Busy & Successful Season for Townie Teams
As the 2024-2025 school year draws to a close, several Townie teams remained in contention for playoffs and post season awards. Consolidating athletic fields on the campus of the new East Providence High School was meant to accentuate the quality of life for students and the community at large. Mission accomplished. No better example than on Wednesday May 14, 2025. On that day the entire EPHS facility was rocking with action. Townie Athletic Director Alex Butler was moving between the softball, baseball fields and tennis courts in the school’s front and the stadium in the rear for girls lacrosse. Public address systems in all three stadiums blared athlete “walk up” tunes and player introductions and large crowds were fully engaged. Large crowds of enthusiastic fans were in a pre-summer festive feel, although some cool weather rolled in.
THE GAMES:
EPHS Girls Lacrosse Undefeated:
The 14-0 Townie girls lacrosse team remains undefeated after 16-0 and 15-7 wins over Pilgrim and Bay View high schools late in May. In a 15-8 win over Ponagansett earlier, East Providence goal scorers were led by Alyssa Karalekas with 6 goals. Kloey Iacavone had 4 goals, Sydney Olson 2 goals and Ella Benson, Abigail Leddy and Salem O'Neil each chipped in a goal. East Providence goalie Ava Williams had 8 saves. East Providence has outscored their opponents this season, 177 to 73.
Junior, Alyssa Karalekas, is a standout both in the classroom and on the playing field. She has already been offered enrollment and financial support at more than six colleges & universities. “I am proud of her achievements across the board,” said coach Nick Boyce. The 14-0 Townies, with a playoff bye in hand, will play next in a semifinal match on June 3rd at EPHS at 5 pm. Check ReporterToday.com for further updates.
EPHS Boys & Girls Outdoor Track & Field
The boys outdoor track and field scored nearly 100 team points and finished fourth at the Eastern Division Championship last month. The following boys placed during the meet: Jack Pawlik won the 200 meter twice, he won the 100 meter and 200 meter both with Class A meet records with a meet record in the 100 meter. Justin Jardine 1st in the 400 meter and 2nd in the 200 meter. The 4x100 meter relay consisting of Drake Silva, Justin Jardine, Kwamahn Gilliard and Jack Pawlik 1st place. The 4x400 meter relay consisting of Jukian Monteiro, Kwamahn Gilliard, Julius Cortes, and Justin Jardine 2nd place. Kwamahn Gilliard 2nd place in the 100 meter and 6th place in the 200 meter.
Julian Monteiro 5th place in the 110 meter hurdles and 3rd place in the 300 meter hurdles. Bryan Rivera 4th place in the pole vault. Roger Beaudet 6th place in the pole vault. Gerry Gagnon 7th place in the triple jump, Licas Santa Cruz 8th place in the triple jump. Machar Francis 7th place in the shot put.the 4x800 meter relay consisting of Will Massey, Daniel Lukusa, Jay Chang, and Gerry Gagnon 5th place.
The state championship meet will be held at Brown University on June 7th at 11 am.
The 9-2 girls track team competed recently at the Divisional Championship and took home 2nd place in the Eastern Division. Nazarae Phillip scored big for the Townies winning the High Jump, 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. Also on the 4x100m relay were Kendra Daniel who placed 3rd in the 100m and 3rd in the 200m; Gionna DosSantos who also placed 2nd in the 100m and 4th in the 200m; and Ryley Souto who placed 2nd in the 300m hurdles and 3rd in the 100m hurdles. The 4x800m relay placed 2nd also. The team consisted of Katie Patalano, Sadie Gagnon, Abby Raphael who also placed 4th in the 400m and Layla Bates who placed 4th in the 100m hurdles and 4th in the 300m hurdles. Bates, Raphael, Daniel, and Souto also placed 3rd in the 4x400m relay. Audrey Lepine placed in both Long and Triple Jump. Wendy Monteiro and Adrianna Perry placed in the Shot put, Discus, and Javelin.
