RallyNorth.net

Whittier rallies for seven runs in the seventh, stuns Pentucket

Monday, June, 08 By David Willis
Staff writer

HAVERHILL — Patrick O’Regan stood stunned between first and second, hands raised over his head and staring at the sky as his teammates sprinted out of the dugout to tackle him.
“It took me a few seconds to realize what had happened,” said the Whittier sophomore. “I couldn’t believe it. I said to myself, ‘Did we actually just win this game?’ It was incredible.”
Trailing Pentucket by seven runs heading into the bottom of the seventh inning and struggled mightily at the plate, Whittier appeared bound for the offseason, the victim of a lopsided loss to the school that sits just three miles away.
Just over 20 minutes later, however, it was the Wildcats that exploded in a wild celebration near home plate.
“We did the impossible,” said an overjoyed Craig Delorey. “We scored seven runs in one inning. Greatness! It’s baseball, anything can happen.” 
With two outs in the seventh and six runs already in for Whittier, former Pentucket school district student O’Regan smoked a ball to right-center field with barely fell between two diving Sachems.
Corey Greaney came sprinting in from third and Whittier walked off with a stunning 9-8 victory over Pentucket in the Division 3 North quarterfinals.
The Wildcats advance to play St. Mary’s of Lynn in the Division 3 North semifinals on Wednesday at Fraser Field in Lynn at 7 p.m.
“Despite the score we honestly did believe we could win going into the seventh,” said Jorge Martinez. “We knew that we could score runs, and we felt like we could do it. I was just ecstatic. It was truly amazing.”
Pentucket came out firing, as three of the first four batters had extra base hits on the way to taking a 2-0 lead after the first. The Sachems tacked on three more in the third, including Cam Wolbach (3 for 4) swiping home on a double-steal. 
Whittier began their rally in modest fashion. Winning pitcher Austin Toohey knocked in a run with a single in the third and Martinez plated a run with a double to make it 5-2 after six innings.
But back came the Sachems in the top of the seventh as Wolbach, Dave Brindamour and Jackson McKean each drove home runs and Pentucket led 8-2 going into the game’s final half inning.
“We looked at each other and said that this game was not over,” said Toohey. “Anything can happen in the playoffs. We never give up here. We had tons of energy. And once some runners got on we could feel something was happening.”
Josh Barton walked to opening the inning, then O’Regan was hit by a pitch.
“I wasn’t happy because I had been 0 for 2 in the game,” said O’Regan. “But I know that is part of the game and I just shook it off.”
That started a run of five straight Wildcats reaching, and Toohey cut the lead to 8-5 with a two-run single.
After a fly out, the next two runners reached. Then Delorey hit a screaming ball that deflected off the second baseman’s glove two runners scored to tie the game 8-8.
“I was running to first and I saw the bobble and I knew it was a tie game,” said Delorey. “I could feel that something big was happening.”
Then up stepped the sophomore O’Regan, a Haverhill resident who attended Pentucket middle school and went to elementary school in Merrimac. 
He crushed a ball to the gap in right-center field. Two outfielders lunged, but the ball hit the turf and Greaney — who had walked four batters earlier — slid home.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” said O’Regan. “We just kept believing that nothing is impossible if we stick together. I was down when they scored those runs in the seventh, but we kept picking each other up and the result was unbelievable.”
O’Regan was treated to a Gatorade bath following the victory as the players celebrated as if they had won the title.
“It’s crazy to think we scored seven runs one inning,” said Delorey. “We scored the winning run with two outs. It was greatness. It feels pretty amazing. Anything can happen!”