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MELROSEWEEKLY NEWS, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11,2009 Page10

Melrose Women's Softballconcludes playoffsRistorante Serena crowned champs

on Melrose Glass spirits, thegame was a more subdued occasion during an otherwise exciting season.

For over a decade, MelroseWomen's Softball had enjoyedideal weather on the day of theirannual playoffs. However for the

BYJENNIFERGENTILEMELROSE - The Melrose

Nomen's Softball leagueNrapped up its summer season)n Aug. 30 by holding theirmnua! summer playoff series athe Melrose Common Fields.~istorante Serena of Maldenoak home the top prize, beatingV1elrose Glass by a wide margin)f 21-1 in the final game of the,eries. The team also went intohe playoffs posting the best regjlar season record of 12-6,The six teams competing in

he league are , generously spon;ored by local businesses includng longtime sponsors J.J.3rimsbys, 621 Restaurant andVlelrose Glass. This year broughthree new sponsors: Ristorante,erena of Malden, Main Street:amily Practice of Melrose and)&R Paving of Mel rose.The single elimination playoff

;eries started at 12 p.m. and last,d throughout the day, bringing1 good crowd of family andriends to cheer the women on.The games earlier action saw

)21 Restaurant beating Main;treet Family Practice and D&R'aving beating J.J. Grimsbys,~oth teams advanced to playv1elrose Glass and Serena'sespectively, which resulted in)o th Melrose Glass and Serena'svinning and facing each other inhe final game.Serena's manager Pam Eagen

:redits her entire squad for their

THE MELROSE Women's Softball League champions were determined last weekend.Pictured from the winning Ristorante Serena are (front. from left): Adele D'Antona, Julielania, Janine Venuti, Pam Eagen, Sheila Macdonald. (Back)Joanie Lawrence, Sandra Giglio,Barbara ONeil. Maureen Zdinak. Carol Bowdidge. Karen McEleny. Usa McGovern. SueJohnson. Joan Bell. Missing from photo: Kathleen Rizzo.overwhelming defeat of Melrose while diving for a foul ball on theGlass, but most notably Lisa third base line, forcing her to beMcGovern, Karen McEleny and taken by ambulance to a localSue Johnson all of whom con hospital. The team manager inditributed with multiple RBis. cated she broke her wrist but is

The game started with fright- home resting comfortably.ening moment when one Mel- Between the overwhelming batsrose Glass player was injured of Serena's and the shadow cast

second year in a row, the leaguewas forced to reschedule playoffs one day due to weather afterTropical Storm Danny passedthrough the area. The rain andwinds did not prevent the leaguefrom enjoying their Saturdaynight banquet which hostedover 100 players at the Fish andGame Club in Melrose where theleague enjoyed a night ofawards, food and dancing.

"Many of our players havebeen in this league for over 10years and we attract new playersevery year as well," said longtime player and 621 managerEilen Krechmer. "It's been a funtradition for many women ofMelrose and surrounding areasand we all come together ingood sp irits a t the banquet."The regular season games

were he ld Tuesday and Thursdaynights at 6 p.m. lasting until duskat Melrose Commons andHesseltine Field, from the firstweek of Juiy until the end ofAugust each summer.

The Melrose Women's Softballleague is always looking for newplayers each year. For moreinformation about how to signup or learn more about theleague, contact Jennifer Gentileat 781-662-1134 or bye-mail atgentile92@comcast.net. Eachspring the league issues noticesfor registration, and a leagueWeb site may be developed byspr ing 2010.

