LOWELL — Burlington pitcher Courtney Lanfranchi didn’t throw hard against North Reading yesterday.
She instead kept the Hornets off balance with some terrific offspeed pitches and relied on nice defense behind her.
Lanfranchi pitched a gem. She brought a perfect game into the fifth inning and a no-hitter into the sixth. She tossed a complete game, allowing just one earned on two hits while striking out two and walking four batters.
No. 2-seeded Burlington beat No. 11-seeded North Reading 5-2 in the Division 2 North semifinals to advance to the title game vs. Reading today.
Simply put, Burlington was the better team.
That was what North Reading coach Rusty Russell said after his team’s loss.
“They were better,” Russell said. “They’re a very, very good defensive team. And we struggled with the bat. She threw a lot of offspeed pitches and kept our batters disengaged as far as where the balls were and the speed of the pitches.”
North Reading finished its season 14-9.
Russell said Lanfranchi had the best offspeed stuff his team had faced this entire spring. He added that his team tried to prepare for it.
“We work on different things but when you get in the situation unless it’s pounded into your head, you go back to what you do normally —and normally we’re used to quicker stuff and the girls just couldn’t stay back on the slow stuff,” Russell said.
Burlington took a 3-0 lead in the first inning on three hits and one North Reading error. The big hit was Kayla Sheldon’s two-run single with two outs.
“They had a couple of big hits at exactly the right time,” said Russell, who added his team did give Burlington some extra outs with poor defense (North Reading made two errors).
Burlington increased its lead to 5-0 in the fourth inning when Stacey Bezreh bashed a two-run triple.
North Reading pitcher Terri Ferrazzani, who was batting third for the Hornets, stroked her team's first hit, a two-out RBI double in the sixth. It scored Shelby Carney who had reached on an error.
North Reading’s other hit was an RBI double by Alicia McCauley with one out in the seventh. It scored Elise Makowski who pinch ran for Dana Amirault who walked.
“Those were two good hits,” Russell said. “That last one (by McCauley) was a jack. That was a great hit so something to keep me warm during the winter.
Ferrazzani went six innings and gave up the five runs — two earned — on eight hits while striking out seven and walking two batters.
“Terri is just so focused and just nothing deters her,” Russell said. “She’s a mental giant as far as toughness. And she just throws and she works. She’s only a sophomore so you’ll be seeing a little bit more of her. But I was real proud of her. Real proud of her in the tournament.”
Ferrazzani throws a fastball, changeup, dropball and a drop curve.
“I threw a little bit of everything,” she said. “It was all working.”
Ferrazzani added about the season: “We started off slow, but we had a really good season after that. We did really good, I think.”
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