Sports Update

American Legion Baseball continues to allow older youth to play baseball after school and little leagues finish or age out players.  East Providence has enjoyed a reputation of having many competitive teams through the years.  American Legion itself enjoys a reputation as one of the most successful and tradition-rich amateur athletic leagues in the country. Today, the program registers teams in all 50 states plus Canada. Each year young people, ages 13 to 19, participate. Since its inception in 1925, the league has had millions of players, including countless who have gone on to play in college and professional baseball, with 82 inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Today, the program registers more than 5,400 teams in all 50 states, including Canada and Puerto Rico.

Legion Baseball also has a reputation for serving the young people who play for it. In college scholarships, the league annually awards a total of $25,000 - $500 for a player selected from each department based upon leadership, character, scholarship and financial need. Recently, the Legion passed a resolution allowing corporate sponsorship, in the hope of creating more financial aid for colleges. Diamond Sports currently funds $25,000 in scholarships for the American Legion Baseball All-Academic Team. Eight players receive a $2,500 scholarship and the "Captain" of the All-Academic Team receives a $5,000 scholarship.

Currently in East Providence there are two Legion teams based from the Post 10 American Legion in Riverside.  Post 10 has long been involved in competitive play.  There are two teams; Juniors & Seniors.  Rosters are made up of area youth.

Post 10 Juniors on a Roll.  Renaud 15K Win
The Legion Post 10 juniors took a doubleheader against Scituate Post 19 in a clash at Pierce Stadium on June 26^th.  The two wins brought their record to date to 5-1.  In the first game pitcher JJ Renaud dominated Scituate with a 15 strikeout, 1 hit complete game shutout performance.  Renaud also went 2 for 2 at the plate with an RBI in the 4-0 Post 10 victory.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the 5^th inning when Post 10 had three hits and jumped to a 3-0 lead.  McGuire Camelo got a line drive single to Center Field followed by a single from Lexington Garelli.  With runners on first and second Charlie Lucas singled to score Camelo to bring home the first run of the game. Next up Aidan Martins singled sharply to center scoring Garelli.  With Lucas on 2^nd base, Renaud sharply singled to left field and Lucas scored the third run.  Post 10 would score once more on an RBI single by Jamison Sydney scoring Braylen DeCosta who had walked.

The score would remain 4-0 in favor of Post 10.  Renaud led the offense with two hits and 1 RBI.  Martins, Sydney, Lucas, Camelo, Lucas and Garelli each had a hit.  Neither team made an error.  Renaud and DeCosta each stole two bases.

Game Two Walk-Off Win with Martins Heroics
In the nightcap, the Post 10 team walked off with a 5-4 dramatic win in the last inning.  Post 10 was behind until the bottom half of the 7^th inning.  Scituate scored two runs in the first and two more in the 6^th inning and led Post 10 4-1 going into the home half of the 6^th.  Aidan Martins led off the inning with a line drive double to right field.  JJ Renaud then singled Martins to third base who scored on a Will Francis base hit.  Renaud got to third base on a pass ball but the inning ended on a fly out with the score now 4-3.

In the last of the 7^th, Garelli reached first on an error.  Next up Camelo singled to put runners on first and second.  The game ended on a walk-off triple to left by martins, scoring Garelli and Camelo for the exciting win for Post 10.  The win pushed their record to 5-1.        

Aidan Martins started on the mound for Post 10.  He pitched 5 innings allowing 2 hits while striking out 5.  Martins also collected 3 hits, scored 2 runs and had 3 RBI.  Martins also stole two bases.  Francis and Camelo had 2 hits each and Renaud added a hit. James Palmeiri pitched two innings in relief and was the winning pitcher of record.

In an earlier game on June 25^th against South Kingstown at Sprague Field in Narragansett,  Post 10 opened the game with a go ahead run but gave up 2 runs in the bottom of the first and trailed 2-1 until the Riverside team scored two in the top of the 6^th.  Charlie Lucas led the inning with a walk.  Martins reached on a Fielder’s Choice as Lucas was out at second.  Martins proceeded to steal second base and then scored on a hard drive to left for a double by Renaud.  Nolan Lorenz reached on an error and on another error, Renaud came home to score.  Post 10 led 3-2 going into the home half of the 7^th for SK.  After a lead off ground out, SK Difilippo singled to center field and scored the tying run on a Velbne hit to center.  DiFilippo got to 2^nd base on a pass ball and a pitching change brought JJ Renaud to the mound.  Apice walked, putting two on base but Renaud struck out Kent, looking, for the third out.

In the top of the 8^th, Hallene was hit by pitch, Lucas struck out, Martins singled and then Renaud tripled to score Hallene and Martins for the go-ahead runs.  Post 10 then extended the lead on a Lorenz ground out scoring Renaud and Francis scored on a wild pitch after he walked and stole 3^rd base.  The four runs in the 8^th inning put Post 10 ahead 7-3.  In the bottom of the 8^th Renaud gave up two singles but struck out three batters to gain the win on the road for Post 10.  Martins, Renaud and Francis each had two hits with Chris Charbonneau getting the other hit for Post 10. Renaud’s hits were a double and triple.     

Post 10 juniors July schedule: 1^st @ Scituate 5:30, 9^th @ Pierce vs. South Kingstown 6:00, 10^th doubleheader @ McCarthy Field Warwick 6pm, 11^th @ Cranston 5:30, 15^th Berkeley Peckham Field 5:30, 17^th South Kingstown @ Sprague Field, 18^th doubleheader @ Pierce vs.R&R, 29^th and 30^th Playoffs TBD, Finals 8/1 to 8/4 TBD at McCarthy Field. Regional Tournament 8/9 to 8/11 Bangor Maine TBD.

