By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
MALDEN—The Melrose High softball team has its team awards banquet on June 4 at the Exchange Street Bistro in Malden. That night, rookie head coach Stephen Turner gave out three awards.
Paige Crovo was given the team’s MVP Award. The junior captain hit .241 with an on-base percentage of .349. Her slugging percentage was .315. The shortstop-catcher walked eight times and scored ten runs.
The Coaches Award went to fellow junior captain Ava Viola, who was Melrose’s lone Middlesex League Freedom Division All-Star this spring.
Viola played 19 games hitting .446 with eight runs batted in and one homer.
The first-baseman, who moved to shortstop later in the year, led the team in several offensive categories as she had a slugging percentage of .667 and an on- base percentage of .483.
Sydney Bowles took home the third award of the evening as the sophomore got the Most Improved Player Award. “She cut down on her strikeout and got much better as the season went along,” said Melrose assistant coach Frank Sorrenti, about the left fielder.
With no seniors on the roster this year, Melrose suffered growing pains as they searched for wins in the Middlesex League.
“The first two-thirds of the season we were regularly mercy-ruled,’ pointed out Sorrenti. “The final five or six games, the tide started to turn and we became more competitive. I feel that we could have beaten Belmont and Watertown the second time we played those schools but with a young team, they have to learn how to close out games.”
Turner and Sorrenti recommended to the girls that night that they play some summer ball to improve their skills. With everybody slated to return next year, the roster will have a lot of experience and the coaching staff hopes that a couple of the junior varsity players from this year will also be able to make the roster next spring. “We did show that improvement late and I’m looking forward to next year,” said Sorrenti.
