RallyNorth.net

BRAINTREE | It was a combination of patience and aggression, business and pleasure, skill and luck.

Plymouth North had it going 100 percent all the time in last night's Division 2 state semifinal at Braintree High.

BRAINTREE | The smart money held that if a team was going to use a relentless, mashing offense and clutch hitting to win last night's Division 2 state semifinal between Masconomet and Plymouth North, it would be the Chieftains.

How might you spend the night before one of the biggest games of your life?

If you were a member of the Division 2 North champion Masconomet baseball team, you'd simply be watching baseball.

LOWELL | It was five minutes before 11 p.m. Saturday night when James Riordan finished his conversation with a reporter, looked around LeLacheur Park and realized there wasn't another member of his Masconomet Regional baseball team in sight.

LOWELL | When Masconomet's Kyle Shepard came to bat with the go-ahead run in scoring position in the eighth inning of Saturday night's Division 2 North final at LeLacheur Park, he was looking to accomplish something no one had ever done.

LYNN | They were sporting seven .400-plus hitters, had scored 188 runs, collected 164 RBIs and had a dynamite .429 on-base percentage | not to mention a .315 composite team batting mark.

Masconomet Regional cruised through the Cape Ann League this spring en route to claiming a share of the Large title and bruised almost every opponent along the way.

North Andover watched a 4-3 lead become a 9-4 deficit in just a few swings in the sixth inning and fell 9-6 to Masconomet in the Division 2 North quarterfinals.

"In the tournament, you have to avoid the big inning," said North Andover coach Todd Dulin, whose Cape Ann League large quad-champs finish up at 16-6, with three of those losses to Masco.

TOPSFIELD | A Cape Ann League Large division title in its back pocket, the pitching rotation in perfect shape, and a rock-solid 15-5 record headed to the postseason.

Masconomet Regional has positioned itself perfectly for another deep Division 2 North baseball tourney run.

NORTH ANDOVER | What a way to win a championship.

After giving back leads of two and four runs, respectively, the Masconomet baseball team scratched across the go-ahead run on a botched suicide squeeze to pry a share of the Cape Ann League Large title from host North Andover yesterday, 7-6.

Chris Splinter knocked a two-run shot over the wall in the final inning to close the Chieftains (13-3, 9-3 CAL) within one, but the Masco rally ended there as they fell to Wilmington 5-4. Wilmington got five runs on only three hits and the Chieftains didn't help their own cause by leaving eight men on base.