RallyNorth.net

Sat, May 23, 2009 07:00 PM @ Neutral Location

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Final
Lawrence	0	0	1	0	4	1	0	6
Tewksbury	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Andover, Lawrence make their pitch

Saturday, May, 23 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

LAWRENCE - Fans of high school pitching feasted last night in the Lawrence Invitational Tournament semifinals.
And a scrumptious main course, featuring a pair of 90 mph fastballers, looms in tonight's title game.

Andover and Lawrence High, both semifinal shutout winners, battle for the title tonight (7 p.m.) at Mark Devlin Field. Could it get get any better than Warrior Shawn Carlson (5-0, 1.43 ERA, 49K in 341/3 innings) vs. Lancer super soph Yunior Vasquez (5-0, 1.29 ERA, 62K in 322/3 innings)?

 

Here's how they got there.

Walk-off Warriors

When Jake Ponti's eighth-inning liner found the Mark Devlin Field turf, emotion poured from the Andover High dugout - first elation then relief.

It took an absolute pitching Picasso from John Farrell, but the Warriors squeezed past North Andover, 1-0, in the first of two Lawrence Invitational Tournament semifinals last night.

Victory propelled the defending champion Warriors into their fourth straight final, tonight here at 7 p.m. That prompted the elation. It also was win No. 10, qualifying Andover for its fifth straight state tourney appearance. Hence, the relief.

"This gives us another season," said Ponti of the upcoming Division 1 North tournament. "And we still have the chance to defend our title here."

Ponti came to the plate with second and third in the bottom of the eighth in an absolute nail-biter.

With the pressure on, Farrell simply overwhelmed the rival Knights, striking out a career-best 17 with just a pair of walks in the four-hitter.

"We knew we had to win one this weekend. North Andover beat us last time, so this was going to be a great tenth win," said Farrell, whose previous career strikeout high was 15 a year ago against Masconomet. "I was just getting up in the count, and I was going right at the batters, not wasting any pitches."

Knight righty Aaron Brunette matched Farrell pitch for pitch, right to the very end.

Brunette walked one and fanned eight in the tough-luck five-hitter.

"I was ready for the challenge," said the two-sport standout Brunette, who will pitch next spring at UMass Dartmouth. "I was thinking sooner or later, something like this was going to happen. You just have to try and bear down and take it like another game."

Still, Brunette fell to 2-2 on the year in a most excruciating manner.

With one out, an infield error put Warrior Dan Colombo on first. Colombo then advanced when a Brunette pickoff throw sailed over Mike Weisman's glove. A third Knight error allowed Christian Lightner to reach, and both runners move up on a wild pitch, setting up Ponti's final at-bat.

"They weren't going to walk me with the game I was having," joked Ponti, now hitting .387 on the year. "I was just looking to hit the ball to right field. I wanted to hit. I got a fastball and stuck the bat out, trying to hit it to right. That's all I had to do. I was trying to hard in my first couple at-bats, and that's why I struck out."

Calzetta kicks it up a notch

The first thing Mike Calzetta wanted to know after blowing away Tewksbury, 6-0, in a four-hitter was his strikeout count.

The Merrimack Valley Conference small school MVP knew the number Andover's Farrell had posted.
Looking to match it, the junior settled for 15 without a walk.

"That's 17 straight innings for us against him without a run," lamented Redmen coach Ron Drouin. "He just pitched another great game. You saw why he's the MVP of the conference again tonight."

The 15-3 Lancers pushed a run across without a hit in the fourth then gave Calzetta some unnecessary breathing space with four in the fifth.

Jose Sandoval, Tito Lluberes and Harvey Blanco all had RBI hits in the frame.

"As soon as we got that first run, I knew we were going to win," said Calzetta, now 6-1 with a 1.65 ERA. "I just thought I had to keep us in the game."

No Redmen runner touched third on the night, and only one reached scoring position as Calzetta had the heat pumping with the curve cracking from the opening pitch.

Cole sharp, Rangers fall

Methuen sophomore Bobby Cole continued his fine weekend, both defensively at third and at the plate, where he went 3 for 3 in the Rangers' tough, 6-5, loss to Masconomet.

Classmate Cal Carroll chipped in a pair of hits for Methuen.