Category Archives: Newburyport

June 18, 2022 · 10:43 pm

Austin Prep takes Division 3 title 2-1 over Newburyport

(Lowell) #1 Austin Prep belonged here.

#10 Newburyport? Not so much.

But the Clippers found a way to reach the Division 3 state finals.

Unfortunately, reaching the finals was the best Newburyport could do, as Austin Prep took the D3 title this afternoon, 2-1, at LeLacheur Park.

The Cougars finish 25-0 in a season in which their notoriety went from local to state to national.

“We have had all kinds of pressure on us this season because of how well we’ve done,” said Austin Prep coach AP Pollard afterwards. “The expectations got higher as the season went along.”

Today’s game was tied at 1-1 with two outs in Austin Prep half of the fourth inning.

At that point, Brenden Walsh, who had struck out his first at bat, got into a Jack Fehlner curve.

Brenden’s line drive to center went over CF Owen Roberts’ head and rolled to the 400-foot sign.

“I thought I had lined out,” said Brenden post-game. “When I reached second and the outfielder still didn’t have the ball, I knew that I could score.”

Brenden Walsh completes an inside-the-park homer

And score he did. That inside-the-park homer turned out to be the game winner.

“Credit the pitcher,” added Brenden, “he knew how to work inside. That’s how he beat Medfield which is a very good hitting team. I was sitting on the curve because he beat me a few times inside with it in my first at-bat.”

Senior Jack Iannibelli was the complete-game winner for the Cougars.

Jack gave up three hits but none after the third inning. He registered nine strikeouts including the last two outs of the game.

“Jack did what he’s done his whole career today,” said Coach Pollard. “He only had one loss the whole time.”

The Cougars scored in the first inning. Jake Zawatsky singled, reached second on an infield error, and took third on a wild pitch. Matt Chatelle’s sacrifice fly drove in the run.

Newburyport responded with a run in the second inning. Jack Fehlner tripled and scored on Max Puleo’s infield out.

The Clippers threatened to take the lead in the third inning. After one-out singles by Jack Sullivan and Connor Stick, Jack Iannibelli, however, got Luke Stallard to fly out and Jack Fehlner to strike out to keep the game tied.

Jack Fehlner scores the Newburyport run in the second inning

AP put runners in scoring position in the second, third, and fifth but Jack Fehlner pitched his way out of each dangerous situation.

“Jack Fehlner is a tremendous competitor,” said Austin Prep coach AP Pollard. “He challenged us and wasn’t afraid of anybody.” Jack will pitch for Roanoke College (Virginia) next year.

Newburyport coach Mark Rowe was disappointed with the loss but added, “How can I be anything but proud to have been here and played the way we did?”

The Clippers (18-7) lost three straight games near the end of the regular season and looked to be heading for an early exit in the tournament ahead. However, they caught fire and won four straight tournament games including a last inning upset of #2 Medfield.

“We made a couple of mistakes out there today which you can’t do against a team like Austin Prep,” said Coach Rowe.

Austin Prep finished their 25-0 season with thirteen shutouts and only sixteen runs allowed.

The Cougars are now leaving the MIAA and venturing into the NEPSAC.

Both Pentucket and Newburyport had 2-1 losses to Austin Prep.

Talking to Coach Pollard afterwards had some unexpected excitement. Twice, not just once, players with containers of ice/juice rushed my way to try and pour the contents on him. I had to reach deep to locate the “quickness” to keep from getting soaked!

An interesting play occurred in the Newburyport fifth inning. Connor Stick tried to steal second and was ruled safe by the infield umpire. Then it looked like that umpire deferred to the home-plate umpire who then called Connor out to end the inning. Luke Stallard was the batter at the plate when the Connor-incident occurred. The next inning, Luke did not lead off. My assumption is that Luke was called out on strikes before the play at second happened. Most of the media coverage had winning pitcher Jack Iannibelli with nine strikeouts. That one would have given him ten.

(I have since learned that the batter, Luke Stallard, was declared out because of “batter interference.” It means he got in the way of the catcher as he tried to throw out Connor Stick attempting to steal second base. AP pitcher Jack Iannibelli ends up with nine strikeouts, not the ten I assumed.)

The weather was in the low 60’s and too cold for June.

