By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

On a Friday afternoon that got as hot as 91 degrees, a red hot West Roxbury team hit past higher seeded Mystic Valley to advance to the second round of the 2013 MIAA state tournament.

“As soon as I got here, I told my team that we have to come out with the intensity, no matter what the weather is; raining, pouring or hot weather like today,” sophomore Ruel Delarosa said after the 10-4 win at Maplewood field.

Delarosa was one of the hitters in an incredibly productive top of the order for coach Clifton Wilson. The sophomore went 3 for 4 on the day with two singles and a triple.

The fifth-seeded West Roxbury added to a 1-0 lead over the fourth-seeded Mystic Valley in the third inning when Delarosa, Cesar Garcia, Brian Navarro and Chris Moreta had consecutive hits. While Delarosa was caught stealing, Navarro brought home Garcia on a triple for the second run of the game.

Moreta then brought Navarro home on a RBI double.

“They were the table setters and they were just terrific,” Wilson said. “They bring a lot of speed, a lot of contact ability and as we go, they go.”

The Raiders showed that speed in the sixth inning. After scoring two more runs in the fifth to make it 5-1, junior Jan Pereyra kept the offense going with a triple to start the inning.

Delarosa continued to electrify the outnumbered West Roxbury fans with a triple of his own to bring home Pereyra. After an RBI single by Garcia, Navarro hit the third triple of the inning to make it an 8-1 game.

Navarro’s 3 for 3 performance with two RBI triples impressed more than just his team.

“That kid is an all-around player,” Mystic Valley coach Ernie Ardolino said. “As far as defensively, offensively, he’ll really lead that team and I think they have a good shot to move on to the next round too.”

Aside from letting up three runs in the seventh inning, West Roxbury pitcher Sean Haugh performed well, letting up only one run through six innings to go along with five strikeouts.

“He likes to pitch in the hot weather so I told him today was a good day to let loose,” Delarosa said.

West Roxbury will try to let loose again on Sunday against Boston International at Fallon field on Monday at 4 pm.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Fighting northbound traffic to Newburyport on the first 90-degree Friday afternoon of the year, only to get shut out in the first round of the state tournament, isn’t anyone’s idea of a good time.

But for a Charlestown High baseball team without a single senior on the roster, Friday’s 11-0 loss to Newburyport in Division 3 North meant that the Townies achieved a goal they had set at the start of the season.

“Baseball is a game of chances and a game of staying in the game, and when you give a team like that that many chances, it’s going to catch up to you,” said first-year Charlestown coach Mayron Ramirez. “Errors and walks always catch up, and it’s a young team.

"And it’s a hard lesson to learn when you come this far, but I have all of them coming back, so the future looks bright for this team.”

Newburyport pitcher Connor MacRae earned the shutout victory, striking out five and walking five, while third baseman Colton Fontaine had two RBIs in a seven-run second inning.

The scoring started after two Newburyport players reached on consecutive bunts, the second of which resulted in an overthrow to first.

“That’s where we have to grow as a team,” Ramirez said. “Just staying mentally strong, staying focused in the game, and battling through adversity. We know we’re not always going to be successful, but we have to work through those types of innings and those types of plays.

“But I’m extremely proud of this team and, like I told them all, I want them back to look at the bright future that they have in front of them.”

Newburyport second baseman Brian Fiascone, shortstop Colby Morris, and catcher Connor Wile all had an RBI apiece for the No. 8-seeded Clippers (14-7). Wile’s came on a deep shot over the right-field fence in a four-run fifth inning.

While Newburyport advances to play the winner of top-seeded North Reading and No. 17 Swampscott early next week, No. 9-seeded Charlestown ends its season with a 10-7 record.

Ramirez said making states in his first season was for sure a silver lining, especially since the team was only 5-7 last year.

“I told them, 'Let’s forget about what’s happened in the past in Charlestown,' ” Ramirez said. “I’m new, we’re all new. Let’s try to build something for ourselves.”

This year’s team has five juniors, six sophomores, and three freshmen.

“I’m looking forward to keep playing with this team,” said losing pitcher Luis Atiles, a sophomore. “Just need to keep on practicing, keep on fighting.

"We are proud we made it this far. At least we got the chance to [go to states] and play a good team. We can learn from this for next year.”

Ramirez said he was most proud of his players for seeing through the commitment they made at the start of the season.

“I’m extremely proud of their character, and for them to stay together as a group for the entire season was awesome,” he said. “Baseball’s a long game. It’s a game that if you’re not focused, you’re going to lose, so hopefully from this experience and this bad taste, seeing other people celebrate, they are going to rebound. And that’s what I like about this team, they always rebound.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public School athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

A shorthanded East Boston team couldn’t find its offense in a 6-0 loss to Weston in the first round of the Division 3 North state baseball tournament Thursday.

“It was a tough loss," said coach Phil Brangiforte. "That’s another team that I think we’re capable of beating. We had a couple key players that were out of the lineup.”

Junior Mike Theriault, the starting pitcher for East Boston in the city tournament, was out for team reasons.

Weston junior pitcher Brooks Parker not only played, he shut out the Jets for his six innings while striking out seven. Willie Mead got the save, pitching a scoreless seventh.

“Brooks Parker hit his spots on the mound and the defense played great behind him,” said Weston coach Jon Beverly. “We’ve seen glimmers of all facets of the game throughout the season and this kind of came together today, which is nice.”

Weston struck in the first inning when Max Grundy brought home James Goulart with an RBI double. Goulart brought in two more runs in the second inning with a double. Weston added to its total in the third when Robert Ivey hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Colton Worf to make it 4-0.

East Boston’s best chance came with two outs in the bottom of the third when catcher Ramon Quinones was at the plate with the bases loaded. The junior made great contact, but a diving catch by Mead robbed Quinones of a hit.

“We played good," said Brangiforte. "We had the bases loaded and the kid made a nice catch out there, nice diving catch."

East Boston never got close to scoring again. The Jets had only four hits off Parker.

“I thought he was pretty good but I definitely thought he was hittable,” Brangiforte said. “He’s no better than anyone we’ve seen all year long.”

Weston will move on to play at Greater Lawrence Saturday at 4 pm.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public School athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

After losing in the state tournament to Notre Dame Academy Thursday, Dorchester coach Rich Moran presented three seniors -- Chanyce Jeanitte (right), Jayuanna Harris, and Brittany St. Cyr -- with flowers. Three more seniors missed the game because of the prom. (Billy Owens for the Boston Globe)

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

With three seniors out of the lineup because of the prom, the Dorchester softball team bowed out of the Division 3 North state tournament Thursday with a loss to Notre Dame Academy in Tyngsborough.

The moral victory for Dorchester in the 13-0 five-inning mercy loss was that the No. 19-seeded Bears broke up a perfect game in the final inning.

“You always try to do that, it’s good for the girls," said Dorchester coach Rich Moran. "She pitched a great game.

“Obviously, you can see the difference in pitching, but, I mean, we played without three starters and the girls came up and played and that’s the most important thing.

"We never gave up. We made some nice plays in the field, a couple errors, but this is what happens. You just have to develop a good feeder system to get them coming up, and the JV programs are weak, so it’s hard to do.”

Notre Dame sophomore Carley Scarano had a perfect game going until her catcher dropped a third strike against junior outfielder Cheyenne Resende. Resende beat an errant throw to first before stealing second and advancing to third when Jayuanna Harris was thrown out at first on a ground out.

Resende was stranded at third when Scarano struck out Dasia Miles to end the game.

“At least we didn’t let her get the perfect game -- that’s good,” Resende said. “We just need to keep practicing over the summer and try to get better so we can come to states next year.”

No. 14 Notre Dame (14-7), which advances to play No. 3 seed Burke at 4 p.m.
Saturday at Casey Field in Dorchester, still got a no-hitter out of Scarano, who sat down 13 batters.

“And they are best friends, the catcher and the pitcher,” said Notre Dame coach Kevin Baily, in reference to the dropped third strike.

Baily said he knows nothing about Burke (12-3), a team that features the city league’s top hitter in Renee Pierre.

As of May 26, Pierre was leading Eastern Mass. in hitting at .790 -- going 30 for 38 with 8 home runs and 21 RBIs.

“Oh really, I know nothing about that league,” Baily said. “We’re just going strong at everybody -- kitchen sink at everybody -- because it’s one and done.”

Baily said he will pitch senior Paige Randeau against Burke.

“We had a week off, so that’s why I’m glad that we got a workout,” he said of the Dorchester game.

Junior second baseman Clare Handy was 2 for 3 with two doubles and two RBIs, while sophomore Mary-Grace Handy was 2 for 3 with a single, double, and one RBI.

Making the state tournament for the second straight year, Dorchester (8-8) got off to a scorching start this season as it opened the year 8-2. But then a loss to Latin Academy started a five-game losing streak.

“We got a little intimidated and hit a rut there and lost five games in a row,” Moran said. “The girls got a little demoralized in the end. They have to learn to overcome that stuff.”

The team has three juniors this year and is losing six seniors, including Chanyce Jeanitte.

“From freshman year up to senior year, I’ve been playing for four years, so from what I’ve seen and experienced, we’ve grown a lot as a Bears family -- not just a team but a family,” Jeanitte said, “and we have a lot of connections and friendships built with each other.

“It’s an honor to have Coach Moran as our coach. He’s a really good coach and he can bring that stuff you have inside out of you. He can push you to play hard in the game.”

After the game, Moran presented the three seniors who did compete in the game -- Jeanitte, Harris, and Brittany St. Cyr -- with flowers.

“You guys are my girls, you guys did a great job,” Moran said to the entire team as the players huddled. “You experience something like this and you see how important pitching is and why you have to go to pitching clinics and play a lot of softball.

"You guys made some nice plays in the field. You never gave up and you played as a team. That’s part of growing up.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public School athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

Coach Phuong Cao believes the strides his Latin Academy boys' volleyball team made this year go beyond statistics.

Even though the Dragons were knocked out of the Division 1 North state tournament by Arlington in four sets last Thursday, 25-17, 21-25, 27-25, 25-18, they still led the city league for the fourth time in Cao’s four-year tenure and added to their foundation of young players.

“They play hard all the time,” Cao said. “I’m very proud with the new guys who learned the game for the first time and were excited, and they wish they could join the team earlier and for more than one season.”

Adding new players was imperative for a team with only two returning varsity players. Fritz Jovelin and Darren Chanel, also on Latin Academy’s basketball team, helped fill the void in the volleyball team’s core.

“They all tried hard," said Cao. "I’m very proud of them for playing hard every day."

That hard work continued right through Thursday’s match. After losing the first set, the Dragons put together a winning set that starting setter Thinh Trin Jr. called his proudest moment of the season.

“Everything was in system, when we could get a perfect pass, set, and hit. That’s when I felt proudest about the team,” Trin Jr. said. “We knew we had to focus more so we knew we had to bring the game to them. That’s how we won the second set.”

One problem that remains for Cao is that basketball players still tend to join the volleyball team with only one year left in their high school careers. He wishes players such as Jovelin joined as freshmen.

“They have to learn how to hit, how to block and all that stuff, so they have to be committed for a couple seasons,” Cao said.

If more athletes from different sports came out for volleyball, like the returning Chanel, they could be valuable weapons for Trin Jr. With the way the setter has improved this season, that could mean great things for Latin Academy volleyball.

“I just do my job. I try to be positive and motivational but also try my best in what I do,” Trin Jr. said. “That makes them do their job. The basic idea is pass, set, hit, so if I don’t do their job, they can’t do theirs.”

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public School athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

Burke’s Kevin Facey hasn’t had as much to work with -- in the way of equipment and facilities -- as his competition has. However, the senior still thinks he has what it takes to beat them all in the MIAA All State Track and Field Outdoor Championships Saturday at Westfield State.

“I don’t know if I’m in first seed, but I’m just trying to come in first in the preliminaries and the finals,” Facey said.

After winning the 100-meter dash in the sectionals last weekend with a time of 11.38, Facey is the 15th seed. He is not proud of the time; he was trying to break his personal record of 10.7.

He believes the extra practice time he puts in will make it possible to achieve that goal. When Facey is not practicing with his Burke team, he is practicing in the parks or hills near his Dorchester home with his mother.

It doesn’t matter if it’s raining, snowing, or the sun is shining, the two Jamaican immigrants make time.

“My mom’s on the bottom and sometimes she’ll tell me on her phone what’s my time and how I do," said Facey. "She’ll always tell me if a car is coming though. I’m really thankful for her because it really pushed me and helped me.”

Facey, who got fifth place in New England for indoor track in the 55-meter dash and won the city championship for the 100 meters, has managed to balance a job with being a varsity athlete in the city.

“He has a job that he doesn’t want to jeopardize by coming to practice, so he goes on other times and still works out, even though he doesn’t get to practice with us,” said Burke assistant coach Megan Waterbury.

The Burke coaches ask only that Facey find a little time to run when he misses practice for work, and he will always find time each day, either at Madison Park or the Reggie Lewis Center.

“Not having any equipment in the facilities and all those things, it’s really a God-given ability, and we’re just here to nurture and guide him through this process,” said Burke coach Byron Beaman. “I take my hat off to him, to what he’s been able to do.

"Moving forward, I think he has a great opportunity to win the state."

It’s now or never for Facey, who will join South Boston’s Bless Amedoadzi as the only city runners in the All State meet.

“I just want to be the best in track and field and do my best,” Facey said.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

South Boston sprinter Daitannah Smith will be running Saturday’s MIAA All-State outdoor track and field championships at Westfield State University with a chip on her shoulder.

Favored to win the 200-meter dash at last Saturday’s Division 4 state meet, Smith finished second with a time of 26.97 seconds behind Ipswich’s Michaela Hedderman (26.95).

After having the third overall best time in the preliminary heats (27.25), Smith ran in the faster of two heats in the 200-meter final while Hedderman ran in the slower heat. The final was broken up into two heats because the track at North Reading High only has six lanes and there were eight finalists for the 200.

South Boston coach James de Mello said the slower heat had the advantage because the skies opened up just after the slow heat. It poured during the faster heat, he said.

“The conditions weather wise were just better,” de Mello said of the slow heat. “The wind wasn’t howling and there was no rain. … I think she was disappointed she didn’t get first. She didn’t run against that (Ipswich) girl.”

