that they had time to get into some sort of defensive position. Not in the second half.

John Mastascusa (10) elevates

This was my first look at John Mastascusa. I was impressed. John lives in North Reading but until this year had been at Malden Catholic. He was good enough in the Catholic Conference to earn All-Star honors after last season. Suddenly in his senior year he decided to play in his hometown with teammates he was on travel teams with starting in fourth grade.

The usual pattern is that when a public school player becomes good enough they transfer to a private school but not in this case.

John can play above the rim, he had four dunks, but he was generally the point guard for North Reading. His willingness to give up the ball to teammates was noticeable. However, when he wanted to get to the rim he could. His highlight dunk was a flying put-down of someone else’s missed shot. That was early in the third quarter.

I liked the hustle of Division Four Lynnfield. In their excellent first half they forced turnovers and ran every chance they could. No question it was a frustrating evening for Pat Kearney who was defended into a four-point game.

Both teams play next Tuesday. North Reading hosts Ipswich while Lynnfield will be at Newburyport.

I chatted with Hornet coach Joe Casey before the game about Division Three. He told me, “there’s Danvers and then there’s everyone else!”

North Reading was 7-13 last season. Now they’re heading into territory that Coach Casey said, “they’d never come close to during his years of coaching at North Reading.”

Freshman Adam Buchanan added ten points for Lynnfield. I would guess that he had at least that many rebounds.

Mike OBrien (13 points) looks for an opening against Paul Pasciuto

Mike O’Brien (13 points) and Tommy Hogan (10 points) ended up in double figures for the Hornets.

Lynnfield is in first place in the CAL Small Division but have now lost three straight games.

North Reading has been averaging close to sixty points per game and giving up forty points. Their shot blockers do not allow many in-close shots when opponents have to run half-court offenses.

I thought that there was a pretty good-sized Cape Ann League crowd on hand.

North Reading boxscore

Lynnfield boxscore

(All of the pictures above and below enlarge considerably and get into sharper focus if you click on them.)

Evan Wade and Pat Kearney

loose ball

Carl Lipani

Adam Buchanan (10 points) shoots over John Fortes

Tommy Hogan (10 points)

shot blocker

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Filed under Lynnfield, North Reading

Tagged as Adam Buchanan, Conor Sullivan, John Mastascusa, Mike O'Brien, Tommy Hogan

October 22, 2012 · 8:09 pm

Amesbury defeats Lynnfield 2-0 to stay undefeated in girls soccer

Hannah Zannini takes a shot. The AHS senior scored both goals for the undefeated Indians.

Janine Fatal takes one of her five hard shots.

(Amesbury) The undefeated Amesbury Indians played without the Cape Ann League’s top scorer (Megan Cullen) and faced a desperate opponent.

Neither mattered as the Amesbury girls soccer team defeated Lynnfield, 2-0, at Cashman School on a sunny/windy Monday afternoon.

Amesbury (13-0-2) have won seven straight since their tie with Hamilton-Wenham on October 1st.

Megan Cullen (17 goals/9 assists) warmed up but did not play. Maybe her absence has something to do with the fact that Amesbury has a spot in the tournament and already owns the CAL Division 2 title.

The Indians have two regular season games left – Tuesday (Georgetown) and Thursday (Rockport). You have to like the Indians chances of going undefeated. They have already defeated the Royals (5-0) and the Vikings (8-2).

Lynnfield (5-7-4) will now need to win their last two games (Rockport & Ipswich) to make the tournament.

The Pioneers’ desperation made this game of interest plus the fact that on September 19th Lynnfield had narrowly lost to Amesbury, 3-2. But in this one, the home team never let the visitors mount much of an attack.

With Megan sidelined, teammate Hannah Zannini cashed two goals (her 14th and 15th) in the first nineteen minutes of play and that was all that Amesbury needed.

Loose ball in front after a Lynnfield corner kick.

Amesbury had seventeen other shots in the direction of the Lynnfield goal. Lynnfield had a shot off of a corner kick in the first half and a flurry of several shots in the second half. Paige MacEachern had a strong bid for Lynnfield in the second half but AHS goalie Sarah Abraham finished with her fifth shutout.

