Arlington | McClelland Miscellanea

Sam Wahlgren get congrats from JV teammate Casey Barlow at game’s end after Sam delivered a key hit in the final inning.

Taylor Summit heads home with the game-winner in the bottom of the seventh.

(Newburyport) Plenty of excitement at Cashman Park on Saturday afternoon as Newburyport defeated Arlington, 6-5, in the first round of Division 2 North softball.

There were five lead changes and the Clippers (17-4) entered their last at-bats trailing, 5-3, after the Spy Ponders (there is a pond in Arlington called Spy Pond!) had grabbed the lead with three runs in the top of the 7th.

Lea Tomasz led the final inning with a single to right. She reached second on a fielder’s choice and third on a passed ball. Rachel Webster earned a 2-strike walk on a pitch that went past the Arlington catcher. Lea scored Newburyport’s 4th run on that wild pitch. Kendra Dow reached on a fielder’s choice but the Clippers were down to their last out. The Clippers, in fact, got down to their last strike with their next batter (Taylor Summit) before she singled to center sending Kendra to 3B with two outs.

Still with two outs, junior varsity call-up Sam Wahlgren drilled a shot to left easily scoring Kendra from third with the tying run. The other runner on the bases, (Taylor Summit) was off from first on contact with two outs and looked content to pull up at third on Sam’s hit but when Arlington botched the relay Taylor flew home with the game winner and scored standing up.

Kaleigh Tomaszewski reaches third on Courtney Sacca’s double in the second inning.

This was a game with plenty of hitting (each team had ten hits) and plenty of opportunities to score (runners were stranded by both teams in every inning).

Arlington (12-9) picked up three runs in the top of the seventh on five hits. A key piece of strategy was when NHS coach Peter Murray’s opted to walk the very dangerous Courtney Sacca (two doubles) to load the bases with two outs. Pitcher Beth Castantini got the next batter (Kayleen McLaughlin) to pop to second to limit Arlington to three runs and a 2-run (5-3) advantage.

Another piece of strategy that also worked was Coach Murray’s willingness to use the sophomore from the JV’s (Sam Wahlgren) in the last two innings. She delivered hits in both innings and had plenty to do with extending Newburyport’s season into Monday when they will travel to play #4 seed Reading (18-3) in the D2 North quarter finals. The MIAA site currently has game-time listed at 3:45 AM! I suspect that time will be changed.

Kayleen McLaughlin out at home in the second.

Cassie Davis out at home in the first.

Sophomore leadoff batter Kaitlyn Morse led Arlington hitters with three singles. She also scored a run. Courtney Sacca had two doubles and also scored a run.

For Newburyport, Lea Tomasz, Taylor Summit, and Sam Wahlgren had two hit’s apiece. Each of them had a key hit in the crucial seventh inning. Lea ended up scoring three times while Taylor reached home twice including the seventh inning game winner.

Newburyport opened the scoring in the first as Cassie Davis’ triple to left drove in Maddy Stanton who had singled. Later in the same inning Cassie was thrown out at the plate attempting to score in a delayed fashion after Kendra Dow had bunted.

Leah Tomasz – two hits and scored three runs

Arlington jumped into the lead in the second inning with two runs, one of them unearned. Kaleigh Tomaszewski walked, went to third on Courtney Sacca’s double and scored on Kayleen McLaughlin’s single. Courtney came around to score when Taylor Summit dropped a throw covering first.

Newburyport tied the score with a single run in the 4th. Taylor Summit singled to center, reached second on a passed ball, and scored on Eleni Kacher’s single on the ground into right field.

The Clippers pulled ahead (3-2) in the fifth inning with another single run. Lea Tomasz reached on an infield single and advanced to third on two ground outs. Kendra Dow hit a ground single to left to score Lea.

The Ponders collected five hits in a bat-around top of the seventh. Natalie Tarantino (double), Michelle Reilly (single), and Kaleigh Tomaszewski (single) had the RBI for Arlington. Three runs were scored and the visitors left the bases loaded. Those runs, and the 2-run lead they gave Arlington, looked to be enough but weren’t as Newburyport rallied in the bottom of the seventh.

Eleni Kacher steals second base in the 4th inning.

Kayleen McLaughlin was thrown out at the plate to end the second inning.

The weather was fabulous – sunny with a light breeze. Certainly not what we’ve been used to over the past two months!

Both pitchers (Beth Castantini and Erica County) pitched complete games.

Newburyport AD John Daileanes delivered timely rosters for the good-sized crowd on hand. Some potential spectators were probably watching the NHS baseball team in action about the same time at the high school.

That roster was especially helpful for identifying Sam Wahlgren.

#1 seed Amesbury lost today to Marblehead. I wasn’t totally surprised by that because I had seen Marblehead defeat Triton on Thursday. The Magicians didn’t use their top pitcher versus Triton so she was available for Amesbury.

(I collect my own information and take my own pictures. Inaccuracies can result for which I apologize for in advance.)

Leadoff batter Kaitlyn Morse (reaching third) paced Arlington with three hits.

Natalie Tarantino – a hit, an RBI, and a run scored

Shortstop Kendra Dow catches a popup to end the sixth inning.

Courtney Sacca smiles after fourth inning double.

Chris Splinter – Scored go-ahead, late-game layup for Masco

(Boxford) Masconomet (18-3) scored all the points in the last two minutes and that was the margin of victory (55-48) versus Arlington (10-11) in the opening round of the Division 2 North played at Masconomet on Wednesday night.

Masco (#2 seed) moves on to play Salem at home on Sunday (February 28th) at 4PM. The Salem team took in the Masco/Arlington game.

The Chieftains put together a 21-5 run that started late in the first quarter into the second quarter that turned a 13-11 AHS advantage into a 32-18 deficit with 1 ½ left in the second quarter. The taller Chieftains hit one trey but everything else came from layups, converted rebounds, and free throws. Adam Bramanti (17 points) put up eight points and Collin Burke (14 points) seven points during this surge.

The Ponders, however, scored the last six points of the half to close to 32-24.

Arlington (#15 seed) moved its man-to-man defense to fullcourt and changed the pace away from Masco’s comfort zone. The Chieftains had fourteen turnovers in the second half. Four of those giveaways led to AHS putting a 12-2 run against Masco to tie things at 36-36 with 3 ½ minutes left in the third quarter. Miles Powell (16 points) contributed old and new 3-point plays for the visitors.

Greg Moulton – 15 points for Arlington

Miles Powell – 16 points including three 3’s for AHS

The 4th quarter saw Masco build a 48-42 lead with 3 ½ left in the game only to have AHS use a Miles Powell jumper, a Greg Moulton (15 points) trey, and a Brandon Castro free throw to knot things at 48 with two minutes left.

Both teams swapped turnovers before Masco broke out of backcourt pressure and Chris Splinter drove in on the right under significant defense and made a layup with 1 ½ left.

Now down two (50-48) AHS missed a lead-taking three (Miles Powell) and then both team swapped turnovers. With 31 seconds left Masco struggled to get the ball inbounds and burned two timeouts to prevent a turnover. The careful approach paid off because when Masco did get the ball into play Jake London (9 points) was fouled and made both shots. AHS missed a couple of shots before Chris Splinter (9 points) made a free throw. Another missed three and it was Adam Bramanti’s chance at free throws. He made two with two seconds left and Masco reached the 55-48 final score.