RallyNorth.net

 Central Catholic baseball coach Marc Pelletier didn't know what to expect out of his team.

The pain from the Wednesday death of their friend, Central softball player Rebecca Solomon, is still overwhelming.

LAWRENCE - Fans of high school pitching feasted last night in the Lawrence Invitational Tournament semifinals. And a scrumptious main course, featuring a pair of 90 mph fastballers, looms in tonight's title game.

LAWRENCE - Fans of high school pitching feasted last night in the Lawrence Invitational Tournament semifinals. And a scrumptious main course, featuring a pair of 90 mph fastballers, looms in tonight's title game.

Josh Ingram drove in all four runs for Georgetown in a 4-0 shutout over Ipswich, in the opening round of the Spofford Tourney (at Georgetown). The senior outfielder cracked a three-run homer in the second inning and followed that with a run-scoring double in the fouth.

Sam Auffant tagged a solo homer in the fifth to tie it and Georgetown's Geoff Lynch plated two when a Phillips Exeter infielder threw the ball away as Phillips Andover rolled to a big 6-3 victory. Auffant, Zach Burdeau (Andover) and Anthony Morlani all collected two hits for Andover, which finishes the regular season at 14-6.

LAWRENCE - Lawrence High hit one ball hard all night and survived. Perplexed all night long by lefty Mike Eyssi, the Lancers, down 3-0 through 41/2 innings to upset-minded Methuen, somehow scraped a rally together and prevaile in a walk-off 4-3 Lawrence Invitational opening win. That one blast, a Dionys Quezada shot to the left-centerfield gap, scored Harvey Blanco, who barely dove in under Alex Shepherd's sweep tag for the game-winner with one out in the seventh. Tonight, Lawrence will tackle Tewksbury in the second of two semifinals at Devlin Field, here at 7 p.m. At 4 p.m., it will be Andover and North Andover fighting for the right to play for a title. Eyssi, the Methuen junior, simply deserved a better fate. "We haven't seen a pitcher like that all year," said Lancer Tito Lluberes. "He had great offspeed stuff and gave us a lot of trouble with that curve ball." Indeed, Eyssi, who walked four and struck out four had Lawrence buckling and guessing. Through four, he had surrendered a pair of harmless infield singles. Meanwhile, the Rangers pounced for single runs in the second and third, the latter plated on Cal Carroll's sac fly, and another in the fifth. For a while, it looked like that would be plenty for Eyssi, but 15-3 Lawrence showed its class, or at least its sheer will by scratching and clawing. Blanco and Jose Sandoval had RBIs in the fifth, and Devin Montanez' infield out scored pinch-runner Elvis Guilamo to knot it at 3-3 in the sixth. Lluberes was a life-saver for Lawrence on the hill, picking up the win with five innings of two-hit, four-strikeout relief. "I had no idea I'd pitch until (coach Brendan Neilon) made the change," said Lluberes, who had thrown a total of four innings all year before last night. "I've been practicing the whole year, waiting for the call. "Of course I was ready. When your team needs help, you have to be there. I knew all I had to do was keep it close. When we start to panic, this team had guys like Harvey and Dionys ready to pick us up." Blanco, who plays fullback in the fall needed every ounce of his speed to beat a picture-perfect Ranger relay. Shortstop Cal Carroll looked to have no shot, then unleashed a 200-foot strike to the play to nearly gun down the runner at home.

LAWRENCE - Lawrence High hit one ball hard all night and survived. Perplexed all night long by lefty Mike Eyssi, the Lancers, down 3-0 through 41/2 innings to upset-minded Methuen, somehow scraped a rally together and prevaile in a walk-off 4-3 Lawrence Invitational opening win. That one blast, a Dionys Quezada shot to the left-centerfield gap, scored Harvey Blanco, who barely dove in under Alex Shepherd's sweep tag for the game-winner with one out in the seventh. Tonight, Lawrence will tackle Tewksbury in the second of two semifinals at Devlin Field, here at 7 p.m. At 4 p.m., it will be Andover and North Andover fighting for the right to play for a title. Eyssi, the Methuen junior, simply deserved a better fate. "We haven't seen a pitcher like that all year," said Lancer Tito Lluberes. "He had great offspeed stuff and gave us a lot of trouble with that curve ball." Indeed, Eyssi, who walked four and struck out four had Lawrence buckling and guessing. Through four, he had surrendered a pair of harmless infield singles. Meanwhile, the Rangers pounced for single runs in the second and third, the latter plated on Cal Carroll's sac fly, and another in the fifth. For a while, it looked like that would be plenty for Eyssi, but 15-3 Lawrence showed its class, or at least its sheer will by scratching and clawing. Blanco and Jose Sandoval had RBIs in the fifth, and Devin Montanez' infield out scored pinch-runner Elvis Guilamo to knot it at 3-3 in the sixth. Lluberes was a life-saver for Lawrence on the hill, picking up the win with five innings of two-hit, four-strikeout relief. "I had no idea I'd pitch until (coach Brendan Neilon) made the change," said Lluberes, who had thrown a total of four innings all year before last night. "I've been practicing the whole year, waiting for the call. "Of course I was ready. When your team needs help, you have to be there. I knew all I had to do was keep it close. When we start to panic, this team had guys like Harvey and Dionys ready to pick us up." Blanco, who plays fullback in the fall needed every ounce of his speed to beat a picture-perfect Ranger relay. Shortstop Cal Carroll looked to have no shot, then unleashed a 200-foot strike to the play to nearly gun down the runner at home.

Jordan Silva picked up his sixth save of the season in Pentucket baseball's 8-7 win over Melrose. He also went 2 for 2 with a double and three runs.

NORTH ANDOVER - Mike Weisman's emotions had nowhere to hide.

As the hit-free innings piled up in last night's Lawrence Invitational Tournament opener, the new Mark Devlin Field's scoreboard kept driving the point home.

NORTH ANDOVER - Mike Weisman's emotions had nowhere to hide.

As the hit-free innings piled up in last night's Lawrence Invitational Tournament opener, the new Mark Devlin Field's scoreboard kept driving the point home.

Brandon Bell scattered seven hits over seven shutout innings to pace Pinkerton baseball in a 2-0 win over Manchester Central.

Bobby DiSorbo drove in four runs in a variety of ways during Pentucket baseball's state tournament-clinching 9-5 win over Greater Lowell. He doubled in two, squeezed in one and brought another home with a sacrifice fly.

Bobby DiSorbo drove in four runs in a variety of ways during Pentucket baseball's state tournament-clinching 9-5 win over Greater Lowell. He doubled in two, squeezed in one and brought another home with a sacrifice fly.

Austin Prep scraped together three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Central Catholic was ultimately able to outlast the Cougars in yesterday's 6-4 win. Tim Wheeler went to for three with an RBI and a run scored, and Patrick Noone plated two to help Matt Novak pick up his third win.

Andrew Ruiz-Henriquez drove in the game-tying run with an RBI-double in the seventh, narrowly missing a walk-off two-run homer before Andover lost 7-2 in nine innings. Unfortunately for the Warriors, Cambridge put up five in the top of the ninth to wrestle control of the game and earn the win.