Smith will be the No. 23 seed on Saturday and she will also run on South Boston’s 4x100-meter relay, which is seeded No. 20 with a time of 51.83. The relay came in second as well at the Division 4 meet.

Several other city league female athletes qualified for Saturday's All-State meet.

In the 400-meter dash, Latin Academy’s star freshman sprinter, Ashley Lewis, will be the No. 11 seed with a time of 59.34. She finished third in the 400 meters at the Division 2 meet.

O’Bryant freshman Juleen Lewis qualified for the long jump with a leap of 17 feet 10 inches. She failed to qualify for the 100-meter dash after finishing ninth with a time of 13.3 at the Division 3 meet.

She will likely not compete in the meet because she's a Seventh-Day Adventist.

Her teammate at O'Bryant, Kiana Daley, will be the No. 9 seed in the discus with a toss of 112-05. She finished fourth in the Division 3 meet.

In the triple jump, New Mission senior Esther Nkwah will be the No. 19 seed after she finished second at the Division 4 meet with a leap of 34-05.

To see the entire performance list for the girls All-State meet click here. For the boys meet click here.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

Boston Youth Wrestling is hosting a workshop for city wrestlers on Saturday called Save City Wrestling Clinic and Technique Workshop.

It will be held Saturday from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Crossfit on the Hill in Roxbury (123 Terrace Street).

The workshop will feature BU head coach and two-time NCAA champion Carl Adams, BU assistant coach and two-time all-american Sean Harrington and Harvard assistant coach and all-american Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov.

The BU wrestling program, the only of which in the city, was cut on April 1.

"When I founded this organization over a year ago, current and former BU wrestlers were some of the first individuals to support our mission," Boston Youth Wrestling director Jose Valenzuela said. "This week's clinic is a way of showing our support here at Boston Youth Wrestling ..."

Valenzuela went on to say that the impact of BU wrestling goes much farther than Commonwealth Avenue.

"When we have a chance to bring top college coaches and wrestlers to our practices, our students learn so much from interacting with them," Valenzuela said. "These are positive relationships that our students need in their lives to help them stay on the right path. We can't lose the only Division I wrestling program in the city."

To get involved click here.

To register for the workshop click here.

The event is free but is limited to participants of the Boston Youth Wrestling training center.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

Tenacity President and Founder Ned Eames will host more than 800 guests at the Westin Waterfront Hotel on Saturday night for Tenacity's annual gala and he will be inducted into the USTA New England Tennis Hall of Fame on June 8. (Photo courtesy of Tenacity)

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

The next two weekends will be pretty good ones for Ned Eames.

First, the founder of Tenacity Inc. — a tennis and enrichment program for 6,500 youths in Boston and Worcester — will host 800-plus guests Saturday at the Westin Waterfront Hotel from 5:30-11 p.m. at the organization’s annual fund-raising gala. He hopes to raise $500,000.

The following Saturday, the former pro tennis player will be inducted into the New England Division of the US Tennis Association’s Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I.

Saturday's gala at the Westin will have a "magic" theme -- focusing on the "magic" of extended learning time -- and school reform in Boston, Eames said during a wide-ranging interview at Tenacity’s Allston offices Tuesday morning.

“Those partnerships bring increased academic help and also enrichment, which is key because kids can’t be in classrooms all day," Eames said. "They need to have fun running around recreating, experiencing the arts and so forth.”

Latin Academy tennis coach and founding Tenacity program director Andy Crane will receive the Founders Award at the gala.

“The evening will culminate with Andy on stage receiving this award,” Eames said. “There is also an incredibly moving video on Andy over the years that includes a lot of the staff and kids that he worked with. We’ll probably have 35 student alumni of Tenacity he mentored come up on stage with him.”

The gala will also honor the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing and celebrate Tenacity’s first year of raising money through 15 Boston Marathon runners, all of whom were unharmed during the attacks.

Eames said Tenacity had about 230 staff members and 20 students along the course on Marathon Monday who also were uninjured.

“I was supposed to be at finish line but I couldn’t go,” Eames said. “My wife took my place and was literally on the bleachers across the street from the incident. She was OK but it was a very emotionally difficult time in terms of the injuries to others.

"I think we have a very profound and appropriate video and live on stage will acknowledge what our city went through this past year with the Marathon.”

Starting up in the summer of 1999, Tenacity worked with 1,100 kids in its tennis and reading enrichment program. The program now serves 5,000 kids each summer in Boston and Worcester.

During the school year, Tenacity serves 1,000 in partnership with Boston Public Schools and is on the cusp of growing to 2,000 students.

Eames, who received the Tennis Hall of Fame 2012 Samuel Hardy and Tennis Educational Merit Award in March, said being named to the New England Hall is meaningful because he can relate to the students his organization services.

Eames spent the first 14 years of his life at the leafy Newbury prep school now called Governor’s Academy, where his father was a teacher. But his father uprooted the family to become a community organizer in Worcester.

Eames lived in the rough-and-tumble Plumley Village housing projects and took a bus to play tennis at the Westboro Tennis and Swim Club before his family moved to a street near the clay courts at the Worcester Tennis Club.

“The tennis community in Worcester really pulled me in and made me a part of it, and tennis really became the activity that pulled me through my teen years, which in my case were challenging and not a smooth run,” he said.

“This was just a completely new world for me and it was a world that was very attractive to me and one that I threw myself into. And then it went on to play a very big role in my life through high school and college and then afterwards.

“So now, at the age of 53, to have an opportunity to be recognized in this way -- and especially because I’m being recognized for service work with kids, kids like I was in Worcester living in Plumley Village -- is very meaningful to me.”

Eames played in the state finals for Doherty High before captaining the San Diego State team. He also spent a few years on the pro satellite tour. He joked that he’s a little disappointed not to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player.

"I had hoped I’d be inducted as a player, and I was a pretty good player," he said, "but in the end, I’m even happier that it’s for this reason.”

Click here to purchase tickets to Saturday's Tenacity gala at the Westin Waterfront Hotel.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

Boston English doesn’t have much time to celebrate its baseball city championship, with the state tournament beginning this week. However, coach Ricardo Figueroa is confident that complacency won’t be an issue for his squad.

“I feel comfortable because we have to keep going with the same mentality that we have until the last game of the season,” Figueroa said.

In all, nine city teams will be competing in the state tournament.

In Division 2 North, No. 4 Latin Academy (14-4) will travel to face Winchester Thursday, and then on Saturday, No. 7 New Mission (14-5) will host Reading at Ross Field and top-seeded English (16-0) will face the winner of the North Andover-Dracut preliminary game.

In Division 1 North, No. 18 Boston Latin (11-9) will travel to take on Haverhill Thursday.

In Division 3 North, No. 14 East Boston (10-9) will host Weston in a preliminary game Thursday, and No. 9 Charlestown (10-6) will travel to Newburyport Friday.

In Division 4 North Friday, No. 6 Dorchester (8-8) will head to Georgetown, No. 1 Boston International (13-4) will host Rockport at Fallon Field, and No. 5 West Roxbury (10-8) takes on Mystic Valley at Maplewood Field.

All games will begin at 4 pm.

“We’re going to try our best to go to the next level,” Figueroa said. “That’s our mentality right now.”

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

A day after pitching Latin Academy to its sixth straight city softball championship on Memorial Day, Sydney McGrath was watching baseballs fly over a nearly 25-foot fence in Tuesday’s baseball city championship between Boston English and Latin Academy.

While the balls were flying off the bats in English’s 4-3 victory at Madison Park Tuesday, the same could not be said for East Boston’s team in Monday’s softball championship game. McGrath pitched her first perfect game to lead her team to a 25-0 victory shortened to five innings by the mercy rule.

Now McGrath is looking to take a curtain call in the Division 3 North state tournament, where her squad has fallen to eventual state champ St. Mary’s the last few years.

In order to get to a meeting with St. Mary’s this year, No. 16 Latin Academy (13-9) will have to get past No. 17 North Shore Tech at 4 p.m. Saturday at Clemente Field. Then it would have to beat No. 1 Shawsheen (20-0) Sunday at 1 p.m. at Shawsheen.

"They are a great team offensively, defensively -- they have amazing pitching, too,” McGrath said. “They are probably one of the best in the state. To beat them would be surreal, to know that we came that far to beat a team like that.

"I have 100 percent faith in my team, but beating them would be the best thing to come out of senior year.”

McGrath is not looking past North Shore Tech, though.

“I just actually kind of scouted them online,” she said. “I think it will be a good match. They seem to be good. All teams in the state tournament are good. I think it will be a tight game, but if we bring everything we brought in the [city tournament], I think we’ll have no problem.”

Also in Division 3 North, No. 22 East Boston (10-10) will look to rebound when it meets No. 11 Northeast Metro (12-6) on the road at 4 p.m. Thursday.

“We have to understand that that Latin Academy team is the best team in the city and the girl who threw the perfect game is a great pitcher,” said East Boston coach Thomas Elliot. “It’s best to go against the best. It brings out the best in you.

"Even though we did not win that game or get a hit or score a run, we still had to play good softball against Latin Academy.

“Playing teams like that gets you ready for the state tournament. Now our kids know everything to expect. It only helps you.”

No. 12 O’Bryant (12-6) will be looking to rebound from a 21-0 loss to Latin Academy in the city championship semifinals. O’Bryant will play No. 21 Greater Lowell at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Madison Park.

“I think we’ll be fine," said O’Bryant coach Bridget Ryan. "My starting pitcher [Naya Shedd] got sick, my backup pitcher was away for the weekend, and I had to ask a young eighth-grader to step up [in the city semis]. She did great at pitching. We’ll rebound. We’re just hoping to play great and advance in states.”

No. 3 Burke (12-3) will play the winner of the game at 4 p.m. between No. 14 Notre Dame Academy (13-7) and No. 19 Dorchester (8-7) Thursday at Notre Dame Academy.

No. 15 New Mission (9-5) will play No. 18 Mystic Valley at 3:30 p.m. at Ross Field in Hyde Park Thursday.

After this postseason run, McGrath, who plans to play for Catholic University next year, will hand the reins to her sister Olivia McGrath, an eighth-grader who one-hit O’Bryant in the city semifinals.

“Olivia is definitely going to be successful if she continues on,” Sydney McGrath said. “She’s going to be in high school next year and I think she is already phenomenal. I have 100 percent faith in her and her career and her future.

“It’s great to know that I’m going to go to college next year, and I most likely will never play softball with her again. It’s just great to be on the same team as her and watching her progress through fall and winter workouts we did together and now see her success. It’s awesome to be her big sister.”

But, of course, she also had to one-up little sis with a perfect game in the city playoffs.

“I’m the big sister,” she said. “That’s what I have to do.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public School athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

English defeated Latin Academy, 4-3, in the city championship on Tuesday for the second straight year (Barry Chin / Globe Staff)

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

English coach Ricardo Figueroa believes that the quality of Boston City League baseball needs to be “lifted” to that of football and basketball. With English winning the league baseball championship over Latin Academy for a second straight year, his state tournament-bound team is making a good case that it is happening.

“This is going to make a difference for some kids that are watching the game and want to be in the same position that we are in now,” Figueroa said after Tuesday's 4-3 win over Latin Academy at Madison Park. “I hope that we will see more inner-city kids playing baseball.”

One hero for English was junior Miguel Calderon, who hit a solo home run over the left-field fence leading off the bottom of the fifth to tie the game, 3-3.

“I was confident and I think it was a good piece of hitting and it came at the right time,” Calderon said. “We tied the game and I was confident we could come back.”

His confidence was justified. Just two batters later, freshman Stanley Vargas doubled off junior Osvarhele Guerrero, then senior Nelson Barreiro brought home the go-ahead run with a triple.

Barreiro was also the starting pitcher for English, going all seven innings, allowing 2 earned runs with 11 strikeouts.

“He’s tremendous at pitching,” Calderon said. “He always has that motivation to win and win and win.”

Calderon’s homer came after Latin Academy junior Mark Guerard appeared to have halted English’s championship run. With runners on first and third in the top of the fifth, Guerard hit a home run to left-center for a 3-2 lead.

“I was proud of the way our guys played,” coach Anthony Bernazzani said. “We didn’t give them the game. We played a clean game just like they did, and they just had one more run and one more big hit than us.”

In the top of the seventh, Latin Academy had one more chance to match those clutch hits, with the top of its lineup set to bat. However, Barreiro ended the game by striking out senior Nick Hicks and junior Jesse Miller and getting senior Vincent Lopriore to ground out.

Sophomore Joymer Rosario and junior Miguel Lorenzo came up big for English early, each recording an RBI for the first two runs of the game.

“I’m so glad and happy for these guys,” Figueroa said. “They sacrificed everything for this and I have to give them all the credit.”

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

Latin Academy senior Sydney McGrath tossed a perfect game against East Boston Monday afternoon to help the Dragons win the city championship at Clemente Field. (Billy Owens / For the Boston Globe)

By Colleen Casey, Globe Correspondent

For the past six years, Latin Academy and East Boston have made their presence known in the Boston City League. This year was no exception, as the two powers clashed at Clemente Field Monday for the softball city championship. And for the sixth year in a row, Latin Academy took the crown, defeating Eastie, 25-0, in five innings.

Latin Academy senior hurler Sydney McGrath threw a perfect game with nine strikeouts.

“I wanted to end my senior year great and this is more than I ever expected,” said McGrath, who plans to play for Catholic University next year. “I like the adrenaline and I like the pressure. I work well under pressure and I had great defense and offense behind me.”

McGrath said this season has been the best in her career. She credits her hard work in the offseason and playing with the Bay State Thunder over the summer to help her get to this level.

Latin Academy coach Rocco Zizza was not surprised by McGrath’s perfect game.

“She’s the type of pitcher the entire year that every time she goes out that’s a possibility,” said Zizza. “This is her first perfect game. Sydney is a first-class pitcher. As long as we hit the ball with her on the mound, we’ll be in every single game.”

What sealed the deal for the Dragon’s was their explosive fifth inning. Already up by 10, Latin Academy managed 10 hits and pushed 15 runs across. Olivia McGrath, Julieanne Coleman, and Colby Cahill were all able to bat twice and managed a hit each at-bat.

Eastie earned its spot in the championship after defeating West Roxbury, 15-12, an hour earlier in the semis. Latin Academy knocked off O’Bryant, 21-0, to secure its spot.