Hannah’s first goal (I saw it from the other end!) was set up by Natalie Dawes. Hannah got in close on the right side.

The second scoring shot was from straight away and it zipped over the left shoulder of LHS goalie Hannah Travers.

Amanda Martin (12) tries to get past Ali Johnson (5).

After watching Amesbury play a good opponent for eighty minutes it’s easy to see why they have been so good this season.
(1) First of all, they rarely turn the ball over. If an opponent rushed at them they used the, “Lucy-Charlie-Brown-football-trick.” They would pull the ball back and let the opponent fly by. Taylor Tagliente and Erin Leary are two of the best defenders you’ll see.
(2) Second is Janine Fatal at midfield. The AHS senior had marvelous control in midfield traffic with speed and dribbling. And you talk about a hard shot from long distance. She had five of them in this game and fortunately for the Pioneers none of them were on target.
(3) Third is the overall team speed of Amesbury. They seemed a half step faster then Lynnfield over most of the field.

Lynnfield’s positional defense was quite good after the two goals. Even if players were beaten there were always teammates to help further down the field. Trust me, Amesbury did not go into any defensive shell over the last sixty-one minutes of soccer.

(The pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Hannah Zannini gets pregame advice

Dayle DiTullio clears for Lynnfield

Emily Martin (16) takes a shot

Amanda Martin (12) closes in on Lynnfield goalie Paige Ciavarro

Natalie Dawes gets in on Lynnfield goalie Hannah Travers.

Hannah Zannini tries to get the ball from Abby Petras (19)

Sam Filipe

AHS coach Cathy Berry at halftime

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Filed under Amesbury, Lynnfield

Tagged as Abby Petras, Ali Johnson, Amanda Martin, Coach Cathy Berry, Emily Martin, Erin Leary, Hannah Zannini, Megan Cullen

May 14, 2012 · 9:33 pm

Mel Mancinelli leads Lynnfield past Amesbury 4-0 in Cape Ann League softball

The Lynnfield team congratulates pitcher Mel Mancinelli (#10) after defeating Amesbury

Mel Mancinelli – shut out Amesbury with three hits

(Amesbury) Lynnfield’s Mel Mancinelli tossed a 3-hit shutout as the Pioneers defeated Amesbury, 4-0, on a cloudy Monday afternoon in Cape Ann League softball.

Mel was the big story as she only allowed four base runners the entire game. The CAL All-Leaguer issued just one walk and during one stretch retired fourteen batters in a row. She had seven strikeouts.

Amesbury (11-3) threatened in the first (Cassie Schultz triple) and second (runners on second and third with two out) but couldn’t do any damage.

Lynnfield (10-5) had eight hits and base runners in every inning except the fifth. However, it took Amesbury errors to put the finishing touches on all four of the Pioneers’ runs.

This innocent looking play turned into two unearned runs for Lynnfield in the second inning.

In the second, Jade Palladino and Mandy McQueen reached third and second with two outs. A routine grounder to second baseman Alexis Boswell looked to be the inning ender but first baseman Sarah McCullough couldn’t handle the throw and both runners scored.

In the third, Lynnfield put runners on first (courtesy runner Julia Eliopoulos) and third (Katie Rowe) with one out. Mel Mancinelli followed with a sacrifice bunt attempt that Sarah McCullough threw past first allowing Katie Rowe to score. Later in the inning, Mandy McQueen’s fielder’s choice enabled Julia Eliopoulos to cross with the fourth Pioneer run.

Those four runs were more than enough on this afternoon.

Carolina Merrill

Carolina Merrill went the first five for Amesbury and gets a tough loss thanks to four unearned runs.

Cassie Schultz, Erin Leary, and Autumn Kligerman had the Indians three hits.

Katie Rowe paced Lynnfield with three hits. Jade Palladino had two hits.

Amesbury defeated Lynnfield, 5-2, in a nonleague game at Lynnfield on April 13th.

