North Shore Phillies turn up power

When the North Shore Phillies, the champions of the 2013 North Shore Baseball League regular season, have their bats working and ace pitcher Cory Moore on the hill, they are nearly impossible to beat.The visiting Newburyport Nationals found this out the hard way in a semi-finals Game One 13-4 loss. To their credit, the Nationals did some damage against the NSBL Pitcher of the Year, but the Phillies offense came out on fire and never looked back.After Newburyport grabbed a run in the top of the first (an RBI single by Mike Barry), the hosts exploded for five runs in their half of the inning.Nationals starter Sean Ward struggled with a tight strike zone, walking the bases loaded to begin the frame. Clean-up hitter Rick Vall plated Jairo Valdez on a groundout to shortstop to knot the score.After Nick Day drew the fourth free pass of the inning, Matt Sucharewicz dropped a double deep down the right field line scoring Chris Blydell and Vall. After Mike LaMothe added an RBI single, Chris Carroll tacked on a run-producing groundout.After a controversial top of the second that saw the field umpire miss a play at first, only to have the home plate chief overrule him in favor of North Shore, things got ugly for the visitors.The Phillies increased their lead to six in their half of the second with sloppy defense to thank for it.Danny Duval reached on an error at shortstop before he and Valdez (walk) scored on a misplay at third after Vall?s hopper tipped off Barry?s glove. The Nationals got a two-run single from James Leary in the top of the third, but again the Phillies responded.North Shore got three straight singles from Carroll, Ryan Beliveau and Valdez, with the latter?s bringing in a run. Blydell plated Beliveau on a scorching grounder down the third base line.A solo shot from Evan Valcourt in the fourth proved to be Newburyport?s final run. The Nationals would fail to register a run off two Phillies relievers. Moore wasn?t at his best, but he still managed seven strikeouts while securing the win.North Shore wrapped up its scoring in the fourth when it added on four more runs. Day came in to score on a groundout by Carroll before Beliveau plated Matt Turmenne on a sharp single up the middle. Duval wrapped the scoring up with a two-run single.