Zizza said the score of the second game was surprising, considering both teams had already played earlier in the day. The Dragons compiled 46 runs total.

“We played everyone -- all 17 kids, two pitchers and two catchers,” said Zizza. “In the long term, it helps us; in the short term, it kind of hurt us. We are a little surprised by the score.”

The Dragons wasted no time in the first, scoring two quick runs. They added another two in the second and six in the fourth to give McGrath some breathing room before they erupted in the fifth.

Coleman had a great day, going 5 for 5 and had two stolen bases. Rachel Wells went 3 for 4 and Aurora O’Brien went 2 for 5 with a triple.

As for the final out of the game, McGrath -- who has never lost to a City League team since she started pitching for Latin Academy as a seventh grader -- said she knew the pressure was on her.

“My heart was pounding a little more," she said. "I knew it was the last out and I knew what I had to do. When it was called, it was surreal.”

Stanley Vargas, the only freshman on English, runs around the basesQ(Pavel Dzemianok/ For the Boston Globe)

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

English and Latin Academy came out as winners in the Boston city league baseball semifinals on Monday to set up a rematch of last year’s city championship.

The Dragons defeated the Central champions, East Boston, 7-2, behind a huge 5-run sixth inning in the second of the double-header at Madison Park.

With two outs and the bases loaded, sophomore Wilberto Colon, the last hitter in coach Anthony Bernazzani’s lineup, hit a 2-run RBI double to left center field to give Latin Academy a 3-2 lead. Senior Nick Hicks and junior Eddie Funes followed with doubles of their own bringing in 3 more runs in the inning.

“It was pretty big. We needed that hit and it just started everything,” Colon said. “It was late in the inning but we needed it.”

Senior Vincent Lopriore had another great performance from the mound allowing just two runs over seven innings to go along with 13 strikeouts.

“It’s always great to be in the city league playoffs every year, it means that we’ve had a pretty good season so hopefully we can keep it going,” Bernazzani said. “English is obviously a great team, they’ve got some great players and a great coach so it should be fun.”

Coach Ricardo Figueroa’s team lived up to that greatness on Monday morning defeating first-year program and South champion, New Mission, 13-3.

After New Mission scored the first two runs in the game behind a 2-run RBI single from Rafael Ruiz in the first inning, junior pitcher Alberto Navarro didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning.

Figueroa said Navarro getting command of his fastball and curveball was key to his success.

Frankely Gonzalez opened the game up in the third inning with a 3-run homerun over the left field fence to give the north champions a comfortable 9-2 lead. Every player in the English lineup got on base in the blowout.

Figueroa said that facing their old coach, Modesto Gomez, gave his players extra motivation.

“Mo was coach last year and they want to prove that they can keep playing good baseball,” Figueroa said.

However, the New Mission coach wouldn’t allow his connection with the defending city champions to take aware from English’s win.

“They deserve credit. I think they’re the best team in the city and they showed it today,” Gomez said. “We’re a new program and for a first-year program, to get this far is a major accomplishment.”

English will look to keeping proving their worth in the championship game on Tuesday at 1 p.m. at Madison Park.

“We just want to have the back-to-back championship and win the game,” Gonzalez said.

The only thing standing in English’s way is their North rivals Latin Academy.

“Everyone knows that’s kind of our archrivals,” Hicks said. “We’re going to approach them the same way we usually approach them; come out swinging and hopefully we get a win.”

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

Even though Latin Academy senior Dan O’Connell leads the state in batting average, he said he hasn’t changed much in his approach to hitting.

He simply has been practicing more.

One thing that has definitely changed is Latin Academy getting more recognition from its peers as the city championship approaches.

“Teachers and kids are always asking how we’re doing,” O’Connell said. “A lot more people [at Latin Academy] are more into sports this year than other seasons.”

They have good reason to be excited; the only team to have a better record than Latin Academy is the North Division champion, English.

English will open the city tournament semifinals against South champion New Mission Monday at 10 a.m. at Madison Park. Latin Academy will follow against the Central champion, East Boston, at 1 p.m. The championship game will be Tuesday at 1 p.m. at Madison Park.

The best hitter in the city, with an .808 average in 26 at-bats, O'Connell hopes he can continue what has already been a substantial offensive season through the tournament.

“It feels good, [my] last year, to get something good like that," he said. "Makes my school look good, too."

While the catcher has been on the squad since he was a freshman, he was bumped up to varsity his junior year. His coach has been impressed not only with his hitting but also his leadership on the defensive side of the game.

“He’s a tough, hard-nosed kid, so we put him back behind the plate about two or three years ago,” coach Anthony Bernazzani said. “He was a little raw, a little rough around the edges, but he works really hard and he’s become a good defensive catcher and he’s a good hitter.”

To be a good hitter, O’Connell said, having a sense of urgency and determination is key.

“Usually I just go up like, ‘I can’t go out,' ” O’Connell said. “You don’t want to go up like, ‘I don’t want to get out,’ you want to go up like, ‘I’m going to get a hit.' ”

The strategy must be working, because he also leads Latin Academy in RBIs with 19.

Having the same kind of determination in school has helped him earn a 3.1 GPA, and he will attend UMass-Amherst in the fall.

“He gets it done in the classroom and on the field,” Bernazzani said. “You never have to worry about him. He’s always here, he’s committed, he works hard, and he’s a great all-around kid.”

O’Connell and Latin Academy have accomplished a lot this year, but they have yet to do one thing; beat English. They were 0-3 against coach Ricardo Figueroa’s team and also lost to English last year in the city championship.

Latin Academy’s No. 1 pitcher, Vincent Lopriore, said the Dragons are eager to stop that trend.

“They’re a great team, and we’re looking for some redemption, so hopefully it’s a rematch in the finals and we’ll see how it goes,” Lopriore said.

But Bernazzani noted that the road to meeting English won’t be an easy one.

“We played a real tough game against [East Boston],” Bernazzani said. “They’re a good team, so that’s how you end up losing games. If you’re looking ahead in a single-elimination tournament, that’s how you’re going to lose.”

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

The semifinals of the city championships in baseball and softball that were scheduled for Saturday have been rescheduled because of impending rain.

In baseball, Boston English (North champ) will play New Mission (South champ) Monday at 10 a,m., and Latin Academy (North runner-up) will play East Boston (Central champ) Monday at 1. The games will still be at Madison Park.

The championship game, originally scheduled for Monday, will be played at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.

The softball semifinal games also will begin Monday at 11 a.m., with Latin Academy (South champ) facing O'Bryant (first wild card) at Clemente Field, and East Boston (North champ) facing West Roxbury (second wild card) at Cobe Field. Both fields are in the Fenway Gardens.

The championship game for softball will be played one hour after the semifinal games end on Monday.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

Daitannah Smith won her third straight city championship in the 200-meter dash. Now she's looking to win her first state meet title on Sunday. (Barry Chin /Globe Staff)

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Before last week’s Boston City League outdoor track and field championships at White Stadium, Daitannah Smith never really threw the javelin seriously.

Going into the event, the South Boston junior didn’t seem to mind that she was the second seed at 75 feet 5 inches, behind New Mission’s Ashly Guerrier (76-2).
That was no longer the case once Guerrier outthrew her on the first toss.

“Second place is not me," said Smith. "I’m like, 'No.' So I just threw it.”

Smith wound up blowing Guerrier out of the water with a toss of 103-8 to qualify for Sunday’s Division 4 state meet at North Reading High.

Now she hopes throwing the javelin this weekend will help calm her nerves for her main event, the 200-meter dash — an event in which she had the No. 1 time in the state for much of this spring.

On Sunday, Smith will be the top seed in the 200 with a time of 25.74 seconds. Considering that last year’s Division 4 winner ran a 26.82 and the No. 2 seed this year has a time of 26.43, Smith should be a shoo-in for gold.

But Smith, who won her third straight city championship in the 200 meters last Tuesday with a time of 26 seconds flat, has been known to get nervous at big meets outside the City League, and that's why she hopes throwing the javelin will help her relax.

“That will help me get loose and ready to run my race,” said Smith, who is seeded 11th in the javelin.

Two years ago in the Division 2 state meet, Smith finished third in the 200-meter preliminaries with a time of 26.91 before ending up fifth in the final with a 27.14.
Last year, she missed states because of an injury.

Smith will also anchor South Boston’s city champion 4x100 relay team Sunday. The team, which also features Marika Thompson, Sirania Reid, and Joclyn Harris, is seeded second with a time of 51.42.

Smith’s ascent in three years of high school track and field is remarkable not just for how far she has come, but that she did so with virtually no training. Smith, who emigrated from Jamaica in middle school, doesn’t run in the winter because she plays basketball. And she doesn’t get much one-on-one time with South Boston coach James de Mello during the spring season because he coaches both boys and girls track and doesn’t have an assistant.

The spring season is also relatively short, de Mello notes, when you factor in the lousy weather. Nevertheless, he calls Smith an “elite” runner.

“We barely had any good days, and she’s perfect at that level and she basically has very little track training," he said. "This is my third year with her and I only get her a couple of months."

This is also her last year with de Mello, who after 25 years is retiring from coaching. Asked if that worries her, Smith said, “It does, because I want to be with him my senior year, too, but that’s not going to happen. Hopefully my new coach is like him or somewhat like him.”

Both coach and pupil are cherishing the last days leading up to the state meet -- and the All-State meet June 1 -- because this is their only chance to work almost exclusively one-on-one.

“The reason I think she has so much potential is she has had very little training in track,” de Mello said. “You should be training all year to be as good as she is and she’s that good with just couple months of work.

“If she trained all year round, she’d have no bounds. She could really make it happen for herself.”

Another thing that has helped Smith is running with the South Boston boys team in practice.

“I can beat 99 percent of the boys,” she said. That doesn't count senior Bless Amedoadzi, who finished second in the city championships in the 100 meters with a time of 11.2. He also helped the boys' 4x100 meter team win the city championship.

“It helped me push myself," said Smith, "because the guys are a lot faster -- well, not a lot faster, but they are faster -- so it makes me want to run like them or faster. So it makes me want to push myself."

Amedoadzi said Smith pushes him, as well, because he doesn’t want to lose to a girl. But he doesn’t think that he makes her better; she does that all on her own, he said.

“I just feel like she had it in her, but Coach always wants me to run hard in practice, so I push her and make her better,” said Amedoadzi. “She makes me run harder in practice because she’s catching up to me.

“She got potential. She really keeps going and she never gives up.”

With a GPA around 3.4, Smith said she’s not going to give up until she gets a college scholarship and maybe even a chance to run in the Olympics.

“My goal for track is to run in the Olympics one day, so I’m hoping to improve my high school year for college,” she said. “I’m right there and ready to run faster and get there.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

With Boston English, the usual location, out of commission because of renovations, officials have finally been given clearance to use Madison Park for this weekend's Boston City League baseball championships.

English (North champ) will play New Mission (South champ) at 10 a.m. in Saturday's first semifinal while Latin Academy (North runner-up) will meet East Boston (Central champ) at 1 p.m. in the second semifinal.

The winners will meet at noon Monday in the championship game.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

The pairings for Saturday's city softball playoffs were released Thursday morning.

The semifinals will be played at 11 a.m. at Cobe and Clemente Fields in the Fens, with Latin Academy (South champion) facing O’Bryant (first wild card) at Clemente and East Boston (North champion) facing Burke (second wild card) at Cobe.

The winners meet in the championship game at noon Monday at Cobe Field.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

The MIAA state outdoor track meet performance list was recently released. The following are the athletes representing Boston public schools.

Division 1, Saturday at Andover High

100-meter dash
21. Jalhen BienAmie, Boston Latin, 11.34.

Division 2, Saturday at Notre Dame Academy (Hingham)

200-meter dash
22. Sekou Stuppard, Latin Academy, 23.34.

Division 3, Sunday at Pembroke High

100-meter dash
17. Mehki Williams, O’Bryant, 11.54.

400-meter hurdles
18. Arrik Bell, Dorchester, 60.24.

4x100 meter relay
20. O’Bryant (George Gomez, Mehki Williams, Duncan Malone, Rhondell Teesdale, Brian Donna, Ricky Preston), 46.84.

High jump
9. Arrik Bell, Dorchester, 6-0.

Triple jump
26. Duncan Malone, O'Bryant, 39-4

Discus throw
23. Duncan Malone, O'Bryant, 122-2.

Division 4, Sunday at North Reading High

100-meter dash
1. Kevin Facey, Burke, 10.94; 12. Bless Amedoadzi, South Boston, 11.34; 15. Brandon Newton, Burke, 11.44; 26. Stephen Lang, West Roxbury, 11.64; 44. Steven Thomas, New Mission, 11.84; 47. Garrette Stulz, South Boston, 11.94; 55. Scifo Campbell, South Boston, 12.04.

200-meter dash
27. Dewaye Rogers, South Boston, 24.04; 28. Steven Thomas, New Mission, 24.04; 29. Prince Collins, Burke, 24.14; 30. Joseph West, Snowden, 24.14; 34. Maurice Parnell, West Roxbury, 24.24.

400-meter dash
16. Stephen Lang, West Roxbury, 53.04.

4x100 meter relay
11. Burke (Brandon Newton, Prince Collins, Ayowale Aduayi, Kevin Facey, Omotoyosi Oyedeji), 46.14; 17. South Boston (Scifo Campbell, Bless Amedoadzi, Dewaye Rogers, Garrette Stulz, Carson Passe, Terrell Rogers), 46.54; 28. Snowden (Shaquan Richards, Joseph West, Harris Victor, Craig Wilder, Ibrahim Bah), 47.54.

4x400 relay
25. South Boston (Carson Passe, Jeffrey Alcantra, Terrell Rogers, Hakine Walcott, Quayshaun Owens), 3:47.14.