Amesbury has now lost two straight after winning seven straight.

Lynnfield coach Peter Marinelli

With the tenth win, Lynnfield qualifies for the end-of-the-season state tournament. Coach Peter Marinelli told me that he nearly had that 10th win last game against Rockport. He also told me that Rockport coach Diane Parisi played for him when he coached Stoneham.

Next game (weather permitting) for Lynnfield is at Manchester-Essex tomorrow afternoon. Amesbury is at Triton on Wednesday.

When I see corner infielders not wearing face masks I ask myself the following questions: (1) Why do the players still make the final decision and (2) How serious an injury will it take before masks are required?

(The pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Kelsey LeBlanc takes a throw beating Janine Fatal to first.

Sam Shopleigh makes a catch in right

Jade Palladino catches a popup.

Cassie Schultz

Amanda Schell flips to Alexis Boswell

Mandy McQueen makes a running catch

Amesbury coach Chris Perry

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Filed under Amesbury, Lynnfield

Tagged as Carolina Merrill, Cassie Schultz, Jade Palladino, Katie Rowe, Mandy McQueen, Mel Mancinelli

April 9, 2012 · 8:55 pm

Newburyport wins softball opener (3-2) over Lynnfield

Beth Castantini moves in to catch a deflection off of the glove of Maddie Stanton.

(Newburyport) The Newburyport Clippers hung on to defeat Lynnfield, 3-2, at cloudy, windy Cashman Park on Monday afternoon in nonleague action.

Not until dangerous Mel Mancinelli’s pop nestled into Clipper second baseman Jackie Krusemark’s glove for the final out was this game a W for the home team.

The inning before (6th) Mel had slammed a very long triple to deep centerfield and in this at bat had teammates on first and third trailing by a run.

But the Clippers survived to win their season opener as well as an initial win for new coach Lori Solazzo.

For the Clippers. retiring Mel Mancinelli for the last out was important but maybe even more important was a throw from centerfielder Lea Tomasz to catcher Lauren Singer that nailed Julia Goldstein for the final out of the sixth inning. The Pioneers had to settle for two runs, and a tie score, in that inning.

Catcher Lauren Singer fields the throw from Lea Tomasz

Julia Goldstein tagged out at the plate.

Newburyport pushed across the actual game winner in the bottom of the sixth. Maddie Stanton singled to center and reached third after a passed ball and a fielder’s choice. Kendra Dow’s single to right drove Maddie home.

The Clippers picked up their other two runs in the 4th. The wind/dust seemed to catch up to Pioneer right fielder Julia Sheehan and she dropped a catchable fly ball off Beth Castantini’s bat and she reached third. Lea Tomasz scored the Clipper’s first run on the 3-base error. Later Maddie Stanton drove Beth across for run #2.

Mel Mancinelli tripled in the 6th inning

That 2-0 lead held up until the sixth when the Pioneers tied the score. Mel Mancinelli was delivered by Amanda McQueen’s single. Two wild pitches later Amanda was on third and from there came home on Jackie Whelan’s single.

Pioneer Amanda LaSpina was called out for runner interference in the 3rd against first baseman Molly Rowe while Molly was nailed with the same call interfering with shortstop Katie Rowe in the 4th.

Centerfielder Sarah Flood made a nice running catch in the 5th on Beth Castantini’s sinking liner.

Winning pitcher Beth Castantini finished with seven K’s getting at least one in every inning except the seventh.

The umpires had both teams hollering in the seventh inning as close plays went the wrong way depending on the sideline you were on.

Beth Castantini struck out seven

Jackie Whelan scattered six hits for Lynnfield. She also drove in a run.

Lea Tomasz, Maddie Stanton, and Kendra Dow had two hits each for Newburyport.

Lynnfield (1-1) hosts Ipswich on Wednesday.

Newburyport (1-0) returns to Cashman Park on the same day to play North Reading.

Lynnfield probably should have guessed it wasn’t their day in the 4th inning when Jackie Whelan’s popup bounced off of Maddie Stanton’s glove into Beth Castantini’s.

