LYNN– The North Reading baseball team came into the Clancy Tournament looking to build momentum before going to states. Two wins later, the Hornets can say “mission accomplished.”
Runs were scarce in Saturday’s Clancy Tournament championship game against Classical but North Reading earned a 3-2 win at Fraser Field. The Hornets claimed their first Clancy championship since 2014.
“That’s why we love this tournament so much, it prepares you for the state tournament,” North Reading coach Eric Archambault said. “All three teams are really well-coached. You have to compete, you have to make plays. We were able to do that.”
North Reading plated the game’s first run in the bottom of the first. Alex D’Ambrosio (1-for-3) singled and took second on an errant pickoff throw. After D’Ambrosio swiped third, Jack Keller brought him home on a sac-fly for the 1-0 Hornets lead.
Classical knotted the score in the top of the fourth. The Rams rally started with a double from Aidan Dow’s (1-for-4) bat. Dow advanced to third base on a wild pitch and scored on Brett Bucklin’s (2-for-3, RBI) RBI single.
“This is a great test before the state tournament,” Classical coach Mike Zukowski said. “We put it together Friday night, a full seven innings. The mental and physical parts of the game were there. Today, we started out a little flat.”
The Hornets pushed two across and retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Matthew DeBenedetto (1-for-2) reached on a Classical infield error and stole second base. Marco Vittozzi (2-for-3, RBI) followed suit with a RBI single, scoring DeBenedetto and propelling North Reading to a 2-1 lead. After Matthew Solecki was hit by a pitch, Daniel Lignos-Kavonian (1-for-2, RBI, walk) laced a RBI single. Kavonian’s single scored Vittozzi, giving the Hornets a 3-1 advantage.
David Barnard (1-for-3, RBI, walk) brought the Rams one run closer in the top of the fifth. A.J. Luciano (1-for-2, walk) singled to lead the frame and made it home all the way from first on Barnard’s RBI triple to right field. Classical trailed, 3-2, after four and a half innings.
Kevin Durant (0-for-1, two walks) drew a one-out walk in the top of the sixth, giving Classical a chance to score the tying run. The opportunity was short-lived, however, as North Reading starter Cole Doke escaped the jam thanks to a 6-4-3 double play.
Danny Lilja and Barnard each walked in the top of the seventh but Classical left them stranded and North Reading held on for the 3-2 win.
“It’s three good teams from Lynn. We try to come in and compete, and it’s always a battle,” Archambault said. “The championship games are always really close. A couple plays here and there, we were able to make a couple of those and that made the difference.”
Doke, a senior, tossed the first six innings. He allowed two earned runs on five hits and fanned four. Doke earned the tournament’s MVP award.
“Cole pitched great,” Archambault said. “He was injured earlier in the season so we haven’t given him as many starts as we’d like. He’s peaking at the right time. He was around the strike zone all day, he was down in the zone and that was the difference maker.”
“He (Doke) threw a great game,” Zukowski said. “He kept us off balance. We just couldn’t figure him out. They beat us. That’s baseball. You get beat sometimes.”
The Rams end the regular season at 11-9 and await the state tournament pairings.
“We have a long week ahead of us,” Zukowski said. “We’ll try to work in some practices, some scrimmages. A lot of batting practice, a lot of figuring out what to do at the plate in certain situations. We have to really stay balanced, mentally as well. We’re capable, we just have to tell ourselves that.”
