State tourney brackets set for Warrior squads

THE No. 25 WAKEFIELD HIGH boys’ tennis team will travel to Belmont today to play the No. 8 Marauders in a first round matchup at 4 p.m. (File Photo)

 

By DAN PAWLOWSKI

 

WAKEFIELD — The spring sports state tournament brackets are officially set.

Wakefield High will have five teams competing in Div. 2 state tournaments over the next five days as the boys’ tennis, girls’ tennis, boys’ lacrosse, baseball and softball teams will all get ready for the challenge.

The 25^th-ranked boys’ tennis team will travel to the Winn Brook Tennis Courts in Belmont today at 4 p.m. to play the 8^th-ranked Marauders in a first round matchup.

Wakefield and Belmont played each other on May 15, also at Winn Brook. The Marauders took that match 5-0.

Luke Greif and Kevin DeGray had tough matchups at first and second singles respectively, against two of the best players in the Middlesex League. Trevor Veilleux took his opponent to a third set tiebreaker at third singles before coming up just short.

The first doubles team of captains Drew Schermerhorn and Sean Doherty kept it close but fell, 6-2, 6-3.

The second doubles team of Vinny Kaddaras and Sam Ryder came up short, 6-2, 6-1.

Wakefield finished 5-11 this season, all league matches. Belmont was 11-6 overall and 11-5 in the league.

The winner of this one will then play No. 9 Marblehead (16-3) who beat No. 24 Oliver Ames 5-0 in a first round matchup yesterday.

The Wakefield girls’ tennis team earned the No. 15 seed and will host No. 18 Plymouth North tomorrow, 3:30 p.m. at the Dobbins Courts. The Warriors went 9-7 this year, all league matches. The Eagles went 13-7. The Warriors will lean on captains Emma Fitzgerald and Sydney Moon at first and third singles, respectively. Ariannah Tringali has been strong at second singles. Wakefield’s doubles teams have both been great as well with Toni Whitson and Erin Leary at first doubles and Addie Moon and Sienna Catizone at second doubles.

The winner will meet the winner of No. 2 Longmeadow (18-2) vs. No. 31 Plymouth South (9-9) in the second round.

 

 

The Wakefield boys’ lacrosse team earned the No. 31 seed. The Warriors will host Medford, the last team in the field at No. 34, in a preliminary round game on Friday, 4:30 p.m. at the Galvin Middle School instead of Landrigan, which will host graduation for the Class of 2023 on Saturday morning.

The Warriors went 6-12 this season and 5-6 in the league. Medford was 13-5 overall but wasn’t ranked in the top 32 of the MIAA’s power rankings due to their strength of schedule. The two teams did have some common opponents. Most notably, the Mustangs lost to Woburn 14-7 who Wakefield beat 9-2. Both teams also lost to Arlington and beat Watertown. The Warriors are led by senior captains Kaiden Johnson (G) and Zach Sartori on defense and senior captains Bobby DeFeo and Dom DeAngelis on attack.

The winner will have a long road trip to the Cape for the first round to No. 2 Nauset Regional (15-3) in Eastham, likely on Monday.

The Wakefield baseball team earned the No. 23 seed. They will travel to Fraser Field in Lynn to meet No. 10 St. Mary’s on Sunday at 12 p.m.

The Warriors had a fantastic regular season, finishing 15-5 overall and 12-4 in the league as they won the Middlesex League Freedom Division title. St. Mary’s went 13-7 this year.

The Warriors outscored their opponents by an average of 6.2-3.7. They will likely give the ball to senior captain Owen Riddell who had a fantastic season as Wakefield’s ace. Wakefield’s balanced lineup includes a mix of leaders like senior captain Matt Elwell and senior Drew Barrett along with talented juniors Frank Leone, Tylor Roycroft and Steven Woish and plenty of underclassmen ready to contribute on the big stage.

It will certainly be a tough matchup for Wakefield as St. Mary’s won the Div. 2 state title just two years ago in 2021. They enter this year’s tourney with plenty of momentum, winning nine games in a row from May 3 to May 29 until a 2-1 loss to D1 power St. John’s Prep in their final game.

The winner will move on to the Round of 16 where they will play the winner of No. 7 Pope Francis (16-6) vs. No. 26 Reading (14-6).

 

 

The Wakefield softball team earned the No. 16 seed. They will host No. 17 Wilmington in a first round matchup on Monday, 4 p.m. at Blatz Park, Meghan Burnett Field.

The Warriors went 11-9 with a league record of 7-7. Wilmington went 12-8 overall and 10-4 in the Middlesex League. The Wildcats beat the Warriors in both games between the two in the regular season, winning 4-3 on a walk-off in Wilmington on April 12 and 17-4 at Veteran’s Field on May 4.

Wilmington went 10-2 in their final 12 games and they’ve won six of their last seven including non-league wins over Andover and Masco in their final two.

Wakefield, too, comes in playing well having also won six of their last seven including key victories over Danvers and Reading.

The Warriors will likely give the ball to freshman Kathryn Sliski who has had a strong season in the circle and at the plate. Senior captains Paige Butland, Emma Kane, Charlotte Rossicone and Sara Nemec lead the offense.

The winner will in all likelihood travel to No. 1 seed Westfield (17-1) in the second round.