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Seventh Heavenfor Melrose volleyball

Lady Raiders continue domination; unbeaten through first seven gamesBy JENNIFER GENTILEMELROSE - The Melrose

Lady Raiders vol leybal l teamcon ti nues t o steamroll overcompet it ion i n t he Middl esexLeague by posting i ts seventhstraigh t v ic tory in what is provi ng to be a nearl y f lawl ess sea son. That won't come as a surprise to many who have witnessed the team eas ily d isposeof opponents in the past andt hi s yea r h as been no d if fer entwith the Raiders beatingReading, Stoneham and BishopFenwick in overwhelming fashion , leaving many to wonder noti f the gir ls wil l beat their opponents but how quickly they wil ldo it.Reading, posting a 3-1 recordcoming into the game, had been

considered reasonable competit ion for the dominating Raiderswhen they played in Melrose onWednesday, Sept. 23. Thatquickly proved false in gameone as Reading struggledreturning service and fai led totrigger any type of offense,whi ch a llowed Mel rose t o s tunthe Rockets in a lopsided 25-5win.Game two solidif ied Melrose's

domInat ion asthe Lady Raidersjumped out with a 10-1 leadbefore beating Reading 25-11,ina game that showed outst andi ng serv ic e r uns f rom HannahBrickley, Laura Irwin and sophomore Jill Siabacheski.Game three saw sligh tly more

compet it ion fr om Reading butnot enouQh to mount a fightagai nst the Rai de rs, who t ookthe game by an easy score of

25-13. The Melrose defenses taged a bat tle led by JessicaFarr, Alex Harlow and AmandaCommito , g iv ing Reading l it tleroom to put numbers on theboard. When the day was over,Me lrose notched a combinedv ic to ry o f 75-29 and the message to the Middlesex leaguewas cl ea r, t he Lady Raider s aresitting comfortably on top.On Friday, Mel rose vis itedStoneham and once againcrushed the opposition, sendingthe Spartans packing invictoriesof 25-10,25-11 and 25-10.Melrose took anearly 5-1 lead

in game one under Harlow'sserving and soon moved to an18-5 lead before wrapp ing upthe game. BriCkley and Irwinenjoyed a daythat included ninek il ls, whi le At hena Zi avr as andSiabacheski both had five kil ls.Colleen Hanscom added doubiedigit assists to further polish hercareer record.Game two featu red an unex

pected twist as the Spartanssprang to a quick 6-0 lead, butMelrose's counterattack proveds tronger as they battl ed backand soon overcame by del iver i ng 11 st rai ght poi nts , l ea vi ngStoneham cold at 19-9 beforefinishing the game off at25-11.Game three showed Melrosewith leads of 4-0and 12-3beforethey wrapped the day up with a25-10 victory against theSpartans, who struggled withserves t hroughout the day andfailed to bring in any type ofv iabl e at tack agai nst t he LadyRaiders.Interleague play brought the

JUNIOR OUTSIDE HITTER Athena Ziavras provided five killsin-Melrose's 3-0 viGtory over Bishop Fenwick on Monday asthe Lady Raiders have yet to drop a game intheir f irst sevenmatches. (Donna Larsson Photo )

expectation that Melrose wouldface more ser ious competi tionas Bishop Fenwick (3-2)came totown on Monday. The earlystages of t he f irs t game li ved upto that expectation as BishopFenwick ran to a lead of 9-8against the Raiders. Coach ScottCelli and fans watched the LadyRaiders engage in fai rly s loppyplay including uncharacteristicservice errors.With a little refocusing the

gir ls turned the tide and start ingput ting points on the board , ledby the many kills of Irwin andBri ck ley and str ong servi ce byZia vra s, hel pi ng Mel rose t akethe game 25-15.Melrose was back to their

usua l pl ay i n game two, reducing their service errors andholding leads of 7-1 and 18-4with more strong play fromIrwin, Hanscom and Brickley(post ing mul tiple acesl alongwith Siena Mamayek and sophomore Siabacheski, beforeMelrose finished the job onFenwick by a 25-6 rout.The aces cont inued in game

three w it h Annemar ie Wiesen( th ree for the day) dominat ing inservice and Brick ley stunn ingthe opponents with her usualk il ls hel pi ng Mel rose t o wrap itup wit h a 25-10w in . The gameshowed strong defense led byMamayek, Hanscom and l iberoJessica Farr, who togetherhelped t rigger an extended vol ley that had the crowd gaspingand cheering as it turned successful for a point.

