RallyNorth.net

Fri, Jun 10, 2011 04:00 PM @ Nashua North

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	Final
Timberlane	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
Nashua North	0	0	0	0	0	2	3

Cinderella Timberlane falls to Nashua North in semifinals

Thursday, July, 21 By Jay Asser
Correspondent

NASHUA — The Cinderella run came to an end for Timberlane but not before a down-to-the-wire effort against heavily-favored Nashua North at Holman Stadium yesterday.

Playing in its first state semifinal game in 16 years, the No. 13 Owls (9-12) got a fine effort from Jake Siemering, who held the potent Purple Panthers (18-4) scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning.

Siemering stranded two runners in each of the previous three innings, but top seed Nashua North finally broke through on Brandon Karkhanis' solo home run to left field.

"Sometimes (Siemering) gets in trouble, he's up in the zone sometimes," said Timberlane head coach Jamie Fish. "He paid the price for it."

Siemering opened the bottom of the sixth surrendering a walk to pinch-hitter Shannon Martin, who advanced on a sacrifice bunt and scored the eventual game-winner off an RBI single by Michael Muise.

In his 5.1 innings on the mound, Siemering allowed three runs on seven hits and five walks while fanning three. This against a North team which had scored 24 runs in its first two tourney games.

"He battled his behind off out there," said Fish. "I couldn't be prouder of him."

John Pauley drew a two-out walk in the seventh but reliever Jacob Mellin got the final batter to pop out.

Justin Bundzinski drove in the Owls' only run on a third-inning single up the middle to plate Pauley.

Dan Armstrong had the most success against Nashua North starter Kyle Turner, going 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.

The St. John's University-bound fireballer did not allow an extra-base hit, finishing with nine strikeouts and six hits allowed in six innings of work to improve to 7-2.

Timberlane's best opportunity came in the second inning with runners on first and third and one out. However, a missed suicide squeeze resulted in both runners being tagged out at home and third base, respectively.

Though the Owls' season came to a disappointing end, Fish was more than pleased to see his team make a run in the tournament after going 7-11 in the regular season.

They upset No. 4 Bishop Guertin in the opener. Then they downed Winnacunnet, which had toppled No. 5 Pinkerton, in the quarterfinals.

"I'm real proud of my kids. They (Purple Panthers) were No. 1 seeds for a reason," said Fish.

"Like I told these guys right until the end, we started the season with only three guys with varsity experience. So to come to the semifinals with a relatively young, inexperienced group, I couldn't be happier."

Nashua North 3, Timberlane 1

Division 1 Semifinals

Timberlane (1): Justin Bundzinski 2b 3-0-1, Tim Lonergan lf 3-0-0, Ryan McCarthy ss 3-0-0, Dan Armstrong c 3-0-2, Brendan Heinze 1b 3-0-1, Jeff Singster rf 3-0-0, Josh David dh 3-0-1, John Pauley 3b 3-1-1, Matt Grant cf 3-0-0, Jake Siemering p 0-0-0, Jake Damphousse p 0-0-0. Totals 27-1-6

Nashua North (3): Louis Tarantino lf 2-0-1, Brandon Karkhanis ss 4-1-2, Joe Breen 1b 4-0-1, Kyle McCarthy pr 0-0-0, Adam Lee dh 4-0-1, Kelvin Rodriguez pr 0-0-0, Matt Fortin c 2-0-1, Cameron Duval 3b 3-0-0, Kyle Turner p 1-1-1, Shannon Martin ph 0-1-0, Keon Jenkins cf 3-0-0, Michael Muise 2b 3-1-1, Jacob Mellin p 0-0-0. Totals 26-3-7

RBI: T — Bundzinski; NN — Karkhanis 2, Muise

WP: Turner; LP: Siemering

Save: Mellin

Timberlane (9-12):001 000 0 — 1

Nashua North (18-4):000 012 x — 3

State final: June 18, North vs. Concord-Salem winner

Timberlane's Rebirth

After 13 years without a state tourney win, Timberlane has become a threat in the postseason:

YearWinsRound reached

20112Semifinals

20101Quarterfinals

20091Quarterfinals