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Hornets rally, KO Pentucket

Tuesday, May, 17 By Jack Aylmer
Correspondent

NORTH READING – Down 8-3 to Pentucket Regional early Tuesday, North Reading's baseball team looked ready to yield a piece of the Cape Ann League Kinney Division lead to rival Masconomet.

Champions rally, though, and the Hornets did just that.

North Reading came from behind to beat Pentucket, 11-8, to move to 13-1.

“Right from the beginning it was a great game, we were down 8-3 early but were able to battle all the way back and win,” said Hornets’ head coach Eric Archambault. “I was just so pumped, the kids have this one thing where they never quit. Our team motto this year is “Finish.” That’s what is on the back of our shirts and that’s what we did today. We got down early, but they finished the game all the way through and I’m just really proud of them.”

The Sachems opened the scoring in the first with an RBI triple by Kiernan Haley to bring home Travis Bounsy, followed by RBI single from Cam Wolbach to drive in Haley.

The Hornets would respond with runs from Jeff Mejia, Tyler Calos, and Mike Driscoll off RBIs from Patrick Driscoll, Anthony Eldridge, and John Merullo in the bottom of the first.

The Sachems followed that with a huge third inning. They went right through the batting order, scoring five times, courtesy of Haley, Wolbach, Jackson McKean, Mitch Murray, and Kyle Sedler.

Reliever Dan Madden threw four innings of scoreless baseball on 66 pitches with two strikeouts, giving the Hornets’ offense the chance it needed to battle back.

In the third, Jared Valade was driven in off a sacrifice fly from Merullo, followed by Sean Castro turning a would be single into an inside the park home run off Sachem fielding errors, while also bringing home Eldridge on the play.

Merullo earned this third RBI of the day when he brought in Valade in the fourth. Then came the dagger for Pentucket, as they produced a four run sixth inning to pull ahead of the Sachems. Mejia, Calos, Patrick Driscoll, and Valade all scored, with RBIs in the inning coming from Calos, Valade, and two for Eldridge.