Cresta, Massey lift Big Blue past Watertown in 8th

WATERTOWN – Swampscott’s 5-4 eight-inning win against Watertown at Victory Field Thursday in a Div. 3 North Sectional preliminary round game served as a microcosm of a season in which the Big Blue (10-11) overcame a 2-5 start to qualify for the tournament via the Sullivan Rule.Sophomore Ryan Cresta’s one-out single to right field scored senior Michael Lan from second in the top of the eighth and senior pitcher Trevor Massey capped a 10-strikeout performance by striking out the side in the bottom of the eighth. Watertown, a Sullivan Rule qualifier out of the Middlesex League’s Freedom Division, finished 9-12.”This is a great win and gives us a lot of confidence. We battled hard all year and we had to battle hard today against a team that played just as hard. We competed for eight innings,” said Swampscott coach Jason Calichman. “Trevor absolutely battled for eight innings, but that’s what he’s done all year. Their kid (junior left-hander T.J. Hairston) did a good job as well. He kept the ball down.”The Big Blue will now face reigning State Champion North Reading (18-2) in a quarterfinal game at North Reading tomorrow afternoon (4).Swampscott grabbed a 2-0 lead with single runs in each of the first two innings.Rally-starter Robert Serino walked to open the game and immediately stole second, his first of two thefts and one of six by the Big Blue. Ryan January laced a one-out single to center, scoring Serino.In the second, Pat Burkett led off with a single to right; stole second and moved to third when the shortstop was late covering and catcher Erik Antonellis’ throw sailed into centerfield; and scored on Lan’s groundout to first, beating first baseman Kevin Arsenault’s throw to the plate.Watertown worked some serious small ball to pull even in the bottom of the second. Logan Riley’s infield hit and Arsenault’s double to deep right field left runners at second and third with no outs. Brendan Berkeley’s safety squeeze chased home Riley and Arsenault scored on a straight suicide squeeze by Anthony Forman.Undaunted, Swampscott countered with two runs in the top of the third. Serino singled off Hairston’s glove, stole second and scored from second when home plate was left uncovered on Massey’s infield hit. January was hit by a pitch and Carmody singled to center, loading the bases for Brendan McDonald, whose sacrifice fly to right scored Massey to make it 4-2.The Raiders cut it to 4-3 in the fourth when Anthony DiFonte and Riley walked to open the inning and Arsenault delivered DiFonte with a single to left.They tied it in the fifth when Daniel Austin-Manning walked, moved up on a sacrifice and eventually scored on Riley’s soft two-out chop to third on which Antonellis, the baserunner at second, got himself purposely hung up in a rundown long enough for Austin-Manning to score.Hairston stranded January at third in the top of the seventh, then the Raiders missed a golden opportunity to win it in the bottom of the inning. Austin Farry (infield hit) and Antonellis (double to left-center) put runners at second and third with one out. However, the Raiders passed on the squeeze that had worked so successfully in the second inning and DiFonte popped to second and Riley grounded out to second.”They were a bit unconventional in their approach and you had to be ready for anything. We were certainly ready for the squeeze in that situation,” said Calichman.That left it to Cresta to deliver the game-winner after Lan walked and Nunzio Morretti singled to center.”The bottom of our order really battled. They’ve been getting better and better all season,” said Calichman, who said his club is excited about facing North Reading. “This is what we want. We want to play the best. It’s a great way to measure ourselves and see how far we’ve come.”