The MIAA state outdoor track meet performance list was recently released. The following are the athletes representing Boston Public Schools:

Division 1
Saturday at Andover High

200-meter dash
11. Kenedy Barnwell, Boston Latin, 26.54

Division 2
Saturday at Notre Dame Academy (Hingham)

400-meter dash
2. Ashley Lewis, Latin Academy, 58.66

800-meter run
22. Britney Firmin, Latin Academy, 2:27.70

4x100 meter relay
27. Latin Academy, 54.64

4x400-meter relay
22. Latin Academy, 4:28.24

Division 3
Sunday at Pembroke High

100-meter dash
4. Juleen Lewis, O'Bryant, 12.84

Long jump
9. Juleen Lewis, O'Bryant, 16-08.25

Triple jump
14. Juleen Lewis, O'Bryant, 33-10

Discus
3. Kiana Daley, O'Bryant, 107-04; 33. Rachel White, O'Bryant, 86-6

Division 4
Sunday at North Reading High

100-meter dash
24. Maria Lewis, Snowden, 13.34; 25. Esther Nkwah, New Mission, 13.34; 26. Joclyn Harris, South Boston, 13.34; 34. Sirania Reid, South Boston, 13.54; 35. Elizabeth Lewis, West Roxbury, 13.54; 43. Hirmine Francois, West Roxbury, 13.64.

200-meter dash
1. Daitannah Smith, South Boston, 25.74

400-meter dash
28. Marika Thompson, South Boston, 65.04

4x100-meter relay
2. South Boston (Marika Thompson, Sirania Reid, Joclyn Harris, Daitannah Smith), 51.42

Long jump
28. Esther Nkwah, New Mission, 15-4

Triple jump
8. Esther Nkwah, New Mission, 34-01; 36. Marika Thompson, South Boston, 31-7; 39. Vanessa Vilbert, Snowden, 31-6.

Javelin
11. Daitannah Smith, South Boston, 103-08

East Boston clinched its sixth straight trip to the city league tournament on Tuesday by beating Fenway on the road. (Justin A. Rice / For the Boston Globe)

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

East Boston wasted no time beating Fenway Tuesday afternoon, clinching berths in both the city and state tournaments.

“In the beginning of the game, we all had a talk about how we knew this game was a do- or-die situation in order to get into [the city tournament] again,” East Boston pitcher Stephanie Rizzo said after the 15-5 victory. “We just put our teamwork together and that pumped us up more to play hard.”

If Rizzo hadn’t pitched as well as she did, allowing only two hits and striking out 12, East Boston might have lost, ending its hopes of reaching the postseason.

“We knew if we didn’t win today then the season would likely be over, but the kids came out playing and scored their runs early and we hung on at the end,” coach Thomas Elliot said.

Early scoring is exactly what East Boston did; by the third inning, it was already up, 13-0, and eight of its nine batters had reached base at least twice. Catcher Vanessa Bernabie led the way for the balanced offense, going 3 for 4 with three RBIs.

Rizzo showed her dominance through the first four innings, not allowing a single hit. The Panthers did score a run in the third inning when sophomore Shamaine Darden drew a walk, then stole second, third, and home.

Fenway’s Vanesa Guevara ended Rizzo’s chance at a no-hitter when she hit a line drive to left field in the fifth inning. That hit also brought in the second Fenway run of the inning, preventing the mercy rule from taking effect.

“We’re a team that doesn’t give up,” said Fenway coach Joseph Cheung. “We didn’t win as many games as we wanted to this year but we fought hard in every game and we don’t want to get no-hit. No one wants that to happen.”

For Rizzo, however, the no-hitter was not a priority.

“When the girl got the hit, I was just looking for the next out," she said. "I just took it out of my head.

“What was working so well is my catcher [Bernabie] behind the plate. She stopped every single ball, she didn’t let anything by, she threw it and she did a good job.”

Even though the game guaranteed East Boston a trip to the postseason, Elliot emphasized that his team can’t look ahead to this weekend’s city tournament.

“I try to teach our kids ‘one game at a time, one game at a time,' ” Elliot said. “We still have two regular-season games to go. Were playing two Division 1 teams back to back tomorrow and Thursday, so hopefully that gets us healthy for our own playoffs in the [city tournament].”

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

A year after leading Boston English to the city baseball championship, Modesto Gomez will lead first-year baseball program, New Mission, to the city tournament on Saturday. (Billy Owens / For the Boston Globe)

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

A season after leading Boston English to a city championship in baseball, Modesto Gomez coached New Mission to a berth in the city tournament in the first season of the school’s baseball program.

“It’s a great accomplishment for a first-year program,” Gomez said. “I didn’t expect that we’d be so successful so early but they are good kids and they work hard. It wasn’t always easy but they played hard.”

The Titans (13-3, 9-0) clinched a spot in Saturday’s city championships by winning the Boston City League South title Monday afternoon, defeating Dorchester twice at Ross Field in Hyde Park. New Mission won the first game, 8-5, completing the final two innings from Thursday’s game that were postponed because of rain.

Then the Titans beat Dorchester, 15-9, in the second game to clinch their spot.

New Mission will likely play the winner of the North Division, Boston English, in the semifinals Saturday while the likely Central winner, East Boston, will play Latin Academy.

In addition to Gomez coaching English last year, two players (Ansel Rivera and Jomar Ventura) also played for English last year; New Mission students played on the English team since they didn’t have their own team yet.

“It feels good being undefeated in our division,” Ventura said. “We have a lot of freshmen and stuff, but they have a lot of experience and they showed they can play with the big boys.”

Ventura got the winning hit in last year’s city championship game against Latin Academy.

“It’s going to feel weird -- that’s my old team -- but I’ll still play competitive and attack,” he said. “We still want to win. We still feel like we can compete with them. We feel good about [the tournament]. I like my team and I have faith in them.”

New Mission has already lost twice to English this year.

“It will be a lot different but they are right now the best team in the city,” Gomez said.
“But we’ll go out and compete and see what happens. That’s why we play seven innings. We’re hoping for a better result than the last two times.”

New Mission led, 7-4, going into the final two innings of the suspended game, and freshman Rafael Ruiz struck out the final two batters of the game to record the save. Ruiz struck out four in two innings, while junior Ewing Diaz got the win, striking out five in five innings.

Sophomore first baseman Jose Maria was 3 for 4 with two singles, a triple, and an RBI. He also scored two runs.

Sophomore Bernard Phillip led the Bears in the first game by going 2 for 4 with a triple and a single.

Dorchester (8-7), which needed to win both games to clinch a spot in the city championships, scored two quick runs in the second game, just moments after losing the first game.

Dorchester coach Rusty Young, however, wasn’t dismayed. Despite the fact that the left side of his infield is freshmen and the right side are sophomores, Dorchester clinched a spot in the state tournament for just the second time in about 20 years.

“It’s not frustrating," said Young. "These guys have never had any other baseball coach than me. They played 16 games of baseball in their life. Five starters have never played baseball. They don’t have a lot of experience to draw from in pressure situations. The only way to teach that is with experience.”

Young said he told his team to play loose after the first game.

"We’re going to play in the state tournament and we need to play loose,” he said. “I am very proud of this team. They are a great group of kids who work hard and come to practice every day and who want to be better.”

Gomez said he was a little worried after Dorchester scored the first two runs of the game and then again after it scored five in the sixth inning to make the score 13-9.

“It got a little interesting but luckily Ewing Diaz closed it out,” Gomez said. “He throws strikes.”

Diaz struck out three batters in relief while Ruiz got the win, striking out four batters in four innings. Gabriel Sanchez was 2 for 3 with three RBIs and two doubles.

Gomez was concerned going into the games because one of his pitchers, Marvin Fransisco, is injured.

“I didn’t have as much pitching as I would have liked,” he said. “I was a little concerned to that end but I was hoping we’d compensate with our bats. We didn’t have to worry about pitching as much.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

Latin Academy clinched a trip to the city baseball tournament behind a dominant pitching performance from Vincent Lopriore against West Roxbury Monday afternoon.

“We know we've got our backs up against the wall. We've got to play our best game of the year defensively and offensively, and we did good,” Lopriore said after the 5-0 win. “We swung the bats well, played good defense, I was able to throw strikes and we’re really exited to go back to the [tournament].”

If West Roxbury had beaten Latin Academy, it would have surpassed the Dragons in the North Division and joined Boston English as the two North teams going to the tournament.

However, the Raiders couldn’t manage to get a hit off of Lopriore until the sixth inning when junior Steven Augusta – the last hitter in coach Clifton Wilson’s lineup -- hit a single to left field. The Latin Academy senior pitcher was dominant, only allowing two hits through all seven innings, to go along with eight strikeouts.

West Roxbury junior Sean Haugh also pitched well, only allowing three runs through five innings. In the sixth inning, however, Wilberto Colon and Nick Hicks each brought home runs in bases-loaded situations to extend the Latin Academy lead.

“Both pitchers pitched really well. The difference was their pitcher had a second pitch and ours didn’t,” Wilson said. “Ours basically threw a fastball and they put a few hits together to make that work.”

Lopriore also thought that his variety of pitches was key to what he called one of his best performances of the year.

“I had three pitches working for me today, not just one or two,” Lopriore said. “I had my fastball, slider, and change-up working for me today. I was able to throw strikes, use my defense and got the win.”

He also credited his catcher, Dan O’Connell.

O’Connell, currently leading the city in batting average, brought home Latin Academy’s first run with a sacrifice fly. RBI singles by Mark Guerard and Patrick Owens followed.

After the game, a majority of coach Anthony Bernazzani’s credit went to his “ace.” It also left him hoping Lopriore has enough for the tournament.

“We were lucky to have his turn in the rotation come up today,” Bernazzani said. “Hopefully ... we can see him again this weekend and there will be enough rest.”

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

New Mission’s softball team kept itself in the hunt to reach its first city championships by beating O’Bryant Monday afternoon, but a new rule might prevent it from getting into Saturday's tournament anyway.

Alison Davey hit two home runs and had five RBIs while Nicole Sandel struck out nine as New Mission beat O’Bryant, 7-3, at Ross Field.

The Titans (8-5) need to beat Boston English Thursday to have a shot at making the tournament but probably still won't have a good enough record.

In past years, the top two teams from the North and South Divisions qualified, but this year the top team from the North and South qualify while the two teams with the next best records qualify as well, regardless of division.

Under that rule, either Burke (8-2) or West Roxbury (9-3) would probably go to the tournament over New Mission.

East Boston needs to beat Fenway Tuesday to clinch the North title and Latin Academy clinched the South title last week.

New Mission coach Cory McCarthy said his team has had its best season since his first year in 2007.

“We beat West Roxbury, we beat O’Bryant,” he said. “We beat two of the teams that will potentially be in it.”

O’Bryant, which is 9-2 against city teams, was led by Kristen O’Brien’s six strikeouts and Valerie Nieves, who had a triple. It beat Burke earlier in the year and will probably make the tournament.

O’Bryant coach Bridget Ryan said she hopes to see New Mission Saturday.

“They played well.” Ryan said. “They had great hits. They had some diesel hits to the outfield.”

O’Bryant still has to play West Roxbury and South Boston this week.

The tournament semifinals will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Clemente and Cobe Fields in the Fens.

The winners will meet in Monday’s championship game at noon.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

With the Boston City League softball championship semifinals set for Saturday, the city softball season is down to the wire and several teams are in do-or-die scenarios.

First off, East Boston needs to beat Fenway on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at Clemente Field to clinch the North title.

“If we win tomorrow we qualify for city tournament and [state] playoffs,” East Boston coach said Thomas Elliot, noting that he is 8-7 overall and 5-0 in the league. “Hopefully the rain holds up for us and we can get it in and that’s a must win situation. If we don’t win that we’re not in the playoffs at all.”

And while Fenway used to be the doormat of the league, that is not the case anymore as they are 4-5, including a three-game win streak this year.

“And we’re going to playing on their home field so I can imagine [it will be tough,” Elliot said.

This year, instead of the second place teams in the North and South clinching the city tournament, the teams with the third and fourth best records in the city, regardless if they are in the North or South, will qualify for the city tournament.

O’Bryant, who is 9-2 against city teams, is in the catbird seat for the third slot. Their only loss to a North team is against East Boston. Burke (8-2) is hot on

O’Bryan’t’s heals but the Tigers beat the Bulldogs 18-5 in the second game of the season. West Roxbury also has a shot at making the tournament.

O'Bryant could slip into the top spot if East Boston loses to Fenway.

“That’s the thing, because [East Boston] and BLA only play six games in the city, if they lose one of them they are automatically out of the city championships,” O’Bryant coach Bridget Ryan said.

Ryan said her team will probably clinch a spot in the city tournament no matter what.

“We beat the Burke so we are ahead of the Burke,” she said. “So we would be in it no matter what.”

Last year O’Bryant lost in the city tournament to Latin Academy, who last week clinched the South title with a 6-0 record.

“Most likely we’ll play them again,” Ryan said. “We played really well against them last year, we just had a rough first inning. We would like to have a chance against them again. We’re excited.”

The city championship semifinals will be at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Clemente and Cobe Fields in the Fens.

The winners will meet in Monday’s championship game at noon.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

Boston Latin defeated East Boston in the first round of the fifth annual Strike Out Colon Cancer tournament on Saturday in East Boston. (Pavel Dzemianok / For the Boston Globe)

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

Boston Latin opened up the fifth annual Strike Out Colon Cancer tournament with a blow out win over East Boston on Saturday.

Every single player in the Latin line up got on base in the 20-1 win. Two players even went the distance in East Boston’s home field; Patrick Fahy with an inside-the-park home run in the fifth inning and senior captain Malcolm Nachmanoff with a grand slam in the sixth.

“Everything clicks,” Nachmanoff said. “We get some good at bats, people on base, we get to the middle of our line up and we just came through today.”

The score in no way reflected how tight the game was for the first four and a half innings; it was just a 1-run game. However, after East Boston couldn’t capitalize with the bases loaded in the fourth and came out of the inning with just one run, Latin showed just how powerful they can be.

The Wolfpack scored 11 total run in the fifth inning and 8 runs in the sixth.

“The kids came up big and they make me look good when they have these big hits,” coach Rene Gauthier said.

Even though the coach was all smiles that his team would advance to play the winner of the Newton South-Malden game, which followed right after the first game of the tournament, he knew the win came secondary to the cause.

“I couldn’t believe that [East Boston] coach [Phil Brangiforte] was trying to put together this tournament, it like screamed to me,” said Gauthier, whose father died from colon cancer when he was 12-years-old. “I got to be a part of that. I got to try and help him and raise some money and more than the money, raise awareness for my kids and my kids’ families.”