Freshmen Track:
The freshman members of the girls track team finished 5th overall at the Freshman State meet late last month. The 4x400 team consisting of Vanessa Swanson, Gianna Dos Santos, Dania Solano, and Victoria Capelo placed fourth. There were noteworthy performances in the 100 and 200 meter by Dania Solano, Addie Gillis,Genna and Gianna Dos Santos, Victoria Capelo and Janelle Amado. Capelo placed 8th in the 400, while Lillliana Rochette placed 3rd and 6th in the 110 and 300 meter hurdles.
Freshman boys track team: Drake Silva 3rd place in the long jump, Jaydin DaSilva 6th place in the high jump, Michael Hu 8th place in the 110 meter hurdles, and the 4x 100 meter relay consisting of Jacob Arruda, Jaydin DaSilva, Michael Hu, and Drake Silva 7th place.
EPHS Baseball
Townies ousted by Cumberland in a 6-5 Thriller
Down 4-0 after two innings, East Providence fought back to a 4-3 score in the fourth inning after a Tyler Dicecco 3-run homerun blast to ignite the team in a May 30th game. Cumberland would come back with two more runs in the sixth inning to lead 6-3. EP fought back with two runs in the sixth and had the tying run on third in the seventh inning when the rally fell short. The Townies hopes were lifted when Colin Roche drove a double to center field. Pinch runner Alex Enright made it to third when Jayden Healy drove a sacrifice fly to left field. The Townie rally then ended and Cumberland moved on in the playoffs. East Providence back in Division 1 play after being in D2 for a couple years, made an impressive run during the season and playoffs.
Earlier Action
The Townies defeated Cranston West in a must win playoff game on May 29th at EPHS. The Townies scored five runs on four hits in the bottom of the second inning and went on to beat Cranston West 7-2 to advance in the state playoffs. Cranston West jumped on top in the first inning after a leadoff double, a ground out and an error at first base brought in a run. A fly out to Center and a strikeout ended the inning.
The Townies struck back with two runs in their half of the first inning but missed a chance to break the game open early when they left the bases loaded. A leadoff infield single by Gavin Palombo was followed by an RBI double by sophomore Aidan Martins plating Palombo. A Brian Rutkowski double then scored Martin. The Townies took the 2-1 lead but did leave the bases loaded.
EP pitcher Dylan Annicelli held off the Falcons and the Townie bats were active in the second inning with five runs extending the home team’s lead to 7-1. Kyle Desrosiers led off the inning by reaching base on an error. With one out Aidan Martins singled and reached second base on a throw while Desrosiers made it to third base. A Correiro ground ball scored Desrosiers as Martins made it to third base. Rutkowski singled sharply which scored Correiro and Martins. Next Oliver Andrews doubled scoring Rutkowski as the Townie hit parade continued. Colin Roche then doubled in Andrews and when the second inning dust settled, EP led 7-1. Rutkowski had three RBI on the game with a 2 for 3 day and also scored a run. Martins went 2 for 4 with an RBI and also scored a run. Colin Roche had a 2 for 3 day at the plate with an RBI. Roche, Martins, Andrews and Rutkowski all doubled in the game. Correiro had a triple. Ep had nine hits on the day.
EP mound ace Dylan Annicelli was his usual consistent self and threw just 71 pitches, giving up one hit and striking out six while walking one in four innings of work. With the difficulty of playoff game back-to-back scheduling, head coach Bobby Rodericks gambled by resting Annicelli after his four innings. “I knew I was taking a chance with removing Dylan and I could face criticism if it didn’t work,” said a relieved Rodericks after the game. The move did work and would allow Annicelli to come back on the mound sooner in the playoffs with adequate rest. Rodericks put his faith in sophomore pitcher Owen Richards. The sophomore rewarded his coach with three innings pitching, striking out three while walking none. He was very accurate and showed a nice changeup and fastball when needed. “Richards gave his teammates and fellow hurlers some much needed rest for games going forward,” said Rodericks.