ATC Post 10 Legion Juniors roster: Aiden Martins, Alex Enright, Ben Hallene, Brandon Dicceco, Braylen DeCosta, Charlie Lucas, Chris Charbonneau, Graham Franke, Jacob Sousa, James Palmeiri, Jamison Sydney, JJ Renaud, Lexington Garelli, Max Pawlick, Mcquire Camelo, Nolan Lorenz, Will Francis, Will Haggerty.

The Post 10 Seniors roster includes: Martins, Brian Rutkowski, Chris Promades, Cole Kepner, Colin Roche, Dan Desilets, David Murphy, David Redmond, Dylan Annicelli, Henry Ballou, Jayden Healy, Kyle Desrosiers, Kyler Lorenz, Max Carreiro, Oliver Andrews, Rhys Davies, Tyler Dicecco and Haggerty.  The Post 10 seniors will be featured in a later issue of the Reporter.  Both East Providence Legion teams are mostly sponsored in part by the ATC Sports Facility run by EPHS head coach Bobby Rodericks.  Portions of this article were written with statistics provided by GameChanger Media, Inc. 2024, which is affiliated with Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc. as well as in-person game coverage by this reporter.

City Little Leagues

EP-Pineview District 2 Champs
East Providence Central, Riverside and Rumford little leagues are beginning District Two All-Stars as the Reporter goes to print for July.  ReporterToday.com will update league results.  The first-ever combined East Providence-Pineview Seniors All Stars team is the District 2 champion, and is advancing to States. The state tournament will be July 8 to 12 and the bracket and locations are pending.  There are five EP players on the combined squad: Jayden Alford

Alexavier Guevara, Brady Silva, Dominic Tavares and John Wooten. EP coaches are Nate Cahoon and TJ Burns.  Pineview coaches are Vinnie Howard and Jayden Reynolds.  Little League has been combining leagues as overall roster numbers call for consolidation.  The ReporterToday will post the schedule and scores update.

Rumford 12U started and lost their first game to Barrington 2-1 but came back to defeat EP Central 13-0.  Rumford Mariners won Majors Championship over the Rumford Padres 3-0 completing a perfect 15-0 season.  The Rumford Cannonballers won the Minors GOLD Championship over Darlington Albo’s 14-13 finishing the season 14-1.  The Rumford 10U Allstars defeated Portsmouth 20-6 on June 27^th to advance against Pawtucket stars at press time.  “Truly a team win as they amassed 24 hits and looked very impressive against Portsmouth,” said RLL president Mike Fisher.  The ReporterToday will update the team’s tournament progress.

The Riverside Little League Minors Team (Marshall Building & Remodeling) completed a 14-13 come-from-behind victory against a strong EP Central squad to capture the 2024 Silver Division Championship.  Down early, the team never quit fighting, continued to play hard, got timely hits, and great pitching down the stretch to capture the title.  The leagues congratulate all the players, families, and amazing coaches on a great, fun, and exciting season.

Annual Townie Baseball Camp July 22 - July 26
The 2024 Friends of Townie Athletics Baseball Camp will be held from Monday, July 22 to Friday, July 26 at the EPHS Baseball Turf fields. Players T-Ball through high school are welcome. Camp runs from 9 am to 12:30 pm each day.  The mission of the camp is to teach skills, proper techniques, and the correct approach. to the game, all in a fun-filled atmosphere. Tee shirts will be provided to participants who register early. Registration on a first come first serve basis.  Hitting, Fielding, Bunting, Base Running, Skills, Drills, and Competitions.  Fun

Contests with prizes and Awards.  To secure a Camp spot due to high interest in the EPHS Turf Complex, please Register by July 15 to secure a spot and T-Shirt! Late entries welcome but no guarantee of tee-shirt.  All proceeds benefit EPHS Baseball and middle school sports.  For registration information see a little league official or email:  bobbyrodericks@aol.com 

EPHS Girls Lacrosse
East Providence High School All Division Girls Lacrosse had recent selections to the Rhode Island Interscholastic League all division selections.  First Team All Division, Kenna Wiggington #21, Senior.  Second Team All Division, Kloey Iacovone #20, Junior. Third Team All Division, Alyssa Karalekas, #8, Sophomore. 

Lacrosse is a relatively new sport at EPHS.  The unique sport was generally reserved for private schools but has gained popularity in public schools recently.  Coaches Nicholas Boyce and Kathy Dias have worked hard to improve the girls lacrosse level of play.  The Townies have made the playoffs the last two seasons. Last year the EP girls lost a quadruple extra period 9-8 playoff loss to Bay View.  It was a heartbreaking loss but motivated the returning team to try again this year.  The 2024 squad once again reached the state playoffs and again the opponent was Bay View Academy.  Bay View got the better of EP again in another close match, an 8-7 quarterfinal loss.

EP Police & Fire win Soccer Match vs. Warwick Counterparts
The first annual East Providence Police and East Providence Fire vs Warwick Police Department charity soccer match is in the books with East Providence taking the win with a 3-1 score.  Just like their hockey colleagues, the East Providence Police, Fire and Emergency Management Staff took on their counterparts in Warwick, RI.  This time it was a benefit soccer match at Pierce Stadium late last month.  Both teams were very talented and fun to watch. Thank you to Lt Drew Dubois for putting this event together.  The game was played for the benefit of the East Providence Youth Soccer Association.