RallyNorth.net

LOWELL — Arlington Catholic head coach Joel Burke was almost hoping against hope.

Trailing 12th seed North Reading, 2-1 late in the twice-delayed Division 2 North semifinals yesterday, Burke thought his eighth-seeded Cougars still had a shot if they could get their first three hitters up one more time.

After the first two batters in the top of the seventh were retired, Kirsten Morrison walked and a single and a base on balls later came around to score on a walk to Brittany Venezia for the deciding run in No. 12 North Reading's 6-5 victory over No. 4 Wilmington in the Division 2 North quarterfinals.

North Reading fought off a pair of deficits, scoring two runs in the top of the eighth inning to deal fifth seed Burlington a 5-3 defeat in the first round of the Division 2 North playoffs. Jenn Shields had a pair of hits and Kirsten Morrison drove in two runs for the No. 12 Hornets, who next face the winner of today's Wilmington-Swampscott contest in the quarterfinals.

With nothing but a good feeling supporting the move, North Reading head coach Rusty Russell swapped his captains on the left side of the infield, moving Alex Alois to third base and Jenn Shields to shortstop.

Propelled by home runs off the bats of Lynne Giddings (four RBIs) and Mary Batalis, North Reading pounded Amesbury, 18-3 in six innings.

Up 4-0 heading into the sixth inning, Pentucket (1-4) allowed a potentially big win slip away in the final two innings. After giving up two runs in the sixth, Julianne Meehan (6.1 innings pitched, 2 strikeouts, 5 hits, 3 earned runs), who pitched phenomenally, according to coach Dave Evans, unfortunately started off the seventh inning with four straight walks and from there North Reading was able to score three more runs to win the game. Bernie Corrado was 1 for 3 with a three-run homer (one of only 2 home runs coach Evans has seen over the fence at North Reading), and Danielle Ouellette was 2 for 3 with a run and an RBI. Coach Evans said his team has been playing great defense and is right there, they just need to catch a break to get over the hump.

North Reading opened its softball season with a bang with a dramatic 4-3 win over Reading, thanks to a tremendous game by senior Jen Shields and a gutsy coaching call. Trailing 3-2 in the seventh, Shields had her third hit of the game —  an RBI triple — and then scored the winning run when veteran coach Rusty Russell had Kat Catania lay down a suicide squeeze bunt on an 0-2 count.