Newburyport 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 = 1

Austin Prep 1 0 0 1 0 0 – = 2

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Filed under Austin Prep, Newburyport

Tagged as Brenden Walsh, Jack Fehlner, Jack Iannibelli

June 14, 2022 · 10:52 pm

#8 Cohasset ousts #1 Newburyport 12-9

Cohasset celebrates its Round of Eight win

Laney Larsen had 6 goals for Cohasset including this one

(Newburyport) “We knew that the rankings didn’t reflect our abilities,” said Cohasset senior Molly Stephens afterwards.

The #8 Skippers (16-3) took the lead four minutes into their game with #1 Newburyport and never gave it up.

The final was Cohasset 12, Newburyport 9 in the Division 3 state quarterfinals.

The Clippers (19-2) had won fifteen straight and were undefeated (13-0) at home.

It didn’t matter to the visitors from the South Shore League.

“We are playing our best lacrosse at the right time,” said Cohasset coach Kully Reardon post-game. “This was our best game of the season this afternoon.”

Laney Larsen had six goals for the Skippers.

“Laney is a sophomore with the confidence of a senior,” said Coach Reardon.

Laney had the first two goals of the game, but Newburyport battled back on a goal by Rita Cahalane to make it 2-1 and later on a goal by Lilly Pons to make it 3-2. But the Clippers couldn’t even the score.

The outcome-deciding portion of this game was the final 3:42 of the first half. The visitors did all the scoring and led, 6-2, at the half.

The toughest goal for Newburyport was the one that Laney Larsen got with one tick left in the first half.

Coach Cat Batchelder’s short summary of the game was, “We didn’t play well.”

When asked for specifics, Coach Batchelder referenced the defense, the attack, the draws, as areas where the team had underperformed.

The Clippers started well in the second half. Within the first three minutes both Anna Affolter (3 goals) and Lilly Pons (3 goals) scored to pull Newburyport within two goals, 6-4.

Later with 13:15 to go, the Clippers were again down two (7-5). Two minutes later, however, Laney Larsen (6 goals) had two more scores and Cohasset was up, 9-5.

Credit Newburyport. Down by four (11-7) with eight minutes left, they scored two straight times (Anna Affolter and Lilly Pons) to move within two goals with 3:28 left.

Cohasset called timeout and returned to hold onto possession until freshman Reese Hansen drove home the clincher with 1:35 left.

“We like it when the other team has to come out and play us because we have so much firepower,” said Coach Reardon.

Brown commit Molly Stephens had the size, strength, and skills to give Cohasset a definite edge on the draws.

Molly was recently named the South Shore League MVP. She had two goals today. Her biggest contribution to the win was in the draws.

Both teams were very good at running their offenses. The Clippers, however, struggled to finish.

One reason for the Newburyport goal-scoring troubles was Cohasset goalie Aizza Chase. “Aizza is the best goalie I’ve had,” said 12^th year Coach Reardon. “She adds composure and confidence back there.”

Reese Bromby after CHS goalie Aizza Chase

Regarding Molly Stephens: “Molly had a brace on her leg earlier in the season. Every game she has improved. She got some possessions today that she wouldn’t have gotten earlier in the season.”

I was impressed with the long runs of Holy Cross commit Anna Affolter in the second half.

The weather was perfect.

Good crowd with quite a few of the Cohasset faithful in the stands.

Cohasset goals: Laney Larsen (6), Kira Fulton (2), Molly Stephens (2), Reese Hansen (1).

Newburyport goals: Lilly Pons (3), Anna Affolter (3), Rita Cahalane (1), Izzy Rosa (1), Reese Bromby (1).

Cohasset 6 6 = 12

Newburyport 2 7 = 9

Bridget Mahoney chased by Rita Cahalane and Makenna Ward

Bridget Mahoney, Laney Larsen, Molly Stephens

Anna Affolter and Izzy Rosa try to get the ball away from Rorie Newman

Makenna Ward pursued by Kira Fulton and Reese Hansen

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Filed under Cohasset, Newburyport

Tagged as Aizza Chase, Anna Affolter, Coach Kully Reardon, Laney Larsen, Lilly Pons, Molly Stephens

June 9, 2022 · 11:15 pm

Swampscott stuns Newburyport 6-5

(Newburyport) He was going down as he let the shot go and it went in.

Not only did it go in, but Jack Russo’s goal was the game winner for Swampscott.

The Big Blue stunned Newburyport, 6-5, on Thursday afternoon.

It was the Division Three opener for both squads.

