RallyNorth.net

Thu, May 29, 2008 03:30 PM @ North Andover

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Final
Playoff Game
Belmont	0	0	0	2	0	0	10	12
North Andover	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Defending champion Knights bounced in first round

Friday, May, 30 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

Brian Martin's worst fears were realized yesterday in the first round of the Division 2 North tournament.

 Defending Eastern Mass. champion North Andover held Belmont down for six innings before the Marauders erupted for 10 unearned runs in the top of the seventh on their way to a 12-0 victory.

The Marauders came in with a modest 11-9 record, but they were coming out of the rugged Middlesex League and boast junior pitcher Kayla Hoyer, who leads Eastern Mass. in strikeouts (232 prior to the tournament).

"I knew about her," said Martin, the fourth-year Scarlet Knight coach. "Before I looked at the bracket, I was thinking, 'Just not Belmont.' I knew we had to get to her early, but I thought if we kept her to six or fewer strikeouts, we could win the game."

As it turned out, Hoyer threw a nifty two-hitter, striking out nine and allowing just four baserunners. And, instead of getting to her early, the Cape Ann League champs (15-6) went down 1-2-3 in each of the first three innings.

Still, some fine defense kept the Knights in the game until the seventh. North Andover made pivotal double plays in both the first and second innings. Krissy Whitley gunned down Marisa Dicienzo at the plate in the first after she had led off with a triple and then fell for Whitley's fake throw to first on a grounder to the next batter.

Belmont finally pushed across two runs in the fifth, the key hit being a two-out smash off North Andover pitcher Jessica Lambert's foot.

North Andover managed mild threats in the fourth, when Whitley led off with a single, and the fifth, when the Knights had two runners on base with one out, but Hoyer bore down both times to pitch out of the jams.

Belmont put the game away in the seventh when three of its first four batters reached on infield errors and the Marauders followed with seven of their season-high 15 hits. To add injury to insult, Whitley | who was already bothered by a sore wrist | injured her ankle and neck on an attempted catch in short center field and was carried off the field.

"I was pretty confident coming in because the Middlesex League is such a good league and I figured we were at an advantage pitching-wise," said Belmont coach Sharon Coughlin. "Our defense has been good, so the only question has been hitting, and we were hitting great today."

Other than Whitley, Candace Waldie was the only other Knight to get a hit. On a brighter note, both of them, as well as five other starters, return next year.

"It was a disappointing last inning, but not a disappointing season," said Martin. "Overall, I was really pleased with our season."