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NORTH READING | This one was not easy. Then again, it never seems to be when these two teams square off in the postseason.

After falling behind early and facing some rainy conditions, No. 1-seed North Reading fought back to defeat Swampscott, 8-5, in the first round of the Division 3 North sectional. This comes one year after the Hornets needed extra innings to edge out the Big Blue, 2-1, in the quarterfinals.

Peter Kinchley picked the perfect time to toss his first no-hitter.

Needing a win to clinch a postseason berth, the Swampscott baseball team turned to Kinchley for yesterday's game with Marblehead. The crafty right-hander responded with an absolute gem in the Big Blue's 2-0 victory.

Even if you're not a math whiz, the numbers are pretty simple.

Both the Swampscott and Bishop Fenwick baseball teams have two games remaining in the regular season. Both teams are still on the outside of the Division 3 North playoff picture, looking to squeeze their way in.

Swampscott (5-9) would like to get into the state tournament by finishing .500 or better. But since the Division 3 squad plays enough games against higher division clubs, they could qualify by finishing .500 or better against fellow D-3 opponents.

The Danvers High offense has been sporadic all season, but the Falcons keep piling up the wins, the latest being a 3-2 decision over Swampscott at home Monday night.

Justin Mitchell led off the game with a home run for Swampscott, but Jeff Eldridge's run-scoring double tied in the bottom of the first and Danvers scored the winning run in the bottom of the sixth as Chris Perry led off with a single, advanced to second on Greg Ladd's sacrifice bunt and scored on Larry Saggese's two-out, pinch hit single. Danvers boosted its record to 12-2 while Swampscott dropped to 5-9.

After battling for 12 innings | nearly the equilivant of two seven inning high school baseball game | something had to give between NEC rivals Swampscott and Beverly. Zak Levine made sure that the tide broke in favor of his Panthers.

The most baffling aspect of the first month of the baseball season has been the performance of Swampscott, which is 1-6 despite boasting one of the deepest pitching staffs around. With games schedule for every day the rest of this week, the Big Blue could quickly climb out of the hole | or find themselves nearly six feet deep.

Marblehead sophomore pitcher Evan Comeau probably didn't know a lot about the Swampscott baseball team's recent struggles and he rightfully didn't care. Comeau was more interested in recording his first varsity win, and he did so in masterful fashion by carrying a no-hitter into the sixth as the Magicians upended the Big Blue 4-2.

After watching his team cough up late leads in two straight losses, Gloucester junior second baseman Ross Carlson made sure it wouldn't happen a third time.

Carlson's RBI single with two outs plated junior first baseman Trevor Curley (2 for 4, two runs) to give the Fishermen a much-needed 6-5 upset victory over Swampscott (1-5) in eight innings at Nate Ross Field. With the win Gloucester improved to 2-4, a better record than the Big Blue, who came into the season as a Northeastern Conference favorite.

SWAMPSCOTT | There are a lot of frontline starting pitchers in the Northeastern Conference this season. Yesterday, Danvers ace Bobby Dean may have leapfrogged the pack and gone to the front of that line as the league's best.