Swampscott moves on to face Pentucket on Saturday. The Panthers had a 13-4 win over Big Blue on April 2^nd.

The ways things turned out didn’t surprise either coach.

“We’re battled tested with Danvers, Beverly, Marblehead, and Masco so we knew we were capable of doing it,” said Swampscott coach Geoff Beckett afterwards.

“In the tournament at the end of the year, anyone can beat anybody,” said Newburyport coach Josh Wedge post-game.

The result was surely a surprise to those doing the MIAA power rankings in Division Three since (12-7) Newburyport was the #8 seed and (10-8) Swampscott was the #25 seed.

Newburyport took a one-goal lead three straight times and Swampscott followed by doing the same thing.

The team behind always caught up until Jack Russo gave Big Blue a 6-5 lead with 5:15 left in the final quarter. The Clippers weren’t able to get the equalizer in the several opportunities they had.

“Our defense was amazing,” said Swampscott goalie Aidan Breault. “We gave up only one goal in the second half.”

Aidan made some key saves but added, “I couldn’t have done it without the defense in front of me.”

The Clippers ability to score goals took a hit in the first quarter when senior Jonny Groth was injured and never returned.

“When Jonny, our best middie went down that was tough,” said Coach Wedge. “He was our senior leader all year on offense.”

Big Blue took the lead for good on Jack Russo’s goal in the fourth quarter.

“I was trying to push top-side,” recalled Jack regarding his game winner. “I saw the goalie slide, so I gave a nice little swim move and honestly prayed and it went in. I was falling and I tried to use my momentum to put it in the net.”

“Swampscott is a very athletic team,” said Coach Wedge, “and I knew that they would give us problems if we didn’t execute.”

“To win we had to put forty-eight minutes together,” said Coach Beckett. “We probably played about forty-five minutes but luckily it was enough.”

Senior Ryan McHugh opened the scoring for Newburyport but Cole Hamernick answered for Swampscott in the first quarter.

Coach Wedge called a timeout with fifty-six seconds left in the first quarter and his team came out and scored (Ryan Philbin) ten seconds later.

The back-and-forth continued in the second quarter. Big Blue’s Jason Codispoti tied the game at 2-2 before Owen Kurez put the Clippers ahead again.

Jack Russo went over the top of a defender to tie the game at 3-3 with seven minutes left until halftime.

Harrison Kinne poured in from the left and Big Blue had its first lead of the game, 4-3, with 5:52 left in the 2^nd quarter.

Newburyport’s Jack Hadden made a long run to tie things (4-4) at the half.

I expected the higher seed to string goals together and gain some separation in the second half.

It didn’t happen.

“Our stick skills were a little sloppy,” said Coach Wedge. “We had opportunities that we just dropped.”

Swampscott wasn’t playing very well either.

“We let them hang around in the third quarter with a lot of turnovers,” said Coach Beckett.

Goals by Cole Hamernick (Swampscott) and Ryan McHugh (Newburyport) kept things even when the third quarter ended.

Only one goal was scored during the twelve-minute final quarter, and it was by Jack Russo.

“Their goalie (Ryan Portalla) was playing good all day,” said Jack, “so I finally got one by him. Newburyport is a well-coached, great team. #1 (Jack Hadden) is a heckuva player.”

Jack Russo saw plenty of Jack Hadden as the two of them tangled numerous times in Swampscott’s offensive end.

Christian Urbano and Harrison Kinne each had two assists for Swampscott.

Aidan Breault not only had a big game in net, but he also wasn’t hesitant to carry the ball into the other end.

“I got bored down there sometimes,” he laughed, “so I’ve got to run it up and make a play and try to set up the offense.”

Plenty of good weather this afternoon.

Newburyport 2 2 1 0 = 5

Swampscott 1 3 1 1 = 6

Jack Russo and Jack Hadden get entangled

Jason Codispoti scored twice for Swampscott

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Tagged as Coach Geoff Beckett, Cole Hamernick, Harrison Kinne, Jack Hadden, Jack Russo, Owen Kruez, Ryan McHugh, Ryan Philbin

June 6, 2022 · 10:19 pm

Brady Ford’s 3-run homer key in Newburyport’s 4-1 win in D3 tourney over Tantasqua

Brady Ford greeted by teammates after 3-run homer in 6th inning

(Newburyport) It wasn’t what he intended but he’ll take it.

