Melrose falls in opening round, 4-1
Published in the June 10, 2016 edition
THE MELROSE Lady Raider softball team saw their season end in the opening round of playing in a 4-1 loss to Burlington. Pictured is batter Ali Bornstein of Melrose. (Steve Karampalas photo)
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE — The Melrose High girls’ softball team saw their season end in the opening round of the Div. 2 North playoffs when they fell to Burlington High, 4-1, on Thursday, June 2 on the road at Marvin Road in Burlington. Melrose had a challenge facing Burlington junior hurler Kaitlyn Campbell, who limited Melrose to one run in 7 innings.
Burlington (15-6) also beat Melrose twice during the regular season meetings.
“We stranded some runners, and came up empty a few innings,” said Melrose head coach Steve Wall. “Burlington is a team that we have a lot of familiarity with, we were able to face both their pitchers this season, we just didn’t score as much as we had to.”
Melrose did, however, take a 1-0 lead in the second inning thanks to an in-the-park homer by Rachel Pfeiffer who knocked her shot over the head of Burlington’s Caroline Coveno, giving Melrose a much needed advantage. But Burlington responded at the bottom of the second by scoring two runs which gave them a 2-1 lead when Gillian Daly and Campbell crossed the plate for a 2-1 lead.
Melrose’s Josephine Andruszkievwicz (2-3) reached on a single but Campbell and Co. clamped down on Melrose batters, limiting them to scattered hits over the next 4 innings while also increasing their lead to 4-1 in the fifth. Melrose stranded several runners in the final two innings, including Peri MacDonald and Andruszkiewicz, but played solid defense including work from Crovo, Andruszkiewicz, and Pfeiffer, who tossed out a runner at the plate in the fifth.
Melrose ends their season with an 11-8 overall record. Departing this season are seniors Ali Bornstein, Alex McGuire, Alyssa Gorman and Mackenzie Marks.
Coach Wall acknowledged the work of his hard working seniors. “This is the first time we have ever made back-to-back playoff appearances and a large part of that is because of our seniors and our pitchers, Alyssa and Alex.”
While Melrose will be shorthanded in pitching (with the loss of McGuire and Gorman), they return freshman hurler Jill Stone and strong hitters and fielders including Victoria Crovo, Josephine Andruszkiewicz, Saoirse Connolly, Rachel Pfeiffer and Peri MacDonald.