Brangiforte, whose wife was diagnosed with colon cancer five years ago, said that in the five years he’s been running the tournament, $17,000 has been raised for Boston Medical Center. So far, $2,000 has been raised from this year’s tournament.

“It’s tough when you run a tournament like this because when you host it it’s almost like, we hate to say it, but the baseball is secondary,” Brangiforte said. “The main focus is to raise money and try to find a cure for colon cancer.”

The consolation game of the Strike Out Colon Cancer tournament is set to begin tomorrow at noon with the championship game following at 3 pm.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

Mike Theriault, or "Mikey Baseball," will pitch tomorrow against Boston Latin (Billy Owens /For the Boston Globe)

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

It was five years ago that the wife of East Boston baseball coach Phil Brangiforte was diagnosed with colon cancer.

And even though his team is only Division 3, for each of those years, the Jets have shown support for their coach by participating in the Strike Out Colon Cancer tournament.

“We've got a good young team,” Brangiforte said. “We’re hungry, we know we want to win and want to play. It’s about the baseball but it’s more about raising money, finding a cure for colon cancer.”

East Boston will open the fifth annual tournament against Boston Latin Saturday at noon. Malden and Newton South will play the second game, slated to begin at 3 p.m. The consolation and championship games will be Sunday.

Boston Latin also happens to be the former school of the pitcher set to start Saturday for East Boston, Mike Theriault. While Brangiforte believes this will add more incentive for the pitcher, he knows his players realize they’ll be playing for something much more important.

“One way or the other, whether it’s someone you know or a relative or somebody, you know someone that’s had some type of cancer,” Brangiforte said.

People have already started to donate, including Mayor Menino, who has provided all of the food for the event.

All proceeds will go directly to Boston Medical Center, the hospital where Brangiforte’s wife had emergency surgery five years ago.

“I almost lost her five years ago, and after that, we decided Boston Medical is real good," said the coach. "They saved her life and we wanted to give back."

Brangiforte said donations will be accepted the day of the tournament and he hopes the bleachers are filled with supporters for the cause.

July 3 will mark five years that Brangiforte’s wife has been free of colon cancer. He said she will be in the bleachers Saturday, supporting the Jets as she has the past five years.

... right after she throws the ceremonial first pitch of the tournament.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

The following students were awarded 2013 Boston Scholar Athletes college scholarships at yesterday’s BSA recognition event.

School, student, college

Latin Academy: Virginia McCaughey, College of Charleston
Boston Latin: Lauren Palermo, Clemson
New Mission: Shantal Solomon, Providence College
Brighton: Christian Romero, Merrimack
Charlestown: Shannon Simpson, Brandeis
Snowden: Vanessa Vilbert, Bridgewater State
O’Bryant: Guy Francois, Mass. College of Liberal Arts
East Boston: Daniel Marifiote, Curry
ACC: Tina Sadberry, Fitchburg State
English: Jordan Carter, Wentworth
South Boston: Tatenda Mundeek, UMass-Dartmouth
Fenway: Charlise Jones, UMass-Boston
Dorchester: Davina Tran, Union
Burke: Kirina Laryea, undecided
Boston International: Raheal Sarblah, UMass-Dartmouth
Madison Park: Amber Edwards, Community College of Rhode Island
Tech Boston: Patricia Gary, Mass. College of Liberal Arts
West Roxbury: Alejandro Lopez, UMass-Dartmouth

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at zolankannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

There was no way Nelson Barreiro was going to allow another Latin Academy comeback.

After the Dragons forced extra innings the last time they played English by scoring two runs in the seventh inning, Latin Academy on Wednesday once again found itself down, 2-0, with one last chance at a comeback.

After junior Jesse Miller drew a walk in the first at-bat of the seventh inning, it looked like history might repeat itself.

“When the first batter got to first base, I was like, ‘Oh damn, it’s going to happen again,' ” Barreiro said. “I started looking at first base and realized he took a lot of space so I threw the ball to the first baseman.”

After Miller was picked off, all the momentum Latin Academy had was gone. Barreiro struck out the next batter, one of his 11 on the afternoon, and completed a 2-0 win.

“This game was like a playoff game,” Barreiro said. “We played hard, we hustled, we were swinging, pitching, we played defense; all of it.”

The win was English’s third straight over Latin Academy, including the earlier extra-innings win and the one in last year’s city championship.

It was the second straight good game for Latin Academy pitcher Vincent Lopriore, as well. The senior had eight strikeouts to go with a double and a single.

“You have two really good pitchers out there and it makes the game that much cleaner,” Latin Academy coach Anthony Bernazzani said. “Both teams are really into it, it’s good intensity, good rivalry, and when you got two good pitchers throwing like that, every run counts; every play counts.”

That’s the mentality English freshman Stanley Vargas had when he approached the plate in the fifth inning. After driving in Frankely Gonzalez in the second inning with a single, Vargas hit a shot to deep right field to plate Miguel Calderon from second base.

“I was just looking at Nelson,” Vargas said of his reaction to the hit. “He’s pitching and we told him we’re going to get that win for him.”

Barreiro showed his appreciation for the freshman after the game.

“He’s a freshman and he plays like a senior,” Barreiro said. “He’s going to play hard every day.”

Even though he was aware of Latin Academy’s previous comeback against his team, coach Ricardo Figueroa said he never lost confidence that Barreiro would complete the shutout.

“Nelson is not going to give up,” Figueroa said. “He’s tough, he’s going to give you the heart; he’s awesome.”

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

The following are the Boston City League baseball all-stars:

Latin Academy
Mark Guerard
Vincent Lopriore
Daniel O'Connell

Brighton
Jose Crespo
Jesus Soto
Jose Valenzuela Rivera

Boston International
Junior Perdomo
Juan Manuel Urena
Nelfy Velez

Burke
Terel Andrews
Justin Davis
Elvin Perez

Charlestown
Miguel Arias
Luis Atiles
Rodney Soto

Dorchester
Moises Beltre
Philippe Bernard
Jose Lorenzo

East Boston
Conner Henry
Manny Martinez
Michael Theriault

Boston English
Nelson Barreiro
Alberto Navarro
Stanley Vargas

Fenway
Manuel Alvarez
Keith Foster Fitzpatrick
Gaby Pena Soto

Madison Park
Garrick Garcia
Hugo Mateo
Daurys Pena

O'Bryant
Brandon Ruiz
Jose Vasquez

South Boston

Aviel Collazo Feuents
Maro Pina

Snowden
Alvin Lopez
Luis Medina
Victor Velazquez

West Roxbury
Sean Haugh
Brian Navarro

The following are the Boston City League softball all-stars:

Latin Academy
Colby Cahill
Sydney McGrath
Aurora O'Brien

Brighton
Christy Cruz
Crystal Figueroa

Boston International
Mariliz Mendez
Johenny DeJesus
Jarolin Espinal
Olecia Dos Reis

Burke
Brenda Calderon
Whanellely Guerrero
Renee Pierre

Dorchester
Chanyce Jeannite
Jeannette Sepulveda
Brittany St. Cyr

East Boston
Vanessa Bernabie
Hannah Lunetta
Stephanie Rizzo

Fenway
Laura Escolero
Shamaine Darden

Madison Park
Katiria Anduja
Samantha Brunet
Krystal Edwards

New Mission
Alison Davey
Nicole Sandell
Virvioly Valdez

O'Bryant
Netta Harris
Kristen O'Brien
Naya Shedd

South Boston
Sydney Cunningham
Crystalyn Mitchell Hayne
Elaina Wright McCarthy

Snowden
Flormarina Arias
Stephanie Morales
Cheyenne Sulfaro

West Roxbury
Katherine Chavez
Mackala McPherson
Marissa Serrette

The following are the Boston City League track and field all-stars:

Girls

100-meter dash: Juleen Lewis, O'Bryant; 200-meter dash: Daitannah Smith, South Boston; 400-meter dash: Ashley Lewis, Latin Academy; 800-meter run: Britney Firmin, Latin Academy; 1-mile run: Catherine Van Even, Latin Academy; 2-mile run: Ambar Mateo, New Mission; 100-meter high hurdles: Esther Nkwah, New Mission; 400-meter hurdles: Maria Lewis, Snowden; Long jump: Juleen Lewis, O'Bryant; Triple jump: Esther Nkwah, New Mission; High jump: Kirina Laryea, Burke; Discus: Kiana Daley, O'Bryant; Shot put: Victoria Jackson, CASH; Javelin: Daitannah Smith, South Boston; 4x100: South Boston (Marika Thompson, Sirania Reid, Jocelyn Harris, and Daitannah Smith); 4x400: Latin Academy (Britney Firmin, Leigha Mills, Imani Pressley, Ashley Lewis).

Boys

100-meter dash: Kevin Facey, Burke; 200-meter dash: Malik Anderson, Latin Academy;
400-meter dash: Sekou Stuppard, Latin Academy; 800-meter run: Christopher Ford, Dorchester, 1-mile run: Redouane Laalioui, East Boston; 2-mile run: Sebastian Toro, East Boston; 110-meter hurdles: Xavier Hill, Latin Academy; 400-meter hurdles: Brian Donna, O’Bryant; 4x100-meter relay: South Boston (Scifo Campbell, Bless Amedoadzi, Dewayne Rogers and Garrette Stultz); 4x400-meter relay: Dorchester (Nicholas Ford, Peter Walker, Christopher Ford and Arrik Bell); Long jump: Arrik Bell, Dorchester; High jump: Arrik Bell, Dorchester; Triple jump: Malik Anderson, Latin Academy; Shot put: Winston Salters, Madison Park; Discus: Duncan Malone, O’Bryant; Javelin: Brian Donna, O’Bryant.

The following are the Boston City League boys volleyball all-stars:

Latin Academy
Chup Chiu
Jian Yi Huang
Fritz Jolivain

Brighton
Jose Mata
Lizandro Nogueira
Gustavo Silva

Madison Park
Sovenreth Chhim
Bryan Pagan
Marcus Soto

O'Bryant
Tobi Fashemi
Thomas Kulch
Biruk Sirmollo

West Roxbury
Wagner Jean Charles
Jean Merisier
Ricarfens Saintil

The following are the Boston City League all-stars for boys and girls tennis:

Latin Academy girls
Diandrea Galloway

Latin Academy boys
Ricardel Bailey
Mark Anthony Kenney
Jimmy Ye

O'Bryant boys
Aaron Goldsmith
Samuel Pham
Roger Xie

The all freshman Latin Academy girls 4x400-relay team (Britney Firmin, Leigha Millis, Imani Pressley and Ashley Lewis) took the top spot on the podium at White Stadium on Tuesday before their team beat O'Bryant by one point in the team standings of the Boston City League outdoor track and field championships. (Justin A. Rice / For the Boston Globe)

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

Latin Academy edged O'Bryant, 96-95, to win its second straight girls title at the Boston City League track and field championships Tuesday at White Stadium.

“This, I have to say, in all the years I’ve been doing these meets is the closest meet I’ve ever seen,” said City League commissioner Mary Grant, who has been involved with the program for more than 30 years.

First-year program New Mission collected 76 points to round out the Top 3.

“It’s really good for not only our kids but [O’Bryant]," Latin Academy coach Brian Leussler said. "I love that level of competition. I want the kids to be out here thinking every point matters, every kid who comes in fifth or sixth is going to make a big difference.” It was a clean sweep for Leussler as his boys were also victorious with 98 points followed by O’Bryant with 95. South Boston, whose coach, James de Mello, is retiring after 25 years, came in third with 57 points.

It was the first outdoor championship for the Latin Academy boys during Leussler's 11-year tenure. Latin lost to O’Bryant last year by a half a point.

“We were focusing on that because last year, that half point, I was just like, ‘man, we almost had it,’ but now that we got it, it’s really good,” said Malik Anderson, the winner of the 200-meter dash and the triple jump.

After Monday it looked like Latin Academy was on its way to another loss to O’Bryant for both boys and girls. Leussler’s girls and boys were down to O’Bryant by 32 and 19 points respectfully.

“It’s proof why they call it track and field," Leussler said. "Yesterday was all the field and they were 30 points ahead, today was all track and we got the 30 points back. It was a really hard fought meet so I’m happy for my team.”

The close score throughout the meet left both Leussler and O’Bryant’s Jose Ortega confused about who had won before the champions were announced.

“I was talking to Ortega from [O’Bryant] and we each thought our boys team won and we each thought our girls team lost and we couldn’t decide,” Leussler said.

According to Ortega, the close score also testified to how great of a meet it truly was.

“The best thing about this meet is coming down to the last event of the meet; the relays. That’s the most spectacular of all. That’s great,” Ortega said.

A majority of Latin Academy’s speed came from its all freshman first place 4x400 relay team of Britney Firmin, Leigha Millis, Imani Pressley and Ashley Lewis.

“We work really well together so I didn’t have any doubts,” said Firmin. “We just all promised to all work our best because it’s a team effort so we were just all trying to run as fast as we could to get a fast time.”

She also won the 800-meter dash by 24.7 seconds.

“I had no idea. I was just trying to think someone is right behind me so I was just really trying to push it,” Firmin said. “Whether someone was two meters behind me or 10 meters I was just really trying to push it all the way to the end.”

Leussler was very high on her relay teammate Lewis, the winner of the 400-meter run.

“She works really hard in workouts, she’s running hills all the time, she’s doing distance in the golf course, she alternates her tempo running and speed running,” Leussler said. “She’s in ninth grade and she’s doing incredible.”

Even though Latin Academy boys and girls teams celebrated a victory lap around the track after being awarded their trophies, for cocaptain Malik Anderson, the championship was just the continuation of an already successful season.

“I got to see everyone try and it really makes everyone feel happy,” Anderson said. “I’m glad everyone did their best and winning just adds the icing on the cake.”

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

Here are the results from Monday and Tuesday's Boston City League track and field championships at White Stadium:

Boys-

100- 1. Kevin Facey, Burke, 10.90; 2. Bless Amedoadzi, South Boston, 11.20; 3. Mehki Williams, O’Bryant, 11.30.

200- 1. Malik Anderson, Latin Academy, 23.60; 2. Joshua Morancie, Brighton ACC, 23.80; 3. Joseph West, Snowden, 23.90.

400- 1. Sekou Stuppard, Latin Academy, 52.80; 2. Eddie Barreto, Madison Park, 55.50; 3. Shaquan Richards, Snowden, 56.90.