“I was trying to go to rightfield, but I hooked it around a bit and caught more than I expected, and it decided to carry,” said Brady Ford.

The shorter version, according to Jack Fehlner, was that “Brady hit a bomb.”

That unintentional bomb to left turned into a three-run homer in the sixth inning and spelled the difference in the Clippers 4-1 win over Tantasqua on Monday afternoon.

#10 Newburyport will face #7 Hudson at Hudson in the Division 3 Round of Sixteen later this week.

Today’s game was scoreless into the bottom of the sixth.

The Clippers, in fact, didn’t get a baserunner until the fourth inning against freshman starter Miles Blake.

Miles worked his way out of a base-loaded situation in that fourth inning getting Owen Tahnk to fly out.

The #23 Warriors (17-5) ran into two outs on the bases in their half of that fourth inning.

An infield error and two walks put Newburyport in a very promising one-out situation in the fifth inning. But Tantasqua coach John Leroux brought on Joe Amaru and he recorded an infield popup and a strikeout to douse that fire.

“We kept getting guys on base,” recalled Newburyport coach Mark Rowe. “You felt that something eventually was going to happen.”

And it did happen in the sixth inning.

Luke Stallard was hit by a pitch and went to third with one out on Max Puleo’s single. Owen Tahnk followed with a single that gave the Clippers the lead.

Now with two runners on, Brady Ford delivered a three-run homer.

The distance to the fence may only be 300 feet but the high fence adds significantly to the difficulty of hitting one out in that direction.

But out it went, and the Clippers had a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning.

“It was my first varsity homer,” said Brady who is a senior.

The Warriors were now down to their last three outs, but they did anything but go quietly.

Twice in the seventh inning, they had the tying run at the plate. And twice they hit long flies. One turned into a run-scoring single (Henry Blake) and the other was caught by RF Jack Sullivan close to the fence to end the game.

“They were timing me up pretty good in that last inning,” said winning pitcher Jack Fehlner afterwards.

“But we did what we needed to do,” Jack added, “and it was a great team win.”

“It was a back-and-forth game,” said Coach Leroux. “They just got the clutch hits when they needed them.”

Coach Rowe was pleased with the win but not as pleased with some of the at-bats his team had. “I feel as though we should have challenged them more,” he said. “There were too many lazy flyballs and strikeouts.”

Shortstop Luke Stallard was smooth on grounders and was in the middle of the two Warriors caught on the bases in the fourth inning.

“I just did my best to make the plays and keep my team in the game,” said Luke afterwards.

Talking about his freshman starter, Coach Leroux said, “He’s going to be very good in the future for us. I would have liked to have pitched him longer today, but he was on short rest from our tournament game the other day (5-1 win over Boston Latin).

Senior Jack Fehlner was the complete-game winner. Jack gave up four hits with no walks.

Devin Krochmalnyckyj, Jack Rapose, Jack Ricciuti, and Henry Blake had the hits for Tantasqua.

The weather was marvelous.

Tantasqua 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 = 1

Newburyport 0 0 0 0 0 4 – = 4

Hunter Normandin scores the Tantasqua run in the 7th inning

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Filed under Newburyport, Tantasqua Regional

Tagged as Brady Ford, Henry Blake, Jack Fehlner, Miles Blake, Owen Tahnk

May 25, 2022 · 10:13 pm

Kayla Murphy hits two homers as Pentucket defeats Newburyport 7-5

(Groveland) Home plate was where the action was.

Both Newburyport and Pentucket had runners thrown out there.

The biggest celebrating there, however, was done by Pentucket as they gathered twice to congratulate Kayla Murphy after home runs.

Pentucket (9-8) held on to get a 7-5 win over Newburyport (9-11) on Wednesday afternoon.

The Clippers took a 2-1 lead into the fourth inning.

In that fourth inning, Emma Lopata walked ahead of Kayla’s first home run to put the Panthers (their new mascot) in front for good.

Pentucket added another run in the fifth inning on an infield throwing error, before Kayla went deep again this time with Sydney Pichette and Kendra Griffin on board.

Kayla joked that she “wasn’t trying to get any of the dogs in the dog park,” (located just beyond the leftfield fence).

Emily Meleedy had eleven strikeouts for Newburyport

Both of Kayla’s homers landed in about the same spot in left center. “I was looking for my pitch,” she said. “The home run pitches were low in the strike zone.”

