RallyNorth.net

No. 25 Central stuns No. 1 Newton North

Tuesday, June, 09 By Michael Muldoon
Staff writer

They are wearing stylish corn rows in their hair, wielding red-hot bats at the plate and loving life 24/7.
But the magic numbers Tuesday weren't 24 and 7 but 25-1. As in No. 25 Central Catholic stunned No. 1 Newton North, 8-4, in the Division 1 North quarterfinals.
Trailing 3-1 after four innings in Newton, Central had two out in the fifth before catching fire. Madison Borrelli singled, winning pitcher Olivia Antzcak (5-hitter, 4 strikeouts) singled and Karoline Leavitt (3 hits) tied it with a triple.
Bella Jankowski reached on an error and Leila Camplese homered over the fence in left to make it 5-3.
Are they the ultimate Cinderella team?
Raiders coach Stacy Ciccolo said, "We never felt like a true No. 25. We had a pretty tough schedule with (perennial Maine power Scarborough twice in Florida), Reading, Newton South and North Reading. It's been a struggle. It's been a very difficult year."
From floundering to seven straight wins including yesterday's historic upset.
As Ciccolo said over the telephone, "We thought we might be done weeks ago."
Indeed, the Raiders (13-10) were left for dead at 1-5 and most certainly at 6-10. Central Catholic won its final four straight just to eke out a tourney berth.

The cliche is that the postseason is a new season. Central believes it. Newton North, which finished up 19-3, does, too.

Every once in a great while a No. 25 team will beat a No. 1 seed. And when it does happen, generally it might be a No. 1 club from a Boston City League team which has faced extremely limited competition.

But a formidable program like Newton North, which lost in the North finals each of the last two years (in 2013 to Central)?

From a formidable league like the Bay State League?

No 25 over No. 1 under those circumstances. That's about as rare as an unassisted triple play.
"We've just come together as a team," said Ciccolo. "We want to keep playing."

The Raiders are eyeing postseason win No. 4 when they take on another surprise club, 12th-seeded Medford (16-7), Thursday at 4 p.m. at Lowell's Martin Field.
The Mustangs know they can beat MVC clubs. They beat No. 4 Lowell, 3-1, in the first round.