800- 1. Christopher Ford, Dorchester, 2:09.70; 2. Hakine Walcott, South Boston, 2:15.50; 3. Oussama Amri, O’Bryant, 2:17.30.

Mile- 1. Redouane Laalioui, East Boston, 5:10.30; 2. Jeffry Alcantara, South Boston, 5:14.40; 3. Mario Duncan, Dorchester, 5:17.00.

2 mile- 1. Sebastian Toro, East Boston, 11:17.10; 2. James Hussey, O’Bryant, 12:14.00; 3. Jean Barthelmy, CASH, 12:21.00.

110 hurdles – 1. Xavier Hill, Latin Academy, 17.20; 2. Jean Fanfan, Brighton/ACC, 18.40; 3. Handy Laneau, Latin Academy, 18.80.

400 hurdles – 1. Brian Donna, O’Bryant, 1:04.50; 2. Delano McFarlane 1:05.90, New Mission/BCLA, 3. Queyshawn Owens, South Boston, 1:09.10.

4x100 relay- 1. South Boston, 46.30; 2. O’Bryant, 46.60; 3. Burke, 46.90.

4x400 relay- 1. Dorchester, 3:46.00; 2. South Boston, 3:46.90; 3. O’Bryant, 3:47.20

Long jump – 1. Arrik Bell, Dorchester, 18-10.00; 2. Christian Desanero, Brighton, J17-08.00; 3. Xavier Hill, Latin Academy, 18-07.00.

High jump- 1. Arrik Bell, Dorchester, 5-10.00; 2. Malik Anderson, Latin Academy, 5-06.00; 3. Sekou Stuppard, Latin Academy, 5-04.00.

Triple jump- 1. Malik Anderson, Latin Academy, 40-05.50; 2. Duncan Malone, O’Bryant, 39.-04.00; 3. Xavier Hill, Latin Academy, 38-05.50.

Shot put- 1. Winston Salters, Madison Park, 41-00.50; 2. Xavier Wooten, East Boston, 37-06.00; 3. Kervich Rouseau, English, 37-05.50.

Discus throw- 1. Duncan Malone, O’Bryant, 122-02; 2. Patrick Powell, O’Bryant, 106-09.50; 3. Joseph Izzo, East Boston, 100-09.

Javelin throw- 1. Brian Donna, O’Bryant, 125-07; 2. Joshua Morancie, Brighton, 109-09; 3. Maurice Parnell, West Roxbury, 107-03.

Final team scores

1. Latin Academy, 98; 2. O’Bryant, 95; South Boston, 57.

Girls


100 – 1. Juleen Lewis, O’Bryant, 12.60; 2. Jocelyn Harris, South Boston, 13.10; 3. Imani Pressley, Latin Academy, 13.30.

200 - 1. Daitannah Smith, South Boston, 26.00; 2. Vanessa Vilbert, Snowden, 27.90; 3. Albertine Sampson, New Mission/BCLA, 28.50.

400 – 1. Ashley Lewis, Latin Academy, 59.80; 2. Marika Thompson, South Boston, 1:05.40; 3. Ajia Salmon, Snowden, 1:06.10.

800- 1. Britney Firmin, Latin Academy, 2:35.30; 2. Michelle Huston, Charlestown, 3:00.20; 3. Jenise Gonzalez, West Roxbury, 3:08.80.

Mile- 1. Catherine Van Even, Latin Academy, 6:17.40; 2. La’neece Byrd, New Mission/BCLA, 6:23.10; 3. Shirley Peng, Snowden, 6:50. 90.

2 mile- 1. Ambar Mateo, New Mission/BCLA, 14:12.40; 2. Emily Prado, O’Bryant, 14:48.40; 3. Alicia Aispuro, East Boston, 15:39.80.

100 hurdles- 1. Esther Nkwah, New Mission/BCLA, 18.60; 2. Saasha Pina, Latin Academy, 19.50; 3. Rachel White, O’Bryant, 19.80.

400 hurdles- 1. Maria Lewis, Snowden, 1:17.10; 2. Ashlyn Melvin, Latin Academy; 1:24.60; 3. Kim McNaie-Myers, O’Bryant, 1:30.70.

4x100 relay- 1. South Boston, 52.40; 2. Snowden, 53.50; 3. English, 57.60.

4x400 relay- 1. Latin Academy, 4:28.20; 2. O’Bryant, 4:53.90; 3. Snowden, 5:14.90

Long jump- 1. Juleen Lewis, O’Bryant, 16-08.25; 2. Esther Nkwah, New Mission/BCLA, 15-04.00; 3. Kharlita Chambers-Walker , Charlestown, 15-01.50.

High jump- 1. Kirina Laryea, Burke, 4-02.00; 2. Ashlyn Melvin, Latin Academy, 4-00.00; 3. Ashley Lewis, Latin Academy, J4-00.00.

Triple jump- 1. Esther Nkwah, New Mission/BCLA, 34-01.00; 2. Juleen Lewis, O’Bryant, 33-10.00; 3. Britney Firmin, Latin Academy, 32-06.00.

Shot put- 1. Victoria Jackson, CASH, 30-06.00; 2. Raenelle Teesdale, O’Bryant, 26-08.50; 3. Stanaza Dowdy, South Boston, 26-05.00.

Discus throw- 1. Kiana Daley, O’Bryant, 107-04; 2. Rachel White, O’Bryant, 86-06; 3. Evelisa Moreno, Madison Park, 71-04.

Javelin throw- 1. Daitannah Smith, South Boston, 103-08; 2. Ashly Guerrier, New Mission/BCLA, 87-06; 3. Albertine Sampson, New Mission/BCLA, 74-04.

Final team scores

1. Latin Academy, 96; O’Bryant, 95; New Mission/BCLA 76.

Despite being favored to win the 4x400-meter boys relay, Dorchester treated the event as if they were the underdog. They won with a time of 3 minutes 46 seconds (Justin A. Rice / For the Boston Globe).

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Even though Dorchester’s 4x400 meter boys relay team was technically favored to win in the Boston City League track and field championships Tuesday at White Stadium, they thought of themselves as the dark horse.

“We were a huge underdog, and we kind of came out of nowhere,” Arrik Bell said after his team -- including Nicholas Ford, Pete Walker, and Christopher Ford -- won the event with a time of 3 minutes 46 seconds.

Dorchester held the best seed time in the event but only by a half-second over Latin Academy and almost a full second over South Boston.

So after it won, more than a few spectators were surprised to see the Bears heading to the top of the podium. South Boston finished second with a time of 3:46.90 and O’Bryant was third with a time of 3:47.20.

Latin Academy, whose boys team won the overall meet with 98 points, came in fourth with a time of 3:47.80.

“They ran their hearts out,” said Latin Academy coach Brian Leussler. “The problem is, my kid who did the second leg, Tayo Stuppard, he just ran his heart out and did a 2:20 and came in fourth place in the 800. Sekou [Stuppard] just won the 400 in 52 seconds.

“Dorchester was going to be a hard team in there. I think when you are 15 or 18 years old and run really hard for 800 or 400 [meters] you need more than 20 minutes to recover.”

Still, Dorchester was worried about Sekou Stuppard, who is known for surging from behind in the last leg, After South Boston briefly took the lead from Dorchester in the third leg, Nicholas Ford grabbed the baton and the victory.

“Last week I already beat him, it was like the same position, so I knew I could pass him again so that’s what I did,” Ford said of South Boston anchor Hakine Walcott. “In the last 100, I just went full out. I just tried my hardest because I already knew I was in the lead. I just pushed myself to get to the finish line.”

Bell said all the hard work in the regular season paid off.

“It’s just hard work and determination,” he said. “Getting to practice every day on time, staying a couple minutes after gets our endurance where it should be.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

O’Bryant was led by freshman Juleen Lewis on Monday's opening day of the Boston City League track meet. Lewis won the 100-meter dash in 12.6 seconds and won the long jump with a leap of 16 feet, 8.25 inches. She also finished second in the triple jump by logging a jump of 33-10. (Pavel Dzemianok / For the Boston Globe)

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

After the first day of the Boston City League girls outdoor track championships Monday, O’Bryant put itself in position to reclaim the title it lost last year after a 16-year winning streak.

Despite posting 76 points compared to New Mission's 50 and Latin Academy’s 44 after the opening day at White Stadium, O’Bryant coach Jose Ortega doesn’t believe his team can come out on top on Tuesday.

“They're going to beat us tomorrow, they’re going to do a lot of damage tomorrow,” said Ortega before the final standings were released.

“Think about it, the 400, they got runners there, the 800, they’re going to place there, the mile, they’re going to place there, the relay, they’re going to place there. We’re just hanging on for dear life. All that’s going to change tomorrow real quick,” Ortega said.

Latin Academy coach Brian Leussler, however, did the math after the first day standings were released and had a different prediction.

“Forty-four-76, that’s going to be really tough tomorrow but I think we’ll get 62 points and they’ll get 32,” Leussler said. “[O’Bryant] girls could take this 104-108. That’d be tough, that would be tough, my kids would be upset then. We’ll see tomorrow.”

O’Bryant was led by freshman Juleen Lewis, who won the 100-meter dash in 12.6 seconds and won the long jump with a leap of 16 feet 8.25 inches. She also finished second in the triple jump by logging a jump of 33-10.

“All I saw was the finish line, I have to make it, they’re counting on me,” she said of the 100-meter dash.

In its first year of having it’s own program, New Mission/Boston Community Leadership Academy, had a good showing on Monday. Ambar Mateo won the 2 mile with a time of 14 minutes, 12.4 seconds. Her teammate, Esther Nkwah won the triple jump with a leap of 34-01.

As a member of the Brighton track team last year, Mateo finished fourth at the city championship in the 2 mile.

“It feels amazing because the team has been great and I’m proud to represent New Mission,” Mateo said.

The second and final day of the city championships will be at 3:30 pm Tuesday at White Stadium.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs contributed to this report.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

O’Bryant’s Brian Donna fell down during the boys 400-meter hurdles during Monday's opening day of the Boston City League track meet but he still managed to win gold. He also won the javelin. (Pavel Dzemianok / For the Boston Globe)

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

O’Bryant’s Brian Donna had one last hurdle to clear with the finish line in sight on Monday afternoon at White Stadium. Ahead of the pack, the leader collided with the hurdle sending him to the ground.

He was barely down for a second.

With no hesitation, the sophomore jumped up and finished the 400-meter hurdles, making him the Boston City League outdoor track champion for the second straight year. Donna set the freshman record for the hurdles last year.

“As soon as I hit the hurdle and I was about to hit the ground, it felt like slow motion but I had to come back and get up and send a strong message,” Donna said.

After winning with a time of 1 minute and 4.5 seconds, the message was not only strong, it was clear.

“I won last year so I had to win again; keep winning until senior year,” said Donna, who also won the javelin with a throw of 125 feet, 7 inches.

Even though Donna had a cut on his arm to take home in addition to his gold medals, he had reason to be happy. After the first day of the outdoor city championship, O’Bryant's boys were leading the team standings with 68 points over Latin Academy’s 49 and East Boston’s 29.

However, according to coach Jose Ortega, the championship is far from decided.

“It will take everyone in the 800 to do something, a miracle in the 400, a miracle in the mile, places we don’t expect to score, we need to score,” Ortega said. “We may be in the lead today but tomorrow that could all change.”

Burke’s Kevin Facey also continued his success after placing fifth place in New England’s indoor meet this past winter. The senior came in first in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.9 seconds after beating South Boston’s Bless Amedoadzi in a tight finish.

“It was really good but I got to do my best for my school. My mom helped me and my friends. I really enjoyed it,” Facey said.

The senior gave his coaches and mother a majority of the credit for their guidance in and out of team practices.

“Especially my mom, she practices with me every day after work,” Facey said. “She showed me how to get up and run up the hill. In the snow, I be doing it all the time.”

O’Bryant took the top two spots in the discus, with Duncan Malone winning the event (122-02) and Patrick Powell taking second (106-09.50) while East Boston’s Joseph Izzo finished third (100-09).

East Boston’s Sebastian Toro also won the 2 mile with a time of 11:17.10.

Dorchester’s Arrik Bell had a good day, winning the high jump with a leap of 5-10 and the long jump with a leap of 18-10.

The second and final day of the city championships will be at 3:30 pm on Tuesday at White Stadium.

Globe Correspodent Justin A. Rice contributed to this report.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

English at East Boston, 3:30 pm Monday

Both of these teams continue to ascend in each of their division’s standings.

A win against English would be a huge for an East Boston team that suffered a 4-1 loss against Latin Academy on Monday. It could also be a potential match up in the upcoming city tournament.

Latin Academy at English at Town Field, 3:30 pm Wednesday

The last rematch of last year’s city championship did not disappoint. Latin Academy came back from a 2-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh, however ultimately could not defeat a red-hot English team.

The second rematch of these two north division foes should be just as exiting.

Boston Latin at East Boston, 12 pm Saturday

It’s the opening game for both of these city schools in the Colon Cancer Tournament.

Coach Rene Gauthier highlighted the tournament before the season as one of the things his team is most exited for.

East Boston, whom continues to try to separate from Boston International in the central division standings, should prove to be a worthy opponent.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

Rodinsky Baez went 2-3 in the win against Madison Park with a 2-run RBI double and a single. (Pavel Dzemianok /For the Boston Globe)

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

O’Bryant used an early offensive onslaught to win the battle of Malcolm X Boulevard against Madison Park Friday.

The Tigers never looked back after scoring eight runs in the first inning on the way to a 13-3 blowout win.

“That was huge, because we kind of had an up-and-down season this year, so that eight-run inning kind of gave us more confidence in what we’re doing,” said sophomore Fernando Burgas.

All 10 players that saw action for O’Bryant were able to get on base. Christian Cabral (2 for 4 with two singles) and Rodinsky Baez (2 for 4 with a two-run double and a single) were two of four players on coach Theodore Curley’s roster to record multiple hits.

Burgas and junior Jose Vasquez each had three hits, Burgas going 3 for 4 with a two-run double, a double, and a single, and Vasquez going 3 for 3 with two singles and a two-run double.

“My guy Jose, I think he’s one of the best players in the league,” Curley said. “He’s a really strong kid, very focused, a pleasure to have him. I think him and Burgas have the ability to play college ball.”

