Heart of the Rangers: Methuen's Borrelli back behind plate

Apr. 25—There has been a price paid for Alex Borrelli's Methuen High football career ... a physical toll if you will.

Two torn ligaments in his ankle cost the all-conference linebacker much of his junior baseball season.

This year a torn ligament in his throwing wrist forced him to miss much of the baseball preseason.

Borrelli seems to be making up for lost time.

The catcher is hitting .308 in the heart of the lineup for the Rangers. It's right where he wants to be.

"Pedal to the medal, the whole way, non-stop," said Borrelli, who actually saw time behind the plate as a freshman for the Rangers. "You know I've battled through injury last year, battled through injury this year.

"We're a family. We have each other's backs and it's going to get us far this year."

The attitude Borrelli brings to the diamond daily is one that coach Cam Roper is hoping rubs off on his teammates.

"He hits in the middle of our order and is a tremendous leader. Kids respond to him and he is an extension of the coaching staff on the field," said Roper. "I believe he would have been a legit college prospect behind the plate without the injuries and Covid year."

The Rangers will look to turn things around after a couple of tough losses, including a 2-0 nail-biter with rival Central.

Methuen will look to change the mojo this week when they have games vs. Chelmsford, Billerica and a Friday nighter at home against Dracut.

PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF

It evaded the headlines a bit this week, but Methuen coach Cam Roper had a big smile on his face when junior Andon Zanini delivered his first varsity hit.

Zannini's tale is one of persistence and heart.

As an eighth grader, arm issues forced him to stop playing baseball.

Before tryouts this year, Zannini decided to give it another shot after three years away.

"He was a pitcher/catcher as a young kid and made the move to the outfield during tryouts this year. I had no idea who he was coming into tryouts, which were very competitive this year," said Roper. "The coaching staff liked what we saw as a raw baseball player but very athletic."

Zannini got off to a solid start on JV, hitting .400 through three games.

"And he was a leader," said Roper.

Against Haverhill this week he got the mid-game call up to the varsity diamond.

"After not playing baseball for three years, in his first career varsity at-bat, he dropped one into right center for a base hit," said Roper.

Now, that is good stuff. Congrats, Andon.

NEW BOSS AT WHITTIER

There's a new sheriff on Amesbury Line Road as Peter Arsenault has taken over for longtime boss Joe Boland in the Whittier Tech dugout.

Boland spent the past 20 seasons running the Wildcat program. The retired guidance counselor also had a seven-year stint in the 90s.

Arsenault, a science teacher for 12 years at the school, had been Boland's JV coach for five years and has also spent multiple seasons on Kevin Bradley's football staff.

His first chore was to rebuild a pitching staff that was all but wiped clean by graduation.

Currently, the Cats are 3-4 but 2-0 in the Commonwealth Conference and facing a huge showdown on Tuesday at Shawsheen Tech.

Senior Brendan Dodier has taken the lead on the pitching staff with sophomore Ben Hadley and juniors Manny Cepeda and Brendan Lynch picking up the supporting roles.

The pitching staff, as a whole, has gotten a lift from behind the plate where Nate Deitenhofer has been a rock.

Dodier also leads the Whittier offense. He's hitting .571 with nine runs scored and six RBIs.

Twice this spring, Arsenault had the chance to coach against his two sons, Luke and Will, who play for Amesbury High.

Luke came on to slam the door on the Wildcats in a 5-4 Indians win on Saturday. Will is his catcher.

It was quite the moment for Peter the dad, but a tough one for Peter the coach.

"It was a good one, it's just tough to come out on the wrong end of the stick," laughed Peter.

REGGIES RAP

Greater Lawrence Tech is off to a 3-5 start but the Reggies picked up a nice win over Malden on Friday, 13-8.

Junior James McConnell connected on his first career varsity home run in the win, scoring three times with a pair of RBIs.

At the plate, Yorbelis Marte currently leads the Reggies with a .500 average. Jehu Rosario is at .375 and McConnell is at .360.

Victor Roa, Jerison Andujar and Rosario have earned the wins.

TECH TURF TALK

So, the results are in, and the turf baseball stadium at Greater Lawrence Tech is definitely flat-out fabulous.

Not only is the host team there, but other schools around the region like Central Catholic, Andover and Phillips Academy have utilized the place, which like the turf at Trinity Stadium, makes quality baseball possible in the early season here in New England.

It wouldn't be me if there wasn't one minor gripe, though.

If schools are going to pay the money to rent the facility is there a reason we aren't using the scoreboard?

Can I tell you how much of a difference it makes when you know the score, the inning, the count on the hitter?

Big props to the folks in Haverhill. Walk in to the stadium a few minutes late for a game, you look up and you're all caught up. The scoreboard makes a huge difference. If you have it, please use it.

And while I'm whining, let's get one final note out. Love the idea, 100 percent, of Saturday's Holman Stadium quadruple-header.

Four quality games, eight traditionally strong high school teams hooking up at Historic Holman — which looks tremendous by the way.

You couldn't have had a public address announcer for the games?

I was only at one of the games — South-Pinkerton was absolute fire. Great crowd, into the game. Why not an announcer and some music between innings?

OK, enough complaining for one day.

ON THE OWLS

Timberlane Regional is off to a tough start at 0-6 but hopes to get on track this week with home dates against Windham and Manchester Central/West.

"We're getting there," said senior infielder Konrad Parker. "Each game we're getting better."

No Owl is hotter than Camden Zambrowicz, who has six hits in the last two games and has raised the average to .500 on the year. Zach Diamond has provided some pop with a pair of triples and a homer, while on the mound Jaden Mwangi has struck out 22 in 10 innings pitched.