RallyNorth.net

Salem storms into title game

Thursday, June, 12 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

Last night in the Class L state semifinals, Salem High stormed into Holman Stadium and finished the Gate City daily double, vanquishing No. 5 Nashua North, 3-1.

Gunning for their first Class L state title since 2003, the top-seeded Blue Devils will switch venues to Manchester's Merchantsauto.com Stadium Saturday at 5 p.m. against No. 3 Goffstown.

Saturday, it was Larry Weymouth slaying Nashua South in the quarters, like this one on the Panthers' home turf. His senior classmate Eric Perrault put his flawless 6-0 mark on the line last night.

The result was familiar to Salem followers, a four-hitter with a pair of walks and six strikeouts.

"He's been doing it all year," said coach Dan Keleher of Perrault, who now has 83 strikeouts in 54<2/3> innings. "We're playing these nail-biter games, and he hadn't really done that (pitched in close games) all year until the playoffs. It's good to see him respond. He's been tough when he had to be, and the (4-0 playoff-opening) Dover win was the same thing."

Perrault ran into trouble only once, when North nicked the left-hander for his first earned run since April 25, a stretch of 36 innings.

"I was just trying to hit my spots," said Perrault. "I didn't want to throw as many pitches as I usually do. I let them hit the ball, because I know my defense is behind me. I was trying to save up for late in the game."

A Brad Zapenas triple followed by Alex Morency's RBI single in the fourth was all the offense North would muster.

Salem, now 19-4, answered with two runs in its half of the frame, mixing a little bit of wall ball and with a dash of small ball.

Kyle Johnson lit the wick on the fireworks with a power-alley shot to left-center that struck the wall. Originally, the rocket was ruled a homer as the ball bounced back to the left fielder, but the umpires convened and changed it to a double.

Keleher immediately went to senior speedster Joe Moritz as a pinch-runner. On the first pitch, Weymouth squared to bunt, pulling the third baseman in just enough for Moritz to sneak behind and swipe third. Two pitches later, he dashed home on a wild pitch to tie it.

Weymouth went down swinging but Greg Bates certainly didn't.

There was no doubt about the Morency fastball Bates sent soaring some 380 feet to left, clearing the fence and the billboards behind it for a homer and a 2-1 lead.

"The first time I went up he was throwing me pretty much all fastballs the entire at-bat," said Bates, who, fueled by adrenaline and emotion, never slowed into a home run trot. "I've never hit a home run before in my life. He threw me a fastball knee high, and I just got all of it. I didn't really see it, and I didn't see the umpire, so I just kept running."

Perrault on the lead was money in the bank, allowing just one hit over the final three frames. He also got a huge lift from fleet center-fielder Hal Landers, who hauled in a gap-seeking liner with two on (walk, hit batter) in the North sixth and doubled off the straying runner at second to end the frame.

For a little insurance, Bates singled in the Salem sixth, moved up when Matt Hardy was hit and raced home on pinch-hitter Brad White's single.