A May 18th game showcased top Rhode Island pitchers, Dylan Annicelli of the Townies and Will Haggerty of Moses Brown. Both impressed the large crowd and allowed only 3 hits each in a classic pitcher’s duel. Neither team made an error. Each pitcher struck out 9 and walked just 1 batter in complete game performances. What made the difference? “We were ready to fight for this win and compete as much as possible,” said Dylan Annicelli after the game. Timely hitting and baserunning helped EP secure the win. “I pitch and that’s my job. I give it my all every time I step on the mound,” said Annicelli.
Moses Brown also came to fight and compete and played well. Two innings were key to the Townies much needed victory. Aidan Martins led off the 1st inning for EP with a single and then stole second base on a passed ball. Gavin Palombo singled to right field and Martins legged in from second to slide across home plate for what would be the Townies only run of the game. Palombo stole 2nd and 3rd base but the inning ended with EP on the board, 1-0.
The score would remain 1-0 in a fast-moving pitching duel. Moses Brown was poised to tie or leap ahead in the fourth inning. Will Haggerty led off with a walk, the only base on balls issued by Annicelli. Boudreau of MB singled moving Haggerty to 2nd base. Murphy flied out to Max Carreiro in right field with runners holding. MB’s Fede then lined a single to left field. With Haggerty on the move and heading home, Townie freshman Chris Charbonneau fielded the hit cleanly and fired a strike to cutoff man Chris Dicecco who turned and threw a perfect ball to catcher Brian Rutkowski who put a perfect tag on Haggerty for the out. Rutkowski immediately jumped up and threw a strike to 2nd baseman Ollie Andrews who tagged out the MB runner who was caught off the base. The Townie bench bolted from the dugout in an emotional explosion as the Townie crowd erupted. That stopped a potential Moses Brown key rally and Annicelli did the rest, shutting down MB for the complete game win. Annicelli threw only 73 pitches in the win.
Rematch:
In an exciting rematch between East Providence and Moses Brown, the game once again featured the Townies senior ace Dylan Annicelli and MB sophomore star, Will Haggerty. Both pitchers know each other well. Both previously pitched for East Providence’s Martin Middle School. Now opposite each other, they were in the RI Interscholastic Playoff spotlight again. As was the case in the May 14th 1-0 EP victory, Annicelli came out on top. Annicelli pitched a complete game 10 strikeout performance to help propel the Townies to the next round of playoff play on Tuesday May 27 at SK. Annicelli only allowed two hits and walked three in going the distance. Haggerty was also very good as he struck out seven, walked three and allowed five hits.
The Townies struck quickly in the first inning. With two outs Aidan Martins drew a walk. Martins got to second on a passed ball and Max Correiro drove a hard line drive to center field driving home Martins for the 1-0 score. As Annicelli was holding down Moses Brown, Max Correiro led off the bottom of the 4th inning with a walk. Chris Charbonneau sacrificed Correiro to second and Correiro would get to third on a passed ball. Oliver Andrews infield hit to third brought Correiro in with the Townies second run. Next up, Tyler Dicecco bunted a single which advanced Andrews to third base. In a confusing series of plays in which the Townies scored a 4th run and were poised to make it 5-0, when a controversial play at home plate, calling for runner interference, put the baserunners back and took the 4th run off the board. The umpires held a lengthy discussion for over 5 minutes but kept to their call. Undeterred by this chain of events, Annicelli retired MB in quick order for the rest of the game and East Providence played errorless ball in the field in holding on to the opening round playoff win.
East Providence then played an away playoff game at South Kingstown on May 27th. The 16-5 no. 3 ranked SK team blanked no. 6 ranked East Providence 3-0. The Townies could only manage two hits against SK pitcher Jonah Monnes. Monnes struck out 8 but did walk 5 batters. The Townies only hits came from Brian Rutkowski and Oliver Andrews. EP played well on defense including a diving catch of a line drive to center by Aidan Martins, but the Townies bats were silent.