VOLLEYBALL Page11

Monday's victory capped off aday in which Harlow had 17service points, Hanscom had 14ass is ts , I rwin reg is tered 10 k il lsand fre shman Brooke Be ll had11kills and eight assists.With their dominance 10 the

Middlesex league established,Coach Celli 's Lady Raiders arekeeping the ir eye on upcomingnon-league games particularlyagainst Central Catholic onMonday, Oct. 5 and undefeated

rivals Barnstable High School,the 2008 Division 1 StateChamps who will come toMelrose in a highly anticipatedmatch on Friday, Oct. 16 at 4p.m.But until then , Melrose wil lhave to get by their next opponents, Winchester (post-deadline) and on Friday in Lexington.As Coach Celli and his teamwould probably agree, onegame at a t ime.

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Pate 14 _ WeeIdy News, friday, SeplemIJer 25, 200!l

Girls soccer hangs tough in M.L.Drop two 1-0 to Woburn, Reading

SOPHOMORE STRIKER KELLEIGH LOMBARD leads the team with four goals in the Lady Raiders' first five games. Melrose hasdropped two straight 1-0 games and stands at 3-2 on the season. (Donna Larsson Photo)

By JENNiFER GENTILEREADING - Melrose faceda tough loss on Tuesdaywhen the Raiders dropped a1-0 heartbreaker to Readingin a game that found juniorhalfback Charlotte Maysinjured in the opening min~utes of play. In a frighteningmoment, Mays took contactfrom the head of an opposingplayer which resulted in afacial abrasion that stoppedthe game and required"Immediate medical attentionand eventual transfer to ahospital. While it appearedthe junior co-captain andstandout player did not suffer a concussion or otherserious injury, the accidentset the tone for the game asthe Lady Raiders did theirbest to overcome the suddensetback.Following the injury to

Mays, Reading jumped quickly on the board scoring within the first four minutes ofthe game with a goal thatresulted from the ball beingricocheted off a player intothe Melrose net. That provedto be Reading's only goal ofthe game thanks to a toughMaeve Downey, who hasdefended the net in all fivegames for the Lady Raiders,and has only allowed fourgoals in five games."We expected Reading tobe tough, but we played avery evenly matched gamefrom start to finish. We espe~.....-

cially came out strong in lasthalf of the game but notenough to get the jab done,"coach Bill DeSimone said,DeSimone gives credit to

the Melrose players whoworked extra hard to helpcompensate the loss ofMays, including KelleighLombard, Laura Whelan,Sarah Ried and EmmaMcGowan, all of whom keptReading on the run throughout the game. Also seeingadditional time were halfbacks Teagan Bell andCaroline Sie-bert, and strikersAllv Miner and CarolynRagon.DeSimone feels thatdespite the setback onTuesday, the team's level ofpiay has been outstanding-

and both of their 1-0 lossesof the season were games inwhich the results could havegone either way, The LadyRaiders got their chance toget back on the winningstreak Thursday (post-deadline) when they facedStoneham,The Lady Raiders havealready proven to be a forceto contend with in the

Middlesex League when theygot off to an impressive 3-0start this seaSon but theirdreams of going undefeatedwere dashed last Wednesdaywhen they dropped their first

game of the season againstWoburn 1~O at Pine Banks.The Raiders defied expec~

tations by defeatingWatertown, Belmont andBurlington in the first weekof regular season play. Theirvictories featured a rare hattrick by sophomore strikerKelleigh Lombard during thegame against Burlington andmultiple goals by junior cocaptain Charlotte Maysagainst Watertown, all ofwhich has made for an exciting start to the Lady Raidersseason.Th e result of th e closegame on Wednesday didn'tdampen the spirits of coachBill DeSimone. He noted thephysical and mentai toughness of his team, who facedsome tough calls on the partof the referees, DeSimonecredited the strength of hisveteran players along withan infusion of strong newplayers including CarolynRagon and Sarah Ried."At this point last season

we were 1-2-1, so you cansee the remarkable improvement and potential this teamhas," said coach DeSimoneof his team, who have onlyallowed opponents threegoals in four games.Assistant coach RickSeibert is also excited aboutthe team's future, noting thatthe overall youth of the teamand caliber of talent showsserious signs of longevity,making Melrose a team tocontend with for the foreseeable future.