12-7 loss finishes post season run
Published June 25, 2021
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—The Melrose Red Raider baseball team’s season ended in the preliminary round of the Div. 2 North playoffs with a 12-7 loss to Salem at Fred Green Field on Thursday, June 17. Melrose was not able to overcome a rough opening inning that saw them fall to a 3-0 deficit at the top of the first, which only deepened over 7 innings.
Salem’s hurler Bobby Jellison took the win on the mound and the Witches advanced to first round play against Shawsheen. Melrose finishes their season 5-8.
Salem made the most of the first inning, paired against Melrose junior hurler Ronan Donahue. But it was a series of errors by Melrose that had Salem (7-10) in the position to score several unearned runs over the game. Melrose opened the first inning with an outfield error from the glare of the sun that essentially set the tone over the day. Salem would begin their scoring courtesy of Jack Doyle (4-4) Bobby Jellison (4-4) and Rob Palacios (3 hits) but Melrose’s Donahue looked otherwise sharp, striking out two to get out of the inning.
Melrose bats answered in the second when senior captain Mark Aylward reached first on a single, stole second and was knocked in by junior Gavin Donahue. Melrose’s Eric McGovern got on base with a lost-in-sun fly ball in left field and would soon represent Melrose’s next run after a pass ball at home. Melrose stranded two in the second, and while Liam Coen had a monster hit in left, he was thrown out advancing to second. Mark Aylward advanced to first on an error, stole second and was joined by Gavin Donahue on the base path when he was hitch by a pitch from Salem’s Bobby Jellison. But a Melrose strikeout would end the inning.
The game remained (briefly) a 3-2 ballgame as Melrose shut down the Witches in the top of the second. Two strikeouts from Donahue and a toss out at second by Melrose catcher Christian Carrieri kept the game moving. But the Witches knocked in eight runs in the top of the third which essentially took Melrose out of the game and facing down an 11-2 deficit they wouldn’t recover from.
While Salem bats slowed down, Melrose’s game alive in later innings. Meanwhile, Melrose’s junior pitcher Trevor Botto stopped the bleeding in the last three innings. While it was a disappointing finish for Melrose, coach Scott Searles sees opportunity for growth with the squad. “Trevor fought for us. He really did a nice job to hold them at bay and give us a chance. Ronan just had a tough day. He really struggled with his location. He was pretty solid for us all year. Without Ronan on the mound we wouldn’t have done as well as we did,” he says.
And Searles gave the team credit for chipping away in the later innings. “Everyone had to claw back and get what we did. In the end, we just waited a little too long to get it going and it was too steep of a hill. The guys never quit and kept grinding. Their pitcher was pretty good and we made him work.”
Coming back after a two-year break proved to be a challenge for Melrose, notes the coach. “Honestly, this was by far the most challenging year I have been a part of as a coach,” says Searles. “With all the restrictions and the rapid rate packed into a short season, it took everything from everyone. What these kids have been through the last year was really hard. They handled it very well. This was especially true for our seniors who worked their tails off and did a great job from a leadership standpoint.”
This year Melrose says goodbye to seven seniors, captains Mark Aylward, Christian Carrieri and Eric McGovern along with Luke Desmond, Charlie Haggerty, Mike Overlan and Liam Coen. While they missed playing their junior year, they got to enjoy a normal senior season packed with over a dozen games. “The takeaway from this season for us was that it was about more than baseball,” says the coach. “This was a chance to give these kids a sense of normalcy that was severely lacking in their lives. While I’m sure most of us are disappointed with the end result, I couldn’t be more proud of the way these kids went about things this year.”
As for next year, Melrose will return starters including much of their pitching staff such as Gavin and Ronan Donohue, Rowan Smith and Trevor Botto, and beyond that, there remains lots of room for advancement. Says Searles, “Our goals for next year remain the same. We want to win a championship. We’ve got a lot of work to do and the guys returning will need to put in the work to get us there.”
After their enjoyable season, Melrose was awarded four All-Star awards. Earning the honors were Christian Carrieri, Ronan Donahue, Mark Aylward and Charlie Haggerty.