April games at Cashman are always challenging. Today, however, was windier than usual and every now and then the infield dust would swirl toward the Lynnfield side of the field.

Former NHS coach Peter Murray was an interested spectator.

Newburyport box score

Lynnfield box score

(The pictures above and below enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Sam Wahlgren

ball gets away from Julia Sheehan

Lea Tomasz forced at second by Katie Rowe

Second baseman Jackie Krusemark gets final out.

Catcher Lauren Singer prepares her equipment

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Filed under Lynnfield, Newburyport

Tagged as Beth Castantini, Jackie Whelan, Julia Goldstein, Kendra Dow, Lauren Singer, Lea Tomasz, Maddie Stanton, Mel Mancinelli

January 11, 2012 · 11:35 pm

Late Surge Sends Lynnfield to 66-53 Victory Over Triton in Boys Basketball

Steve Carangelo (17 points) hits a 4th quarter three for Lynnfield

Pat Kearney (17 points) drills a three as Pioneer coach Scott MacKenzie watches

(Byfield) The Lynnfield Pioneers blew open a close game in the fourth quarter and defeated Triton, 66-53, on Wednesday night at Triton in Cape Ann League play.

Lynnfield (5-4 overall / 3-0 in the CAL) had a tenuous, 50-48, lead with six minutes left but put a 15-2 hit on the Vikings over the next five minutes to win going away.

The primary villain in Lynnfield’s spurt was junior Steve Carangelo (17 points). The CAL All-Star of 2010-11 registered eight unanswered points with two long ones and a layup to boost the Pioneers to a 10-point spread with 4 ½ minutes left.

There was more Lynnfield damage ahead as Kevin Gamble (13 points) scored twice in close and added a free throw while Pat Kearney (17 points) hit a jumper. The only offense Triton had to show during all this was two Jedd Hutchins free throws.

Triton (3-5 overall / 2-1 in the CAL) had 5-point leads several times in the first quarter thanks to an old-fashioned 3-point play by Derek Paquette and later a jumper by Jedd Hutchins behind a nice double screen.

Blaise Whitman breaks away

The Vikings looked to be in serious trouble in the 3rd quarter when they trailed, 37-30, but they responded with an 11-4 run to tie the score at 41-41 with a minute left in that quarter. A three by Jedd Hutchins (7 points) and two layups by hustling Rich Fecteau (8 points) keyed this rally.

The Pioneers pulled off some late-quarter magic in the first and third. Steve Carangelo had a steal and layup just beating the buzzer to end the first quarter. At the end of the third quarter Triton tried to take the last shot but instead shot too early (and missed) giving lefty Pat Kearney time to can a long three from in front of the Pioneer bench at the buzzer.

Triton coach Dave Clay wasn’t shy about using his bench and ended up with ten players scoring.

Kevin Gamble (13 points) lay in

There was no fog in the Triton gym to cloud my mind but I failed to realize until later that the Kevin Gamble playing for Lynnfield and the interested parent in the crowd were connected. Yes, it was the former Celtic Kevin Gamble.

Lynnfield made six 3’s including five in the second half.

Triton is at Rockport on Friday.

Lynnfield box score

Triton box score

(The pictures above and below will enlarge if you click on them.)

Steve Carangelo blocks Jedd Hutchins

Kevin Gamble converts Pioneer miss

Zack Alaoui layup

Ryan Clark layup

loose ball

Rich Fecteau runs at 3-point shooter Nico Varano

Steve Carangelo goes in on Mike Campbell

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Filed under Lynnfield, Triton

Tagged as Jedd Hutchins, Kevin Gamble, Lynnfield High School, Pat Kearney, Rich Fecteau, Steve Carangelo, Triton Regional High School

November 7, 2011 · 10:13 pm

Ipswich Out in the D3 North Quarter Finals 3-0 to Lynnfield in Girls Soccer

Alison Johnson (5) sees plenty of daylight and scores the second Lynnfield goal.

