RallyNorth.net

Mon, Jun 02, 2008 02:00 PM @ North Reading

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Final
Georgetown	1	0	0	0	6	2	0	9
North Reading	1	2	3	1	0	0	3	10

Hornets escape with miracle win

Tuesday, June, 03 By Evan Mugford
Staff writer

Frank Carey has coached 41 years and has won a staggering 640 games, but few were as improbable as this one.

The top-seeded Hornets rallied for a dramatic 10-9 victory over disheartened Georgetown yesterday in the Division 3 North quarterfinals.

Trailing 9-7 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, North Reading rallied with four walks and a hit to pull out a miracle win. The winning run came when Tim McAuliffe walked with the bases loaded on a 3-and-2 pitch. That was the second straight run to score on a walk and the first of the inning scored on a passed ball.

"And it was a close pitch, maybe two inches outside," said Carey of the final free pass. "I told him to swing at anything close, so I wasn't happy at first.

"In retrospect, we shouldn't have won that game. We had no business winning that game. But they remained patient, and we left with the walk-off win."

"I would have rather seen a gap-shot double than what transpired," said Georgetown coach Mark Rowe. "It would have been a little easier to swallow. Our plan the entire time was to put it in Tim's glove at the end. It's just a shame that it couldn't happen for us.

"I told the kids that beating them (North Reading) on their home field was going to be tough. Because they are a great home team, and strange things always seem to happen when we play here. And of course, this was no exception."

North Reading will face Austin Prep in the North semifinals either Wednesday or Thursday, probably in Lowell.

In a matchup of two of the best hurlers in the Cape Ann League, neither Cape Ann League Division 2 MVP Tim Holland of Georgetown nor Hornets counterpart Brian O'Neil had his best pitching performance.

Holland, who went the distance Friday, gave up 10 runs on 11 hits and six walks in 4<1/3> innings as his brilliant career came to a disappointing end. He dropped to 10-2 on the year. O'Neil allowed eight walks, five hits and seven runs in five innings.

The game started out favorably for the Royals (14-8). Anthony Conte walked, moved to third after two sacrifice hits, and scored the game's first run when McAuliffe sailed a throw past the third baseman, prompting Conte to trot home.

O'Neil settled down after the first and held the Royals scoreless until the top of the fifth.

In the meantime, the Hornets (19-3) found their rhythm with Holland's fastball, and scored a run in the first, two in the second, three in the third, and then one more in the fourth, pushing the lead to 7-1.

To start Georgetown's half of the fifth, Dean Nemeroff singled, Josh Ingram and Mike Ruh recorded outs, and Conte singled. Similar to how the game would end, all the damage occurred with two outs.

Holland doubled in a run, Joe Esposito walked to load the bases, and Andrew Barba and Jeff Rollins both had walks to push two more unearned runs across the board while cutting the Hornets lead to 7-4. Andrew Sinkewicz hit a bases-loaded single to right driving in two more runs. Nemeroff walked, and Ingram hit an infield single to tie the score, 7-7.

With O'Neil out of the game, the Royals appeared primed for the upset. Darwin Fabian replaced Holland in the fifth and forced North Reading's batters to test the defense behind him.

Georgetown added two more runs in the sixth on Barba's double. Fabian continued to throw strikes, keeping the Hornets from scoring until they were down to their last out.

With two Hornets on base and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Rowe had Holland return to the mound for the save. But three walks and a passed ball later and the Royals' hopes for an upset were shattered.