Sitting on a 7-2 lead going into the last inning seemed to be a comfortable situation for Pentucket. After pitcher Molly LeBel retired the first two batters, things looked even more promising.

Credit Newburyport. They weren’t planning to go quietly. Five batters later the Clippers had the tying runs on the bases and the go-ahead run at the plate.

After an error on her first fielding chance of the inning, shortstop Kyla Murphy got a second chance and retired the last batter on an infield grounder.

“I was hoping for one good play at the end, and I got it,” said Kayla afterwards.

“Everyone did their job,” said Pentucket coach Deb Smith, “and Kayla crushed it.”

One thing that Coach Smith didn’t want to do was pitch to Newburyport’s Emily Meleedy. Twice the talented sophomore received intentional passes.

“She’s in the middle of the Merrimack (River) if you pitch to her every time,” said Coach Smith.

A key play occurred in the fifth inning. Newburyport had runners on second and third with two out. Emily Meleedy was at the plate. Pentucket opted to intentionally walk her which would load the bases. However, Molly LeBel’s attempt to finish off the intentional pass got beyond Pentucket catcher Ella Agocs. Olivia Skibbee, who was on third base, broke for home but Ella’s flip to Molly covering home erased the runner and ended the inning.

Olivia Skibbee tagged out by Molly LeBel

“That play was a turning point in this game,” said Coach Smith.

Newburyport coach Bob Gillespie was disappointed with the loss. “We have been making it a habit of needing comebacks after slow starts,” he said.

“We have also struggled to win on the road,” he added. The Clippers are now 2-7 away from home.

The Panthers are currently 7-1 at home.

The Clippers end the regular season 9-11. The May 23^rd Power Rankings for Division 3 had them at #21. The top thirty-two get in the tournament. You also get in if you win at least half your games.

Pentucket is now at 9-8 with three games left. If they can win one of those games they’ll be in the tournament. As of May 23^rd, they are ranked #30 in Division 3.

Molly LeBel: “Even when things got tough in the last inning, I knew that the team had my back. They have a lot of good hitters so mixing up my pitches was crucial. I was throwing as hard as I could today. I always try to do that but today I was actually doing it.” Molly gave up seven hits and struck out four batters.

Emily Meleedy struck out eleven but also gave up eleven hits. “She is an unbelievable pitcher,” said Coach Smith. “You have to go after her first pitch. We told them to be aggressive today and we hit the ball hard.”

“The ending was shaky,” Coach Smith added, “but that seems to be our MO. They want to give me a heart attack!”

Sophie Lavallee and Emily Meleedy paced Newburyport with two hits each. Cassidy Bolcome and Emily each scored twice.

Kendra Griffin led Pentucket with three hits while Emma Lopata scored three times.

Newburyport centerfielder Nieve Morrissey made two nice catches in Pentucket’s sixth inning. She ran in for one and raced back for the other.

Newburyport 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 = 5

Pentucket 0 1 0 2 4 0 – = 7

On April 28^th Newburyport defeated Pentucket, 9-5 at Newburyport. The Clippers built up an 8-0 lead after four innings before Pentucket rallied late to make things interesting at the end.

The Panthers have won three straight.

I continue to misread the weather. It was sunny and pleasant.

Kayla Murphy celebrates with her teammates

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Tagged as Coach Deb Smith, Emily Meleedy, Emma Lopata, Kayla Murphy, Nieve Morrissey, Sophia Lavallee

May 18, 2022 · 9:30 pm

Newburyport defeats North Reading 14-5

(Newburyport) The Newburyport girls’ lacrosse team is very good.

“They play some of the best team lacrosse in the state,” said North Reading coach Matt Costello after his game today versus the Clippers.

Newburyport (14-1) defeated the Hornets, 14-5, in Cape Ann League action winning their tenth straight. The Clippers are now 8-0 at home and 11-0 in the CAL.

“They have a lot of talent, but they use it together as a team,” added Coach Costello.

The Clippers should have been tired after a tough battle yesterday against Bishop Guertin arguably one of the best teams in New Hampshire.

And they were tired but with experienced depth on both sides of the field it hardly mattered.

“We were definitely tired today,” said Clippers Coach Catherine Batchelder, “but we were able to play everybody a lot. We took a load off the starters from yesterday.”

“We try to play together no matter what,” explained Makenna Ward post-game. “It isn’t always one person trying to do everything.”

