By Lorenzo Recupero
After stringing together eight consecutive victories, one of the best starts in EHS softball history, the Lady Tide dropped their first match of the season, a 7-5 loss to Greater Boston League rival Medford High School.
Spanning the 8-game win streak, the Tide (8-1) allowed just 10 earned runs total while putting together four shutout wins behind masterful pitching from outfielder turned pitcher, senior Kristi Skane, who has been on the mound in every matchup for the Tide this season.
In Skane’s first four games, she spurred the Lady Tide with this stat line: 17 innings, 39 Ks, 2 BB, 6 hits, 1 ER.
The Tide’s bats helped along the way during that span, lighting up their opponents for 57 runs (14.25 runs per game).
In the slim loss to Medford Monday, Skane had her roughest outing of the year as the Tide’s offense could not overcome the deficit let up on the mound or get to the Medford HS pitcher.
“This loss was a tough one,” said EHS coach Stacy Poste Schiavo. The five earned runs against Medford was the Tide’s lowest scoring output of the season. “The [Medford] pitcher was a lefty and was hitting the outside corner. We adjusted but just hit directly to positions. I know that we are a much better team than we showed. Maybe this loss will be a learning moment and the girls will only improve from this,” said Poste Schiavo.
The loss to Medford was more than a blemish or undefeated season snapper, it created a situation where EHS will have to most likely win out the remainder of the year and hope for a league loss from Medford to secure the GBL Championship.
“[The loss] makes it harder for the league title. We need to beat all the teams again and hope that Medford gets a loss before we play them again,” said Poste Schiavo on the Tide’s chances to secure their second consecutive GBL title. Medford will host EHS for the second and final meeting of the season on Tuesday, May 16 at 4PM. Poste Schiavo, Skane and the Tide have 11 games remaining on the regular season schedule. They will try to bounce back into the win column Wednesday, April 26 against GBL counterpart Malden High School at Glendale Park at 4PM.