O’Bryant’s Brandon Luiz, who was 1 for 4 with a walk, already has plans to play baseball at Fitchburg State next year.

For Madison Park, it was another game plagued by errors; three of the eight runs in the first inning came as a result of errors.

“One error and the floodgates open," said Madison Park coach Michael Viggiano. "That’s happened to us nine times this season where seven or more runs have been scored because of mental mistakes."

Curley, who teaches at Madison Park, knows what it means to be on short end of the final score.

“[They’re] nice kids, really great kids,” Curley said. “I felt bad for them today because they had an off day and everything went well for us, and believe me, we’ve been on the other side. We’ve had games when nothing has gone right.”

To O’Bryant’s avail, this was not one of those games.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

Latin Academy's Kyle Dance sprints to the finish in the 100-meter dash at a recent meet. Dance and the Dragons will look to reclaim the top spot from O'Bryant during Monday and Tuesday's City Championships at White Stadium. (Pavel Dzemianok / For the Boston Globe)

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

Each of the most recent indoor and outdoor city track championships have added to the friendly rivalry between Latin Academy coach Brian Leussler and O’Bryant coach Jose Ortega.

The upcoming city championship on May 13-14 -- in which both coaches agree they’re the top contenders -- should be no different.

“For so long at O’Bryant, they were dominant," said Leussler. "They were winning indoor, outdoor, they were never losing anything, and when I started coaching, I would say to [Ortega], ‘This is the season, we’re going to get you this time,’ and I think it makes it more fun."

While Latin Academy’s girls are the reigning outdoor city champions, O’Bryant edged out a victory in the boys' competition by a half a point last season, 79.5 to 79.

Leussler said the loss provided motivation for both teams.

“It inspired the kids from O’Bryant, it [taught] a friendly rivalry between our schools,” Leussler said. “It’s good for the kids to finally have lost a meet on our team. It will kind of inspire them even more.”

Leussler noted junior shot putter Damien Cruz and hurdler/long jumper Xavier Hill among those motivated athletes. Both of them compete in field events, which Ortega believes wil be the key.

“We've just got to make sure that everyone that competes falls into the position that they’re supposed to fall into to get points,” said Ortega.

Ortega expects Brian Donna, who throws the javelin, to take charge in the field events.

Regardless of which team does better in the field, the O’Bryant coach believes it will be another tight final result.

“We’re looking at a 4-5 point difference between winning or losing for us or for [Latin Academy],” Ortega said.

However, the coach would not rule out a potential surprise performance from another squad.

“[South Boston] is not that far behind because [coach James] De Mello, who’s retiring this year, I know he would love to win it and I know his kids would love to win for him, but he’s going to have a tough time, too,” Ortega said.

As for the girls, Leussler has full confidence in his team. He said Brittany Firmin (triple jump), Ashley Lewis (400 meter dash), and Katherine Van Even (1 mile) should all win their events, and his 4x4 relay team should be “unbeatable.”

He has a good reason to be confident. The Latin Academy coach calculates the outcome of events by documenting the times and performances of his athletes throughout the season.

“It’s not like baseball, football, basketball where you get an idea how teams are but you don’t really know how they match up against each other," he said. "Track stuff doesn’t lie."

The fact that his girls are undefeated this season also helps.

“Latin Academy girls are undefeated once again and they have a shot of winning the city championship again, which should be quite interesting,” Ortega said.

No matter who wins the championships, another chapter will surely be added to the friendly rivalry between Latin Academy and O’Bryant.

“It’s fun to go against another exam school," said Ortega. "It’s all about bragging rights."

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

City wrestlers now have the opportunity to sharpen their skills throughout the spring and summer.

As a result of Boston Youth Wrestling's work with the Boston Center for Youth & Families, the Roxbury/Mission Hill Training Center has been opened to the youth of the city, completely free of charge.

The Training Center is located at the Crossfit on the Hill at 123 Terrace Street in Roxbury.

City wrestlers need only complete a registration form by the Training Center's first practice, which is Saturday (May 11).

Practices will continue every Saturday until July 13.

"The practice for our fifth-seventh graders will run from 12:30-2 p.m. and our practices for eighth-12th graders will run from 2-3:30 pm, although all wrestlers are welcome to stay and participate throughout the whole three hours the gym is open," Boston Youth Wrestling director Jose Valenzuela said.

The program is limited to 40 wrestlers in both age groups (20 in Grades 5-7 and 20 in Grades 8-12). Preference will be given to past participants of the Boston Youth Wrestling program.

Wrestlers who participate in either age group will be eligible to compete in the Annual Bay State Games at UMass-Boston July 5-6.

There also will be scholarships available to attend the Carl Adams BU Wrestling Camp for free.

"Criteria for determining who will be eligible to participate in either summer opportunity will be based on attendance, scholarship, and citizenship," read the Boston Youth Wrestling press release.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

For Burke’s girls' track team, clinching a share of the Boston City League South title earlier this week marked a first.

For South Boston, sharing the other half of the title marked a last.

The teams shared the South title with 5-1-0 records, which BPS track commissioner Mary Grant believes is a first for the Bulldogs. Meanwhile, both the Knights’ boys' and girls' teams won their division in coach Jim de Mello’s 25th and final season at South Boston.

“I wouldn’t have admitted it earlier, but it felt really good,” de Mello said when asked about winning both titles in his final season. “The funny thing is, the girls were really disappointed when they lost to Snowden. They were so depressed. They all came together and said, ‘We’re not going to give up.’

“They were trying to win it for me. Some of them were doing four events, two field events and two running events, to get more points.”

De Mello said the last time both outdoor teams won the South in the same year was 2008. He said they did it again in indoor track the following year.

“It doesn’t happen too often,” de Mello said. “Especially in our division, where most of the time we have one stronger team than the other."

As for Burke — a school that is stereotyped as not being athletic — it is equally thrilled to win its first title, though some argue that it doesn’t deserve a share because it lost head-to-head against South Boston.

“It’s definitely an accomplishment,” said first-year coach Byron Beaman, “and it’s not to overshadow the work Jim has done at South Boston over the last 25 years. For his girls and boys to win in his last season, that speaks a lot to what he’s been able to do and how they wanted to send him out. I take my hat off to South Boston and what he’s done.”

Beaman, Burke’s football coach who is co-coaching track for the first time with assistant boys' basketball coach Megan Waterbury, said Burke is turning the corner in its effort to establish better athletic programs.

“A lot of people are surprised at how fast we were able to turn things around,” he said.
“We’re like the Rodney Dangerfield of BPS athletics -- we can’t get any respect at all -- and I don’t know why that is, but we’re going to continue to do what we have to in every sport.”

The most amazing part of Burke’s share in the South title is that it started the season with only six girls on the team and finished with five: Senior Alexandra Tubman (100-meter dash, 4x100 relay, long jump), senior Sheree Letford (100, 4x100 relay, javelin), senior Kirina Laryea. (200, 110-meter hurdles, high jump), junior Tiffany Anderson (4x100 relay, 400 meters), and junior Cynee Carpin (4x100 relay, 400 meters, long jump).

Beaman said they were able to pull off such a successful season with so few numbers by being organized early and entering girls in events in which most teams didn’t have anyone competing, such as the high jump, 110-meter hurdles, and javelin.

“A lot of teams were slow getting started so we were able to score some wins early before people got their teams together,” Beaman said. “And we just made sure we had young ladies competing.”

South Boston’s girls’ team got off to a decent start but stumbled April 25 against Snowden because much of the team was on a field trip. But after that, the team vowed to win the South title for de Mello.

“Because he’s a great guy,” said senior shot putter Stanasa Dowdy, who rescheduled a dentist appointment so she could compete in the final meet of the regular season. “He supports us all the way, and I’m a senior, we wanted to go out with a bang as well so it would be great for our last year.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

In just his second year with the varsity volleyball team, Thomas Kulsh is taking charge as the starting setter for O’Bryant. His coach, Paul Pitts-Dilley, says no one with his experience should be performing as well as he is.

On Wednesday afternoon, Kulsh continued to surprise his coach as he led O’Bryant to a victory over Madison Park in four sets, 25-22, 21-25, 25-22, 27-25.

“Last week he had 57 assists in two consecutive games. When he plays well, we play well,” Pitts-Dilley said.

Kulsh had 15 assists in Wednesday’s match to go with 2 kills and 2 serving aces. The sophomore proved he could help the players around him, with junior middle hitter Tobi Fashemi recording 11 kills.

Those performances were imperative for O’Bryant after it allowed Madison Park to come back from a 6-point deficit and win the second set.

Pitts-Dilley said the meltdown was the result of his players blaming each other for mistakes on the court.

“When we play yelling at each other, we’re an awful team. When we play supporting each other, we’re a decent team and resiliency was key today,” Pitts-Dilley said.

Madison Park did not have such resiliency. After losing the third set by 3 points, it allowed a O’Bryant rally in the deciding set.

“We started making mental mistakes and people started getting frustrated with each other and we ended up just blowing that set,” assistant coach Eli Plaza said. “They know how good they can play, they've just got to keep their attitudes straight and then be able to overcome situations like those.”

Madison Park head coach Carla Hands was forced to leave the game early.

“We need to get some good plays to get our spirits back up,” Kulsh said of the O’Bryant rally. “Forget about what happened before, all of our mistakes, and just put them behind us.”

While Kulsh has a comfort level that makes it appear he has been playing the game for a while, Pitts-Daley said hard work and practice are behind the sophomore’s performances of late.

When it’s not volleyball season, Kulsh found himself in the girls practice or the Madison Park open gym working on his game. The coach said he’s even heard Kulsh, as well as his other players, practicing in his O’Bryant classroom while he grades assignments.

But O’Bryant hasn’t reached its goal.

“We’re only one game away from states, but that shouldn’t be all we’re going for. We should be going for best in the league,” Kulsh said.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

Sophomore pitcher Laura Escolero, her twin sister Lorena, and Shamaine Darden have helped bring a winning attitude to the Fenway girls' softball team this year. The three players helped the school's basketball team win back-to-back state championships. (Pavel Dzemianok / For the Boston Globe)

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Last spring, Fenway softball coach Joseph Cheung spent most of the season preaching about effort and positive attitude, which mostly amounted to moral victories to go with only two non-forfeit victories.

Last week, the seniorless Panthers ripped off the program’s first three-game win streak since the team last went to the state tournament in 2008.

“We’re pretty happy with how things have gone,” Cheung said. “Once our team came together, I definitely thought it was possible for us to do well. We have a core of sophomores. Our whole infield is made up of sophomores and one junior but they are all very athletic and play hard and most played last year.”

The Panthers went 4-12 in Cheung’s sixth season last year, including two forfeit victories. They started this season by losing four straight by an average of 11.75 runs. They scored only 22 runs in that span.

But something clicked on April 26 when the team beat Brighton, 18-10. Then it defeated a top-caliber team, New Mission, by a count of 11-3 four days later. After a win over Snowden, 19-5, on May 2, the streak ended with a loss last Friday afternoon to a tough Dorchester team.

“I thought we had a chance to play well, but the most exciting part of the three-game win streak is the defense we played,” Cheung said. “In the New Mission game, we gave up three runs in the top of the first and things were not looking too good but we put up six zeros the rest of the way. The defense was very solid and I was impressed with the way we played.”

Huge catalysts in the turnaround have been the three sophomores on the team — twins Lorena and Laura Escolero and Shamaine Darden — who helped the school’s girls’ basketball team win back-to-back state championships, despite the fact that basketball star Tajanay Veiga-Lee decided not to come out for the team.

“I think it’s a good example,” junior captain Ariana Martinez said of the basketball team. “it shows that we can be as good as they are but in a different sport and I also think the basketball girls on the team, the twins and Shamaine, they help us too because they have that winning mentality and they brought it to us, too.”

Suffering through last season’s losing softball season humbled the three basketball players.

“Learning how to be a winner all the time isn’t the point,” Lorena said. “You have to lose sometimes and work on that and get better.”

Losing provided motivation.

“We already knew we were going to win,” Laura said of the three-game win streak. “It think we deserved it. We worked hard last year and this year.”

But before Fenway could learn how to win on the softball field, the players had to learn the basics of the sport, starting with not being afraid of the ball.

“At first, at the beginning, they were scared of balls and they were scared to catch it, but they’ve tried a lot and have improved,” said Martinez, one of the team’s few juniors, of the sophomore class. “One girl on the team was scared of the ball and she didn’t know where to go when she hit the ball and now this year she’s improved so much and she’s one of the starters sometimes.

“It just takes dedication and practice.”

Now that the basics are under their belts, Cheung is moving on to more advanced topics such as hitting, understanding the strike zone, and protecting the plate.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Cheung said. “The last few years, we were only able to work on the most basic things just because of where we were as a team, but I think now that we have those down, we can work on the more advanced aspects of the game.”

Getting more basketball players to play could help, too.

“If they want to, they can come,” Martinez said. “Yeah.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

The Boston Scholar Athletes May Scholar Athlete of the Month is Manny Martinez.

Manny is a senior at East Boston High School and a candidate for Most Valuable Scholar-Athlete (MVSA) this semester. He has been a league star in baseball for the past two seasons. He is the second-leading hitter on his team and the leader in RBIs and home runs.

Martinez plans to attend college in the fall and is in the process of making his choice. He attributes his academic success to the Zone.

According to East Boston Zone facilitator Dave Arinella, Martinez comes to the Zone every day and as a result has been able to raise his GPA from 1.67 to 3.25.

He is described as the consummate team player and a mentor to friends and teammates. His teachers are continuously impressed with his maturity, time management, organizational skills, determination, and focus.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

Dominican Republic natives Nelson Barreiro (above) and Miguel Lorenzo are dominating the diamond for Boston English. (Billy Owens / For the Boston Globe)

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

English, led by senior Nelson Barreiro, is once again on the cusp of a successful season.

After winning the city championship last year, they currently hold second place in the North division of the city league and have shown just how good they can be recently, blowing out Brighton (15-4) and Madison Park (12-0) in their last two games.

It’s exactly the type of momentum the No. 1 pitcher, Barreiro, wanted his team to pick up. However, while opposing teams may focus in on him, he didn’t hesitate to commend English’s newest player, fellow Dominican Republic native Miguel Lorenzo.