EPHS Softball
Trinity Provencher Stars in EP Victory
Townie softball advances in the RI playoffs with a thrilling come from behind 7-6 win over Prout on May 30th. East Providence was behind by 5 runs before they rallied back for the win in an away game. Prout scored 4 runs in the 1st and after three innings, they led the Townies 5-0. Ground outs, an error, a couple of hits and Prout took the early lead.
Trailing 5-0, the Townies roared back with 4 runs in the top of the 4th inning. Nethania Figueroa led off with a single. Emma Grimley doubled sending Figueroa to third base. Trinity Provencher, 4 for 4 on the day, singled for an RBI. Caroline Welch then singled to left field. Sylvie Patterson had a bunt sacrifice moving up the runners. Marianna Pina had an RBI hit and Provencher scored on a wild pitch. By the end of the inning, EP closed to one run behind at 5-4.
EP took the lead with two in the fifth after Provencher and Welch doubled. Prout then tied the game at 6 with a run in the bottom of the 5th. In the top of the 7th, with one out, Trinity Provencher blasted a home run to center field to put the Townies up by one. The 7-6 Townie lead held up for the win as EP stopped Prout in the 7th with three quick outs. Pitcher Marianna Pina earned the win for East Providence. Cassie Dulude also pitched for EP. EP had 16 hits to Prout’s 8 hits. Patterson had three hits for EP. ReporterToday.com will provide tournament updates.
In an opening round playoff game, East Providence defeated Westerly 10-5 on May 24th. Westerly jumped out in front with a 2-0 early lead in the second inning, but EP roared back to take the win. The Townies scored 3 in the second, 4 in the fourth and 3 in the sixth on 13 hits. Mackenzie Pimentel singled and made it to second on an error. Caroline Welch walked and Trinity Provencher got on by a fielder’s choice, Welch moved to second. Sylvia Patterson then singled to left field to score Welch with Provencher taking second base. Marianna Pina cleared the bases with a triple to right field plating Provencher and Patterson.
Ella Grimley led the Townie offense with three hits with Patterson and Pina each getting two hits. Others with hits for EP were Emma Boisseau, Audrey Bernard, Nethania Figueroa, Mackenzie Pimentel, Cassie Dulude and Trinity Provencher. Pina and Dulude combined for the Townie win on the mound with 4 combined strikeouts and allowing 8 hits.
The East Providence Softball team played competitive ball leading up to the playoffs. The team scored first in earlier action against Cranston West and led until the 4th inning when Cranston West scored 5 runs. The Townies came back and tied in their half of the 4th. Trinity Provencher’s single followed by a Nethania Figueroa homerun blast to left field kept EP in the game. Six Townies got in the hit parade but in the end, Cranston West pulled ahead for the win. CW had 8 hits and EP had 7 but a few errors didn’t help the cause.
The Townies defeated Moses Brown 9-7 in other action at home. Each team scored a run in the first inning. Moses Brown scored two in the third to take the lead but the Townies came back with three runs in the bottom of the third to take a 4-3 lead. Caroline Welch singled for two RBI and Ella Grimley put down an RBI sacrifice bunt. However, Moses Brown re-took the lead 5-4 with two runs in the top of the fifth. The back-and-forth game continued as the Townies scored two in their half of the fifth. MB grabbed a run in the sixth with an RBI single to left and once again, EP fought back with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. A pop out, an error, an RBI single by Audrey Bernard scoring Lourenco, a double by Cassie Dulude followed by an RBI ground ball by Nethania Figueroa, pushed the score to 9-6 for the Townies. MB grabbed a run in the seventh, but Dulude and Pina (in relief) held on for the Townie win. Bernard, Welch, Figueroa and Dulude each had two hits in the game. Others with hits were Boisseau, Provencher and Dulude. Dulude, Bernard and Welsh each had a double. Dulude was the winning pitcher.
The Townies drew first-seed 21-1 La Salle in a second-round quarterfinal playoff game and was shut out by the Rams. The Rams had five home runs in the game, including a crushing grand slam. The Rams scored 10 runs on 7 hits while holding back the Townies to just 3 hits and no runs.