The Clippers had scoring from nine different players with Izzy Rosa leading the scorers with four goals and two assists.

North Reading (7-9) had the defensive skills to keep the Clippers from rushing straight into their end and launching shots. However, on this afternoon, the Clippers were good enough running set offenses that they prevailed anyway.

Newburyport scored eight unanswered goals to start the game and had that 8-0 lead with nine minutes left in the first half.

Bri Slattery broke through for North Reading and Jenna DiNapoli added another goal. The halftime score was, 10-2.

The Clippers started the second half with four straight scores to enlarge their advantage to, 14-2, with nine minutes left.

In the process of growing their lead, the Clippers also moved this game into running time.

North Reading closed the game with three straight goals.

“North Reading has really improved from the first time we saw them (April 27^th),” said Coach Batchelder. “I thought that their goalie (Kaitlyn Supple) was excellent.”

“We’ve been working on execution and good decision-making on offense,” said Coach Costello. “At the end of today’s game, we protected our sticks and did better at staying out of pressure.”

Newburyport is #1 in the MIAA Division 3 power rankings. North Reading is #16. Thirty-two teams make the tournament.

“There’s a chance we could play North Reading in the tournament,” said Coach Batchelder. “The higher ranked team will have the home game until the Final Four.”

Makenna Ward: “Our defense is very complicated but fun. When we click it looks (and works) so good.”

Coach Batchelder: “We have tough games at home next week against Manchester-Essex and Bedford (NH).”

Newburyport 10 4 = 14

North Reading 2 3 = 5

Newburyport goals: Izzy Rosa (4), Reese Bromby (2), Anna Affolter (2), Brela Pavao (1), Lilly Pons (1), Rita Cahalane (1), Olivia McDonald (1), Emily Fuller (1), Maddie Heath (1).

North Reading goals: Bri Slattery (2), Lilly McInerney (2), Jenna DiNapoli (1).

Newburyport’s four seniors (Sydney Turner, Elizabeth Turgeon, Audrey Cooper, Emily Fuller) were honored pre-game.

The weather was splendid.

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Tagged as Anna Affolter, Bri Slattery, Coach Catherine Batchelder, Coach Matt Costello, Izzy Rosa, Lilly McInerney, Reese Bromby

May 7, 2022 · 8:54 pm

Charlie Forrest tosses 1-hitter as Clippers defeat North Reading 10-0

(Newburyport) It figured to be a close game.

North Reading and Newburyport had played in April and the Clippers needed three runs over the final two innings to pull out a, 5-4, win.

Charlie Forrest had pitched well in that one in long relief (four innings) to get the win.

Charlie was the starter this afternoon and he took “pitched well” to another level.

The final was Newburyport 10, North Reading 0, in a mercy-rule ending in the sixth inning.

Charlie tossed a one-hitter and retired the last nine Hornets in order.

“Charlie was dealing out there today,” said Clippers coach Mark Rowe afterwards.

He certainly wasn’t overpowering. Just effective.

“I was just throwing strikes,” explained Charlie post-game. “My teammates made all the plays.”

Making plays was what North Reading struggled to do today. The Hornets (7-5) also had runners thrown out at second and third.

“We played terribly,” said NR coach Eric Archambault afterwards. “This was our worst game of the season.”

“As a team we pride ourselves in our defense and baserunning and those two things absolutely killed us today,” he added.

“We took advantage of the extra chances they gave us,” said Coach Rowe. “We made good contact all day.”

The Clippers (10-3) had twelve hits spread among eight players. Connor Stick, Jack Fehlner, Brady Ford, and Ty Cowles had two hits each.

An error, a wild pitch, and four hits produced Newburyport’s first three runs in the second inning.

The Clippers batted around in the fourth inning. Two more NR errors and four Newburyport hits turned into four more runs for the home team.

Meanwhile, Charlie Forrest, after giving up a hit to Craig Rubino in the first inning, was cruising.

“Their pitcher did a great job,” said Coach Archambault. “He was hitting his spots and making his pitches, the whole thing.”

The Hornets’ Zach Rosatone reached second base in the second inning but was picked off.

In the third inning, pinch-runner Max Forristall tried to advance to third on a fly ball and was gunned down.

Charlie didn’t allow a baserunner over the final three innings.