“[Lorenzo’s] a beast,” Barreiro said. “He knows how to hit and he’s doing his work in the school so we might have a new future for English high school.”

Lorenzo lived in Boston during his eighth grade year before moving to Atlanta for his first year of high school. After his freshman year, he returned to his native country for his sophomore year before coming back to Boston and playing for English.

The junior has already begun to make a name for himself in the city league. Lorenzo showed his offensive power, hitting a double and triple against Brighton.

“Lorenzo’s a great hitter. This kid is going to be something special,” coach Ricardo Figueroa said after that game.

After already catching Figueroa’s attention in preseason with his great throwing arm and ability to play any position on the diamond, the English coach couldn’t be happier with how the outfielder has performed.

“He’s only been here a couple months but you can see the difference. He’s got the sense, the baseball sense,” Figueroa said. “He’s got the ability too; he’s quick, fast, strong and he can hit the ball. He can go to the next level.”

Coming to a new school, let alone a new country can be hard for many student-athletes. However, with the help of his teammates, Lorenzo said that it’s been an easy transition.

“It’s great, they are all Dominican. I feel like I’m in my country,” he said.

Barreiro has been especially helpful to Lorenzo, after he made the same transition from the Dominican Republic to Boston when he was 16-years-old. He said that he even gave him advice on the competition he would face when he first came to English.

“Here is better because we play a lot of different teams but in [the Dominican Republic] we just [focus] on the same team. We don’t play many different teams,” Barreiro said.

The coach has even noticed how fast Lorenzo got comfortable with the squad.

“He’s not quiet,” Figueroa said. “He made himself present. That’s good for him. He’s a humble kid.”

While helping his fellow Dominicans assimilate into the English team, Barreiro has put up phenomenal individual numbers. The senior is the second best hitter on English, batting .375 while holding the No. 1 pitcher spot on the team.

“I have to improve and move on,” Barreiro said. “I have to try to be in the city championship again so we can do better and that’s all I’m trying to do; be better.”

He’s not the only one with that goal.

“I’m just trying to get better. Getting better all the time, that’s my goal,” Lorenzo said.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

West Roxbury at English at West Roxbury field, 3:30 pm Tuesday

English’s Nelson Barreiro said that West Roxbury would be his squad’s biggest competition in their quest to a second straight city championship.

The No. 1 pitcher for English is starting against the Raiders this Tuesday so he will have his chance to make a statement.

West Roxbury has also been on a hot streak, winning five of its last six games. That one other game was a tie – to English.

Boston International at East Boston, 3:30 pm Thursday

Boston International lost its last game to East Boston, 7-1. The game was apart of their current three-game losing streak.

Winning a game against East Boston, which currently controls the top spot of the Central division, will be a great way to pick up momentum before the city tournament.

O’Bryant at Madison Park, 4 p.m., Friday

While both of these teams are off to slow starts of the season, one always has to highlight a rivalry game.

Both coaches will look to improve their defenses as they go further in the season. They both currently give up more runs then they score.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

O’Bryant at Madison Park, 4 p.m. Tuesday

This could be a hotly contested game even though this is a down year for Madison Park, which is still searching for its first victory of the season, and it is strong year for O’Bryant, which had a good showing in a loss to East Boston last Thursday.

Madison Park will come to play against its next door neighbors and nothing would be sweeter than to get that first taste of victory this season against the Tigers.

Fenway at South Boston, 3:30 p.m. Tuesday

Don’t look now but the once underachieving Fenway Panthers are on a three-game win streak after starting the season 0-4.

In fact, the Panthers did not just start the season 0-4, their closest margin of defeat was a two-run loss to Boston English. The other three losses were by an average of 15 runs.

But then the Panthers beat Brighton 18-10, New Mission 11-3 and Snowden 19-5.
South Boston on the other hand is looking break a two-game losing streak.

Burke at New Mission, 3:30 p.m. Friday

With the league’s top hitter Rene Pierre on its side, Burke is just about the hottest team in the league these days.

But if anyone can snap the Bulldog’s five-game win streak it’s New Mission. Especially since the toughest competition Burke has faced during its win streak was during a 13-11 victory against West Roxbury.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

Through the first five games of the season Burke senior Rene Pierre led the city in hitting with a .941 batting average. (Billy Owens / For the Boston Globe)

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

It’s not quite as flashy as Babe Ruth pointing to the bleachers to call his shot, but just before every softball game she plays, Rene Pierre quietly picks a landmark in the outfield to swing toward when she steps to the plate.

“I always make a goal for every game -- how far I am going to hit -- and I always try to reach it,” said the Burke senior pitcher/third baseman. “If I’m not focused, I’m going to hit a ground ball. If I make a target, I’m going to focus on hitting that target.”

And Pierre often hits her mark. Through the first five games of the season, she was leading the Boston City League in hitting with a .941 batting average. She was 16 for 17.

When Pierre hit her target Wednesday afternoon at Kirby Field in South Boston — a tree just beyond the concrete path outlining the outfield — South Boston coach Mary Linehan couldn’t believe her eyes.

“She hit it past that tree -- I’ve never seen that,” said Linehan, who has been coaching at South Boston some 26 years, after her team lost to Burke, 21-5, in five innings. “Back in the day, but not within, I’ll say, the last 10 years. She clocks everything.

“That’s unbelievable. When I played as a kid, I got a trophy for the highest batting average. It was like .600. She’s hitting over .900. That’s unbelievable. They’ve got a nice team.”

Pierre was 4 for 4 on Wednesday, with two home runs, a triple, and four RBIs.

“I’ve been watching her for four years, working out, playing games, summer camps,” said Burke boys basketball coach Samuel Jordan, who began filling in for softball coach JoAnne Lee-Nieves when she took time off to deal with a family medical issue three games ago.

“Softball is her life. So it’s showing now. She’s made a lot of improvements in four years. She’s a great athlete. And she’s a good leader."

The team prays for Lee-Nieves’s family before each game now and shouts her name in the team huddle after each game.

“We’re doing all of this for our coach, nobody else,” Pierre said.

The most amazing part of Pierre’s hitting this season is that she only picked up the sport four years ago. She credits her success to playing RBI summer softball with a travel team called the Astros.

“I practice hard," she said. "I really take softball seriously."

Burke (7-1) has not lost since its opening game, an impressive feat for a school that has not seen much athletic success in recent years. The baseball team broke a 22-game losing streak Wednesday by beating Fenway High.

Pierre said students and teachers are taking notice of the team.

“They are like, ‘Great game ladies, great game, you’re the best team in the school for now,’ ” she said. “It makes us feel better. All the other teams are like ‘We need to get up where the girls are at,’ like the baseball team.”

That first loss of the season was 18-5 to O’Bryant. The teams don’t meet again in the regular season but could play in the city tournament.

“We’re going to beat them, I have hope,” Pierre said. “It was our first game. We had a lot of new girls and a lot of errors, so I think now that we have our team down pat we’re going to go in and go in strong. We’re not the best team but we’re getting there.”

Pierre hopes her hot hitting continues down the home stretch but she won’t get discouraged if it doesn’t.

“If I miss a ball, I’m like ‘OK, that’s all right, I’ll get the next one,’ ” she said. “I know I’ll get the next one.”

The numbers bear that out.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

A game between two teams that qualified for the city tournament last spring got interesting Thursday when O’Bryant took a one-run lead against East Boston in the fourth inning at City Yards.

But after senior Gabby Martinez’s bunt scored two runners to give O’Bryant the lead, East Boston broke open the game with a four-run fourth before ultimately winning, 13-6.

The catalyst of East Boston’s big fourth inning was junior Kayla O’Brien, who scored the go-ahead run to make the score 4-3 just moments after being inserted into the lineup.

“I don’t think it’s really that hard, I’ve been playing my whole life,” O’Brien said of coming in off the bench. “I just love being in the game. I was just excited to get that run when we were down."

After drawing a walk, O’Brien was brought home by sophomore catcher Anamaria D’Argenio, who also had an RBI double in the Jets’ six-run sixth inning that iced the game.

“It worked out for me,” said East Boston JV coach Robin Sutera, who was filling in for varsity coach Tom Elliott (who had a death in the family). “I just felt like at that point I needed to change a little bit. She wanted to play.”

It didn’t hurt that East Boston logged 16 hits on the day.

“They hit very well,” Sutera said. “We did what we had to do today, we came to play today, we all did an awesome job.”

The win puts East Boston in the driver's seat to clinch the No. 1 seed out of the North division for the city tournament over Memorial Day weekend. East Boston is 3-6 overall but 2-0 against city league opponents.

“We try so hard to get to [the city tournament] and it’s a big thing for us,” said sophomore pitcher Danielle Elliott, who got the win for East Boston by striking out seven batters.

Kristen O’Brien struck out five in a losing effort for O’Bryant (7-2) while Naya Shedd had an RBI and scored two runs.

“We came in really prepared, really excited, we wanted the game really bad,” O’Bryant coach Bridget Ryan said, “and I thought we played lights-out phenomenal up until the bottom of the sixth inning. Couple of passed balls, [gave up] some really nice hits. But we played well and we have to be happy about that."

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

Despite being hatless, senior Anderson Raymond makes the defensive play for Burke in its Thursday afternoon game against Fenway(Billy Ownes /For the Boston Globe)

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

There were two outs in the top of the seventh inning and Fenway had two men in scoring position as a result of freshman Keith Foster’s double.

Burke pitcher Justin Davis had a comfortable 3-run lead but Fenway had proven they could gain momentum quickly. They had gotten the best of him in the same situation earlier in the game on multiple occasions.

“I pulled him aside and I told him that sometimes in some situations, pitchers have to block out everything and everybody and all [you] have to see is that mitt,” Burke coach Paul Duhaime said.

He saw the mitt.

Thanks to a beautiful curveball, Davis struck out senior Adonis Alcantara, sealing the 18-15 Burke win on Wednesday afternoon at Ronan Park. The win broke a 22-game losing streak that goes back to April 11, 2012.

“He got a little scared like it was going to hit him and I had a feeling it was going to drop for a strike,” Davis said while sporting his Red Sox hat. The Bull Dogs, now 8 games in to the season, have still yet to receive their team hats.

“It’s not right for our young people, for a varsity baseball team in the city of Boston, to not have hats. It’s just inexcusable,” Duhaime said. “It’s just not the way it should be.”

Despite needing bring hats from his home so that at least some of his players could have complete uniforms, Duhaime remained optimistic after the back and forth game. Burke was either tied or losing to Fenway until the bottom of the sixth inning.

“Often it’s not about baseball,” Duhaime said. “It’s being here on time, working together, perseverance, being up, being down, being up, being down and then battling a really good team that we haven’t beaten in 3 or 4 years.”

Fenway had a 14-11 lead going in to the bottom of the sixth inning. Burke senior Eric Perez got the scoring going when he hit a two-run RBI single with the bases loaded, bringing home freshman Wayne Harper and senior Anderson Raymond. Perez went 5-5 on the day with three singles and two doubles.

Fenway senior Eddie Santos then walked home the next five batters to open the game up. However, coach Dave Walsh pointed at a different reason for the loss.

“Defense is a killer, we make about five, six errors, physical errors, in a game and about a million mental errors. We’re just physically and mentally not prepared to play baseball everyday and we work on it in practice,” Walsh said.

While Davis agreed that he always has fun playing baseball, he said that leaving the diamond with a win felt a little different.

“My girlfriend goes to Fenway so I get to brag about it,” Davis said. “As soon as I’m on my way home.”

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.

Movie star Mark Wahlberg made a surprise visit at the BSA Pep Rally on Thursday night( Pavel Dzemianok/ For The Boston Globe))

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

Whether it was a legendary mayor of 20 years or a movie star holding a memorable teddy bear, hundreds came out to support the Boston Scholar Athletes program in its second annual fundraising gala Tuesday night at the Agganis Arena.

“After Mayor [Thomas Menino] and after [Suffolk Construction CEO and Chairman] John [Fish], it doesn’t make sense for me to speak much more anyway," “Ted” star Mark Wahlberg said to the crowd at center court. "I just want to thank you guys for inspiring me and instilling that Boston pride in me. I want to thank everybody who’s been a supporter of the BSA for such a long time.”

Wahlberg is currently pursuing his high school diploma from Snowden International through online classes. However, the Boston native – who will turn 42-years-old this June – didn’t have the resources in high school that BPS schools have now.

This is in large part a credit to the BSA, which raised more than $1.7 million to help city athletic teams and student-athletes on Tuesday night. The program, created by Menino and Fish, has provided uniforms for more than 157 teams and skill clinics, all-star games and banquets for 13 sports.

However, according to BSA Executive Director Rebekah Splaine, the real improvement is being shown in the classroom.

“We really know it’s about achieving in the classroom so these young people, they all also get tutored by local college students, they receive free SAT training and their SAT test scores have risen by close to 200 points,” Splaine said during the event. “They’re also graduating from high school at a 20 percent higher rate than other students in their school.”

Madison Park senior Amber Edwards exemplifies those results. The scholar-athlete, who currently holds a 3.9 GPA, was at a loss for words when trying to tell the audience how the BSA has affected her life.

“I’m like speechless right now, I don’t know what to say. It’s just so amazing," she said. "I definitely want to say that with the BSA on my side, I have a full scholarship. I’m going to the [Community College of Rhode Island]."

Witnessing the large crowd of positively effected students, like Edwards, ecstatically sporting the BSA colors, left a wheel-chair bound Menino a proud man.

“Kids are fighting to get in, to improve their education standards." Menino said. "That’s something different in Boston that we haven’t had in the past because of the excitement this program brings, the opportunity it brings for these young people and the future it brings for them also."

Fish, who addressed the crowd on multiple occasions, also took the opportunity to commend the community on staying connected even through the tragic marathon bombings the city endured.

“We are a community that helps each other and gives back to those who need it most even during the most difficult times and that spirit of compassion and positive energy permeates through this arena tonight,” Fish said.

It was clear that through all the festivities, the main goal of the night was spreading awareness of how hard the scholar-athletes have worked and how much they’ve academically improved as a result of the BSA.

“Many of us have had the opportunity to fulfill our dreams,” Fish said. “Let us give these future leaders their opportunities to win on the fields, to win in the classroom and to win in life because every individual is entitled to their dream.”
Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at kannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs.