Spring Playoffs Were Memorable for Reading Teams

There was plenty of excitement this spring for Reading High School sports teams. A total of six Rocket teams played in at least one postseason game, while five out of those teams snagged at least one victory.

With all of the school's teams now eliminated from their respective brackets, we look back at all of the excitement of the 2013 MIAA spring playoffs.

Boys Lacrosse

Reading's boys lacrosse team was the final of the school's entries to be eliminated from the playoffs. The Rockets, the No. 3 seed, toppled No. 30 Nauset by a 14-4 margin before beating Melrose, 15-7, and Wellesley, 9-5, to reach the East Division 2 semifinal round.

That's where the team's season came to a close on Saturday in Medfield. Second-seeded Medfield was too much for the locals, earning a 14-6 victory on the evening.

Girls Lacrosse

The Lady Rockets managed a regular season record of 12-5 to snag the No. 10 seed in North Division 1 play.

But Reading earned a tough draw and after a preliminary round bye the team was eliminated by No. 7 Lincoln-Sudbury by a 10-5 margin.

Baseball

It was an exciting spring all the way around on the diamond for Reading. First, the baseball team strung together a solid underdog run.

The Rockets, the tournament's No. 10 seed, upended No. 7 ranked New Mission in the first round, setting up a quarterfinal date with No. 2 seed Danvers.

Reading pounced out to a 6-0 lead against the bracket's eventual runner-up team. But Danvers clawed back to force extra frames and eventually went on to a 7-6 win in eight innings.

Softball

Though Reading was the bracket's No. 13 seed out of 14 teams, the Rockets were far from an underdog as their difficuly regular season schedule had them ready to go for the playoffs.

Reading toppled border rival North Reading in the first round and smoked Arlington Catholic in the quaterfinal before narrowly falling to Tewksbury in the North Division 2 semifinal.

Tennis

On the courts, Reading's boys and girls tennis teams had strong springs as well.

The Girls team entered as the No. 8 seed and earned a 5-0 win over Cambridge Rindge and Latin before falling to eventual champion Concord-Carlisle in the quarterfinal round.

Reading's boys team, meanwhilewas also the No. 5 seed and also earned a 5-0 win in the opening round when the Rockets shut out Somerville. The locals were then narrowly edged by bracket champion Winchester, 3-2, in the quarterfinal round.