After starting out its league slate with six wins in a row, the East Providence High School baseball team dropped both of its Division II outings last week.
The Townies headed to Narragansett to face host Prout Tuesday afternoon, April 23, and came home with their first D-II loss of the season after the Crusaders shut out the Townies 4-0.

Prout touched EP starter Tim Robitaille for what proved the winning run in the bottom of the third on two singles, a stolen base, a walk and passed ball. Robitaille nearly escaped any damage by getting two out, but the free pass and passed ball allowed the run to come around.

The Crusaders then added three more in the fourth and again scored with two out. All of the tallies were unearned at the Townies committed three errors afield and Robitaille threw a wild pitch.

All the while Prout senior hurler Ryan Barrett held the EP offense to just a pair of hits on 92 pitches, striking out 10 and walking just one Townie. The Crusaders improved to 4-3 at the time.

To close last week, visiting East Greenwich jumped on East Providence immediately, scoring a run in the top of the first then adding four more in the third.

The Avengers tacked on a run in the fourth before the Townies sparked a rally, scoring three in the fifth. EP's response later included a run in the seventh before the locals ran out of outs.

Tyler Dicecco was touched for three earned runs, four hits and walked four before departing the hill for the locals. The EP defense was charged with three errors.

Offensively, Robitaille had two hits and scored twice. Oliver Andrews also had two of the eight EP hits. Kyler Lorenz and Brian Rutkowski each had a hit and a run scored. Ben Hallene and Dylan Annicelli drove in one run each.

Girls' lacrosse
In a rematch of last season's Division II championship game won by its in-city neighbors to the south, the EPHS girls' lacrosse team defeated Bay View 8-7 in a league contest played Tuesday, April 23.

Kenna Wigginton and Alyssa Karalekas each scored three goals for the Townies, who improved to 4-2 with the win. Dylan Flynn and Kloey Iacovone added one each. EP goalie Ava Williams had six saves.
Annabelle Tracy netted five of the Bengals' goals while Maggie Lima and MacKenna Buffery chipped in one each. Goalie Kate Shields made eight saves.

Wigginton and Iacavone accounted for the goals, two each, in the Townies ensuing 16-4 loss to Westerly to close last week. Williams had six saves in net before being replaced by Rai Flynn, who made four stops. The Bulldogs outshot EP 26-11.

Boys' lacrosse
After a quick start to the season, the EPHS boys' lacrosse team has run into a rough patch, including a 15-4 loss to host Tiverton late last week.

Keigan Grant scored two of the Townies' tallies while Zach Kollett and Brandon Botelho added the others. Simon Palumbo was credited with two assists while Sam Jackson and Nolan Travassos each had one. The victorious Tigers outshot EP 33-13. Jacob Leite was charged with eight goals against in the East Providence net. Jason Brown allowed six and James Cassamas one on four shots against.

The Townies suffered a narrow 6-5 loss to host Classical to end their schedule last week. Kollett had a hat-trick for the locals while Grant and Palumbo accounted for the other tallies and each had an assist. Nolan Travassos had a pair of helpers. Cassamas stopped 11 of 17 Purple shots on the EP goal.

Softball

Emma Boisseau's double in the bottom of the seventh inning capped a two-run rally and helped the East Providence High School softball team earn its first win of the 2024 Division I season, a 5-4 victory over visiting Cranston West Wednesday afternoon, April 24.

The Townies trailed 4-3 heading into their last at-bat, but Boisseau's two-base knock scored Audrey Bernard and Mackenzie Pimentel to give the locals their elusive initial win. EP improved to 1-7 at the time.

Boisseau also accounted for the Townies' first run in the bottom of the opening frame with another double to put East Providence up 1-0. The locals added two runs in the third on a double by Bernard.

Cranston West tied the game up in the top of the on a pair of run-scoring singles. The Falcons then took lead in the sixth with another RBI base hit..

Cassie DuLude earned the win in the circle for the Townies, allowing 11 hits, four runs, striking out four and walking two.

In their next outing, host Coventry spots the Townies a run in the top of the first then scored five in its first at bat as the Oakers eventually earned a 15-8 win over the locals to close league play last week.

Coventry later led 10-2 before EP made things a bit interesting by scoring four times in the fifth, but again the Oakers had an answer, matching that mark to regain a comfortable 14-6 edge.

Sylvie Patterson led the locals with three hits. Shelby Quinn, Marianna Pina, Boisseau and Bernard each had two hits. Nethania Figueroa and Bernard drove in two apiece. Trinity Provencher reached base four times and scored after each.

EP's winless run to start the season reached seven after the Townies earlier last week with a 14-4 loss to Cumberland.

The host Clippers never trailed after scoring a run in the bottom of the first. EP tied it in the top of the second, but Cumberland brought five around in the home of the inning to regain the lead. The Clippers later broke the game open and ended it due to the 10-Run Rule by scoring six in the bottom of the sixth.

The Townies' runs came after Boisseau singled in the first and later came around on a Figueroa ground out. In the third, Trinity Provencher singled then scored on a Boisseau fielder's choice after Bernard reached on a fielder's choice and Pimentel also had a base hit.

EP added two more in the fourth. Figueroa doubled and moved to third on an error. Patterson drove her in with a single, then stole second and moved to third on a Brennyn Alves ground out. Patterson later scored on a Natalia Palermo sac bunt.

Boys' volleyball
The EPHS boys' volleyball team closed last week on a three-match streak to the good after the locals defeated Pilgrim in Warwick Wednesday night, April 24, in a Division II match by a 3-1 count of scores of 25-10, 25-21, 23-25 and 25-16.

DJ Lepine and Jordan Rodriguez led the Townies with 15 and 12 kills respectively. Antonio Varela added five kills and three blocks. The locals improved to 5-3 in the league.

The next night, April 25, East Providence had little difficulty in sweeping past visiting West Warwick on Carvalho Court by the scores of 25-13, 25-22 and 25-22.

Lepine continued his fine play of late with 12 kills and 10 digs. Franklin Carela Lopez added five kills and three blocks for the Townies, who improved to 6-3 in league standings at the time.

Golf
The EPHS golf team opened up its 2024 Eastern Division regular season with an impressive sweep of host Tiverton along with Portsmouth at Montaup Country Club Tuesday, April 23. The Townies recorded a four-player total of 161 over the par 36 front side at Montaup on a brisk afternoon at layout adjacent to the Sakonnet River.

Sophomore Nathan Carter led the way with a similarly superb 2-under par round of 34. Billy Fitzgerald shot 39, while Zach Mendo and Noah Araujo each carded 44s.

"Nathan played very well. The kids as a group played very well. I was very proud of them," said EPHS head coach Bill McEnery. "The 161 puts us on the road towards qualifying for the state tournament, hopefully."

Qualification into the state tournament no longer takes into account a team's record. Rather, it is now based on its scoring average from its regular season matches. This spring is the second under the format. In 2023, Pilgrim (Warwick) was the 10th and last team to qualify with an average of 167.

The Townies improved to 4-0 on the young Eastern Division season after sweeping host Middletown and fellow visitor Bay View at Wanumetonomy Country Club Wednesday afternoon, April 24.

EP's four counting scores totaled 166 over the par 35 front nine of the bay-side layout. The home Islanders shot 203 and the Bengals 236. Billy Fitzgerald and Noah Araujo paced the locals as each shot a 40. Zach Mendo and Nathan Carter shot 43s.