Connor Stick scores the 6th Newburyport run

“My curve was working good especially low in the count,” explained Charlie. “I followed it up later with the fastball that usually got them.”

The Clippers took a 7-0 lead into their half of the sixth inning. They added two more hits and took three walks to get the three runs they needed to end the game. Jack Sullivan’s walk drove across the winning run.

Six different Clippers had RBI. Luke Stallard and Jack Fehlner each scored twice to lead in that category.

Coach Rowe: “We expected a battle today. They’ve been playing great. They’ve been scoring a ton of runs.”

Coach Archambault: “Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. We’ve had a bunch of good games recently and we dropped one today. We got to respond going forward.”

Newburyport’s five seniors (Ty Cowles, Luke Stallard, Jack Fehlner, Owen Roberts, Brady Ford) were honored pre-game.

The weather was unpleasant. Today we had temps in the low 50’s with a 20MPH wind.

North Reading 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 0

Newburyport 0 3 0 4 0 3 = 10

(The pictures will enlarge.)

Jason Curran fields a grounder as pitcher Ryan Labb runs to cover 1B

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Tagged as Charlie Forrest, Coach Eric Archambault, Coach Mark Rowe, Craig Rubino

May 3, 2022 · 10:16 pm

Pentucket plays ‘best game’ shutting out Newburyport 3-0

Max Ligols had a two-run homer for Pentucket

(Groveland) “It was absolutely our best game of the year,” said Pentucket coach Kevin Murray afterwards.

Pentucket defeated Newburyport, 3-0, on Tuesday afternoon at Groveland Pines.

Chase Dwight pitched a 3-hitter. Max Ligols had a 2-run homer and the Pentucket defense was error-free.

“You have to tip your cap to them (Pentucket),” said Newburyport coach Mark Rowe. “They got the big hits when they needed to, and Chase (Dwight) pitched a great game. He threw strikes and if you do that in this league good things are going to happen.”

The biggest hit was by Pentucket’s Max Ligols. The UMF commit had two strikes on him in the fourth inning before clearing the leftfield fence.

“I was down on the count,” recalled Max. “He threw me a first-pitch curve and then came back with it. I just stayed behind and let loose on it. It was the first homer I’ve ever hit. I didn’t even have one in Little League! It sure felt good.”

Max’s homer brought home teammate James Davis who had a long-count single leading off in that fourth inning.

“No one was an easy out today,” said Coach Murray. “We didn’t have any first-pitch outs and we battled back from 0-2 counts.”

Pentucket collected an unearned run in the previous inning. Trevor Kamuda reached on an infield error, stole second and took third on a fielder’s choice. Chase Dwight’s two-out double brought Trevor home.

Newburyport’s best chance to get run(s) was in the fourth inning. The Clippers loaded the bases with one out. A walk (Lucas Stallard), a double (Owen Tahnk) and an intentional walk (Jack Fehlner) put Newburyport in a good spot. But Pentucket escaped as Chase caught Brady Ford looking and handled Tyler Cowles’ grounder to end the threat.

Pentucket answered with the Max Ligol homer in the bottom half of the fourth and had a 3-0 lead.

Chase retired nine of the last ten batters he faced to earn the win for Pentucket.

“My fastball was my best pitch today,” said Chase afterwards. “I had good location.”

“Our energy was high throughout the game,” he added. “We hit when we needed to. Whenever Newburyport did hit, my teammates were there making the plays.”

Chase told me that he will be attending Mass Maritime Academy in the fall. “I may go out for baseball,” he said. “You have to try out for the team, so we’ll see what happens there.”

The Clippers (8-3) came into today’s game averaging 6.9 runs per game. “We hit a lot of balls hard today but right at people,” said Coach Rowe.

Pentucket (5-4) finished with six hits. Max and Chase had two each. Ethan Hunt and James Davis had the other two hits.

The Clippers had hits from Owen Tahnk, Jack Fehlner, and Connor Stick.

Alex Robertson was solid for Pentucket at first base handling nine chances that included several low throws. “Alex had some nice picks,” said Trevor Kamuda post-game.

Prior to this afternoon’s game, Pentucket had won three straight, before losing to Lynnfield last game.

The Clippers entered today’s game having won seven straight. Last loss was on April 11^th to Amesbury, until this afternoon.

The weather was comfortably warm at the start and then became much cooler later.

Newburyport 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 0

Pentucket 0 0 1 2 0 0 – = 3

(The pictures will enlarge.)