Scout Benson (11) defended by Shannon McFayden (3) and Courtney Long.

(Ipswich) Who saw this coming?

The girls soccer rematch in Division 3 North between #4 Ipswich and #12 Lynnfield turned into a rout, 3-0, for the visiting Pioneers in the Division 3 North Quarter Finals on a sunny Monday afternoon at Ipswich High School.

These two teams had played three times in the last year and were unable to get the best of each other in regulation time in any of them. The first occasion was in the D3 North semis on November 11, 2010 and that tie was eventually broken in the 9th round of penalty kicks by Tiger Bryn Golesworthy. The next two meetings were this season and ended in 2-2 and 0-0 ties.

Wouldn’t you think they’d still be evenly matched in this game, with Ipswich having a slight advantage at home? I even checked on the MIAA site on how penalty kicks are arranged in tournament games!

On this day, however, Lynnfield never gave Ipswich a chance. They scored early in each half and had an All-League goalie (Nareh Sahakian) as the last defender.

Nareh Sahakian deflects a direct kick by Hannah Weagle over the crossbar in the second half.

Nareh’s best save of the day was a deflection of a Hannah Weagle direct kick twenty-six minutes into the second half.

Scout Benson was also a key piece in the Pioneer win. The CAL hurdles champ, from this past outdoor track season, pressured the Tiger defense with speed on the right wing and had an important foot in both Lynnfield first-half goals. Ipswich employed man-to-man coverage on her but not effectively. Scout’s speed put her in a position to get hard shots at the Ipswich goal. Those hard shots turned up juicy rebounds for teammates Kimmie Duhaime and Alison Johnson that were converted in the decisive first half.

Scout got off the first shot of the game and Kimmie put in the rebound at 1:45.

That first goal had a lot to do with the Lynnfield second goal (16:40) because when Scout again broke down the right wing the Ipswich defense collapsed toward her. Molly Markos had the near post secured. Scout’s hard shot, was to Molly’s right and deflected off her hands to Alison Johnson. Alison had time to stop the ball, turn to face the goal, and get off an uncontested shot to the uncovered left side.

This was not the last time Scout would pressure from the right wing but thereafter the Ipswich defense kept goals from resulting.

Shot by Lauren McCarthy slips past Tiger defenders for the third Pioneer goal.

Another Lynnfield All-Leaguer (Lauren McCarthy) netted the third goal early in the second half. Kimmy Duhaime forced a left corner kick. Instead of taking a shot on the corner kick, Allegra Dicesare tapped a pass to Lauren. Her hard shot went quickly past a group of Ipswich defenders in front of the Tiger net.

Lynnfield is now undefeated in their last eight games with seven of them being wins.

Ipswich came into this game undefeated in their last sixteen.

When I talked to IHS coach Nancy Waddell before their game with Newburyport I asked her about the tournament. She mentioned that you can get tough teams with mediocre records in the early round and she specifically mentioned Weston and Lynnfield. Sure enough, they both end up in her team’s bracket. She did get by Weston, which defeated the Tigers in the D3 North finals last year but not Lynnfield.

Scout Benson

Scout Benson was in prep school during the 2010 Lynnfield soccer season.

Good crowd on hand at Welch Stadium on a pleasant weather afternoon.

Next game for Lynnfield will be the Semifinals on November 10th (Thursday) against the Shawsheen/Georgetown winner. Georgetown beat Lynnfield 4-1 in October.

(I take my own pictures and give my own commentary. Mistakes can be made. I own any of them.) The pictures enlarge to normal size when you click on them.

Kimmy Duhaime

Kimmy Duhaime (4) after LHS goal #2

first half action in Lynnfield end

Lauren McCarthy

Hannah Weagle

LHS coach Mark Vermont

IHS coach Nancy Waddell

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Filed under Ipswich, Lynnfield

Tagged as Alison Johnson, Hannah Weagle, Ipswich High School, Lauren McCarthy, Lynnfield High School, Molly Markos, Nareh Sahakian, Scout Benson

November 12, 2010 · 2:11 pm

Ipswich Wins Penalty Kicks Thriller Over Lynnfield to Reach D3 North Finals

Bryn Golesworthy blasts first goal for Ipswich. Later the Tiger sophomore would tally the game winner in the 9th round of penalty kicks.

(Lynn) Tough last 24 hours for Lynnfield soccer, as both of their very good high school soccer teams exited the state tournament via the excruciating penalty kicks route.

First the boys lost to Rockport on Wednesday night at Manchester as they were closed out in the 4th round of the penalty kicks. Late yesterday (Thursday) afternoon, the Pioneer girls reached the dreaded penalty kick game-settler and lost in the ninth round to Ipswich at Manning Field.

I witnessed both games and admit that I didn’t realize totally how the penalty kick part worked. Now I do, and that makes the Division 3 North semifinal girls soccer game between Ipswich and Lynnfield a true classic.

The penalty kicks go for five rounds unless one team earlier than five rounds gets an advantage that can’t be overcome. That “unless” part is what happened to the Lynnfield boys. When Keady Segel of Rockport hit his penalty shot in the 4th round it gave Rockport a 3-1 advantage. When Keady then followed that up with a save in the bottom of the 4th on the next Lynnfield shooter, the game was over.

Bryn Golesworthy (#4) and Tiger goalie Hannah O’Flynn celebrate the game winner.

In the girls game the score was tied 2-2 after five rounds. Talk about tense. DiCesare Allegra had given Lynnfield a 2-1 lead in the top of the 5th round. The game would have ended if Tiger Samantha Brown hadn’t scored in the bottom of the 5th round. But she did and then the game entered the “next goal wins” stage. Seven shots were taken and every one of them was a potential game winner! You talk about a pressure builder! Bryn Golesworthy finally hit the winner and put Ipswich in the Division 3 North finals with Weston (#1 seed ) back at Manning Field on Saturday afternoon (1PM).

Manning Field was a windy place when the game started and I thought Ipswich had the better of the play with the wind. In a game with few clean looks Bryn Golesworthy got one in the first half and Ipswich had a 1-0 lead on her goal assisted by Hannah Weagle.

The wind lessened in the second half but Lynnfield didn’t need any help. They started to descend on the Ipswich end regularly forcing the Tigers to make numerous clearings. Lauren McCarthy evened things for Lynnfield out of a scramble to the right of the Ipswich goal.

Brittany Hunt (19) tracked down by Courtney Long (24) and Grace Gardner (3).

The rest of the half and through the two overtimes I give Lynnfield the edge. They had more finesse, meaning they could put several passes together. However, their passes didn’t lead to clear shots at the Ipswich goal thanks to a Tiger defense led by tireless Courtney Brown. There was a soccer ball or two in dangerous spots but no one from Lynnfield could get a clear shot. Ipswich made a few runs but with CAL All-Leaguer Hannah Weagle being closely watched there was little offense to be seen on their part.

That led to this match being settled by penalty kicks. Years from now folks, recalling this game, will remember Bryn Golesworthy’s goals, and Hannah O’Flynn’s saves (7-of-9 penalty kicks). Hopefully, also included in the memories will be Samantha Brown’s successful penalty kick in the bottom of the 5th round. A miss by Samantha and Ipswich loses.

I have to complement the setup at the Manning Field facility in Lynn. Just beautiful. Here’s a place that: is clean, has seating, has bathrooms, has a turf field, has a working scoreboard, has a speaker system, has locker rooms, has food/drink, has team rosters, and has parking.

(All of this information is unofficial. I hope that gives me a pass on spelling errors and misinformation.)

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Filed under Ipswich, Lynnfield, Rockport

Tagged as Britanny Hunt, Bryn Golesworthy, Courtney Brown, DiCesare Allegra, Grace Gardner, Hannah O'Flynn, Hannah Weagle, Ipswich girls soccer 2010, Ipswich Tigers, Keady Segel, Lauren McCarthy, Lynnfield Pioneers, Manning Field Lynn, Rockport, Samantha Brown