RMS Softball & Baseball Excitement

Late June featured an exciting Friday afternoon for Riverside Middle School's softball and baseball teams. Both teams had key playoff games and both games were played simultaneously at the Riverside Recreation Field, known as "The Rec." Administrators, teachers, parents and fans scurried back and forth from one end of the Rec to the other to keep up with the games. Dr. Cheri Guerra, RMS Principal and Greg McCarthy, Assistant Principal, led a cheering contingent of RMS fans all day.

The Riverside Girls Softball team advanced to the semi-finals with an exciting come-from-behind win over Lincoln Middle School by a 3-2 score. After a scoreless four innings and a defensive battle lead by pitcher Taylor Babcock, the RMS Vikings struck first in the bottom of the 5th. A single by dominant Catcher, Emma Dasilva, started the inning. Dasilva then stole second. "A clutch single by Haily Silviera, whose been on a hot streak since playoffs began, and Haily came through again and scored DaSilva for our first run," said RMS head coach Katie Kenahan after the game. In the top of the 6th, Lincoln fired back with a single from second baseman Laila, followed by a hard hit triple from Riendeou, who scored on a tag up fly. This put Lincoln ahead 2-1 heading into the bottom of the 6th. As momentum switched, Lincoln seemed to be in command late into the game.

The Riverside fans did all they could do to spur on their Lady Vikings. Loud, rhythmic cheering could be heard all over the Rec. A walk by Savannah Feola, followed by a stolen base, and another walk by Aly Woods, put the Vikings in scoring position. At one point the Lincoln coach seemed rattled by the Vikings cheering section as he turned to the home crowd and said with arms raised high, "C'mon you guys aren't loud enough!" The RMS fans continued to cheer louder and the team also rallied on the field. "We got a solid fielder's choice shot by Alexis Giguere putting the ball in play and scored Feola with the RBI tying run," said Kenahan. The 7th inning started in a 2-2 tie. A defensive showing by Taylor Babcock, who retired three batters in the top of the 7th set the Vikings up to win it in the bottom of the 7th. "Babcock, who got injured in the quarterfinals, showed amazing toughness and strength and recorded 6 strikeouts with only 6 hits for us,"said Kenahan. Babcock, who was first up in the bottom of the 7th, displayed patience as she waited on a full count and lead off with a walk. Babcock stole second on a fake bunt by Silveira, who then got to first on a misplayed fly ball. Riley Farnsworth, an 8th grade center fielder, stepped up to the plate next. "Babcock stole third on a fake bunt by Farnsworth, who then executed a perfectly placed suicide squeeze slow rolling grounder to third to score Babcock and end the game. Our players were great and deserved this big win," said Kenahan. Riverside however finished the year with a semi-final loss, which capped off a great season.

At the boys end of the field, RMS was locked in a one run battle with Portsmouth. Each team had beat the other during the regular season and Friday's playoff game was the rubber match. Portsmouth ground out a one run lead on a couple of shallow outfield hits and that score was enough for the visitors to beat the regular season division champion RMS, eliminating them from the playoffs. Riverside was in the game until the last out with rallies in each of the last couple of innings. After the game RMS coach Bob Hanley gave an emotional pep talk to the team. "You played a great game today. You did everything right and everything we asked you to. That was a great team that beat us. It took a couple of bloop hits and that was enough," said Hanley. "You hit the ball very hard today, some incredible drives but they made the plays. We're very proud of you," added Hanley as his voice trailed off a bit.