James Davis heads for third base in the fourth inning

Chase Dwight had an RBI double in the third inning

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Tagged as Chase Dwight, Coach Kevin Murray, Max Ligols

April 27, 2022 · 11:13 pm

Cole Mellett perfect as Newburyport defeats North Reading 12-5

Cole Mellett on the attack after winning a faceoff

(Newburyport) He was perfect.

“You can’t do any better than that,” said Newburyport coach Josh Wedge afterwards.

The NHS coach was referring to Cole Mellett and the twenty-one faceoffs he took.

“I don’t think I’ve seen anyone go perfect on faceoffs,” added Coach Wedge. “He won 21-of-21!”

Cole’s perfect game was a key piece in the Clippers’ 12-5 win over North Reading on Wednesday afternoon.

The win keeps Newburyport undefeated (5-0) in the Cape Ann League.

The Hornets (4-5) opened the second half with goals from Dan Oliveira and Ryan Long to cut the Clippers lead to, 6-4.

But the Clippers responded with three unanswered goals (Ryan Philbin, Jon Groth, Cam Tinkham) in a three-minute stretch to close out the third period.

“We kept it close for as long as we could,” said North Reading coach Charles Campobasso post-game.

“We struggled with faceoffs and ground balls,” he added. “If we can’t get possession there, we’re really in trouble and are limited getting down the other end of the field.”

Newburyport jumped ahead, 4-1, after a quarter and led, 6-2, at halftime.

“It was a 6-2 game that felt like it should have been 10-2,” said Coach Wedge. “We could have shot better in the first half.”

In the second half the Clippers did shoot better after the two early Hornets’ goals.

Jon Groth and Cam Tinkham led Newburyport’s scorers with three goals each. Zach McHugh and Ryan Philbin each had two while Ryan McHugh and Owen Kruez had one each.

Ryan Long scored twice for North Reading. Teddy Suny, Dan Oliveira, and Sam Morelli had solo goals.

North Reading has now lost four of their last five games.

“Josh (Wedge) does a good job of getting his guys prepared,” said Coach Campobasso. “We knew going in that we would have our work cut out for us. Our struggles with faceoffs and ground balls against a good team were a recipe for a tough day.”

North Reading will get another chance against Newburyport in a couple of weeks.

The Clippers were 14-1 last year and aren’t shying away from tough opponents this year with Cape Elizabeth, Portsmouth, and Concord-Carlisle on their schedule.
“Playing those teams will help our power rankings,” said junior Jack Hadden. “They are all reigning state champions.”

Jack Hadden: “Cole (Mellett) is unbelievable. It’s his first year doing faceoffs. He works so hard. Lacrosse is all about the faceoffs. If you can’t win faceoffs, you can’t win.”

Cole Mellett: “I guess it was my lucky day out there. It’s my first year doing it. My friend Colin McCoy took them last year and was very good at it. He taught me over the summer, and I just picked it up. It gave us a lot of possessions.”

There was a taste of winter in the air. No snow but temperatures close to fifty with a strong wind. It is still April.

Newburyport 6 6 = 12

North Reading 2 3 = 5

(The pictures will enlarge.)

Shot at North Reading goalie Andrew Peppe

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Tagged as Cam Tinkham, Coach Charles Campobasso, Coach Josh Wedge, Cole Mellett, Jack Hadden, Jon Groth, Ryan Long

April 25, 2022 · 9:38 pm

Newburyport in control with 18-4 win over Ipswich

(Newburyport) They knew what to expect.

They prepared for it and executed against it.

The result was a convincing 18-4 win by Newburyport over Ipswich on Monday afternoon.

“We worked on moving the ball quicker and keeping our eyes open for off-ball cutters,” explained Clippers’ sophomore Rita Cahalane afterwards.

“They played a backer zone,” said NHS coach Catherine Batchelder post-game. “That defense presented man-up opportunities for us. We worked on it in practice and the girls saw it really well. They were able to get some wide-open shots.”

The Clippers (5-1) controlled the draws in the early going and locked the Tigers (2-3) into their defensive end. In fact, Ipswich didn’t get into the Newburyport end with possession for the first 9 ½ minutes.

However, by the time Ipswich penetrated Newburyport territory they were already down, 5-0.

Three Newburyport goals later the Tigers called a timeout.

The score was 12-0 at halftime.