Coventry High Stops EPHS Softball & JV Baseball in Playoff Games

The season came to an end yesterday for two East Providence High School athletic teams that had enjoyed successful seasons. Both the Townie Varsity Softball and JV Baseball teams were defeated in playoff loses to Coventry High teams respectively. The games played under brilliant sunshine were both played at Coventry High.

In the first game the boys Junior Varsity struck first but eventually lost to CHS by a 6-3 score. Tyler Midlefort lead off the game for the Townies with an infield single. Middlefort then stole 2nd and 3rd bases and scored on a line drive single to right field by Ray Aponte. Nate Silveira then got a hit for the Townies but Aponte was tagged out after making a wide over-run of 2nd base.

Coventry went ahead in their half of the first inning on a Townie error, a stolen base, a single and a sacrifice ground ball. The Oakers scored 2 runs to lead the Townies 2-1. In the bottom of the 3rd, Coventry scored 4 more runs. The inning started out with a bad hop single past shortstop and a walk. With the bases loaded for CHS, a pass ball scored a run and then a deep fly ball to center field scored another on a tag-up. After the third inning the score was 6-1 in favor of Coventry.

The Townies gave it a good effort as they picked up a run in the 4th. Nate Silveira lead off with a single and was sacrificed to 2nd by Dylan Bocchichio. With the bases full of Townies after a hit-batsman, EP scored after a Derek Geiger fielder's - choice. Neither team did much offensively as the Oakers finished with a 6-3 win over EP. "We had a good run this season," said Townie JV Coach Chris Kennedy. "Our team did well to make the playoffs and hopefully gained experience to help varsity next year," added Kennedy.

In the night cap the Townie softball team took on a favored Coventry team in playoff action. The game was never in much doubt as Coventry scored 1 run in the first,5 runs in the second, 3 runs in the third and 1 each in the fourth and fifth innings to register an 11-2 win over the Townies. CHS scored their first inning run on a base hit and an eventual sac fly to right field. CHS hit the ball well all game as the Townies struggled to muster a hitting attack. The EP runs came in the top of the third inning on a stolen base of home and a fielder's choice by Kate Atwell. The game featured two Coventry homeruns.

After the game the Townies stayed upbeat as they left the field. "I'm very, very proud of this group," said veteran head coach Rob Traverse after the game finished. "We entered this state tourney as a 7 seed and played pretty well to get this far. We beat this team once during the season. That's a good team (Coventry). They have three committed Division One college bound players, added Traverse. "I also want to give a big shout out to Brianna Allienello and Kristen Lyons. They stepped up big time all year. We'll be back as we played a lot of young players on this squad. We played 3 freshmen, 3 sophmores, 3 juniors and our future looks bright." As the umpire walked by the Townies bench he said, "nice job girls. A class act." When the game appeared out of reach, Traverse pulled most starters and got his bench players in the game.