EPHS Boys Volleyball
The 10 win East Providence High boys volleyball squad made it to the Quarterfinals but lost a close 5 game match to La Salle on Thursday May 29th. East Providence took the first game 25-18 in an impressive start to the night. La Salle bounced back with a 2nd game win 25-20 and took the 3rd game 25-23. An enthusiastic crowd cheered on as the Townies fought back to win game four 25-21 to force a fifth and deciding game. La Salle came out on top 15-9 and took the match three games to two.
"The team gave it a good run and looked good at times tonight," said East Providence coach Dan Cabral. "Jordan Rodriguez had 18 kills and 15 digs with Antonio Varela's 11 kills and 3 blocks on the night," added the coach. Townie wins this season were over Central Falls, Coventry, Barrington, Coventry, Cranston West, East Greenwich, N.Smithfield/Pona/Smithfield, Chariho, La Salle Academy and Barrington.
EPHS Tennis
The Townies upset favored Classical to take the tennis quarterfinals on May 20th. Kiril Burkovskyi was a key in his three-set win to propel the Townies. Burkovskyi won 6-2 and 7-5. Also big winners were John Vaughn and Malachi Smith. EP doubles team of James Lynch and Ryan Mottur also had a key win, 6-4, 6-2. East Providence, however, lost in semifinal play against Narragansett, 4-2 in Narragansett on Tuesday May 27th. “We had a great season,” said Townie coach Slade Sharma.
“After graduating 17 seniors & losing 9 or 10 starters, our team returned to the semifinals for the second year in a row,” said Sharma. “This was made possible due to the tremendous amount of hard work that our 10 starters (and our whole team) have put in. That hard work was put on display in the quarterfinal win over a very good and well coached Classical team,” added Sharma.
Townie Tennis Summer Camp
The East Providence High School Tennis Program is back with its second Townie Summer Tennis Camp, open to grades 3-12. “Whether your child is a beginner or has some experience, they’ll improve their skills through drills, coaching, and team games while making friends,” said Camp Director Sharma. There are two sessions: June 30th to July 17th and July 28th to August 14th. The camp is open to ALL students, even those outside of East Providence. One-hour sessions are held Monday-Thursday (rain date Friday) at the EPHS tennis courts. Get more information and register here: https://ow.ly/QfTQ50VMIGH
EPHS Golf
The golf team will compete in the RI Golf Coaches Association Championship on June 3rd. The Townies Noah Araujo has qualified for the Rhode Island Individual Championship. Updates will be posted at www.ReporterToday.com.
EPHS Commemorative Bricks Available
Another round of commemorative bricks will be available for sale on the campus of the new East Providence High School. All proceeds go to supporting the Middle School and East Providence High School athletics programs. In the last two years brick fundraising has purchased the new LED scorer’s table for the high school, a portable trainer’s table for the athletic trainer to use at all home athletic events, uniforms for various teams and sponsored end of season dinners for various athletic teams.
“We are hoping to have former EPHS classes think about sponsoring /purchasing/and promoting a brick as a gift at their reunions,” said volunteer coordinator Stephanie Vinhateiro. “People can also purchase a brick for loved ones who have passed, for a birthdays or other celebrations. It would be nice to have many graduating classes purchase a brick,” added Vinhateiro.
Online purchases can be made by going to: www.4everbricks.com/donors/FTA or people can get a form by emailing Vinhateiro at: svinhateiro@gmail.com. All proceeds go to the supporting the Middle Schools and East Providence High School athletics programs.
The Friends of Townie Athletics (FOTA) thanks Josh Silvia, owner of Josh’s Hardscapes for installing recently ordered bricks at the high school front entrance area. “The brick sale first started in 2021 and has reopened a couple of times. To date, over 1,700 bricks have been installed in the two areas in front of the high school. Hopefully, we will have all 2000 spaces filled with engraved bricks soon,” said an enthusiastic Vinhateiro. The current sale has started and will continue until December 1, 2025.
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