Salem storms into title game

Sports

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will post automatically. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.

comments powered by Disqus

June 12, 2008

By Hector Longo The Eagle Tribune Thu Jun 12, 2008, 03:22 AM EDT

NASHUA, N.H. — Last night in the Class L state semifinals, Salem High stormed into Holman Stadium and finished the Gate City daily double, vanquishing No. 5 Nashua North, 3-1.

Gunning for their first Class L state title since 2003, the top-seeded Blue Devils will switch venues to Manchester's Merchantsauto.com Stadium Saturday at 5 p.m. against No. 3 Goffstown.

Saturday, it was Larry Weymouth slaying Nashua South in the quarters, like this one on the Panthers' home turf. His senior classmate Eric Perrault put his flawless 6-0 mark on the line last night.

The result was familiar to Salem followers, a four-hitter with a pair of walks and six strikeouts.

"He's been doing it all year," said coach Dan Keleher of Perrault, who now has 83 strikeouts in 542/3 innings. "We're playing these nail-biter games, and he hadn't really done that (pitched in close games) all year until the playoffs. It's good to see him respond. He's been tough when he had to be, and the (4-0 playoff-opening) Dover win was the same thing."

Perrault ran into trouble only once, when North nicked the left-hander for his first earned run since April 25, a stretch of 36 innings.

"I was just trying to hit my spots," said Perrault. "I didn't want to throw as many pitches as I usually do. I let them hit the ball, because I know my defense is behind me. I was trying to save up for late in the game."

A Brad Zapenas triple followed by Alex Morency's RBI single in the fourth was all the offense North would muster.

Salem, now 19-4, answered with two runs in its half of the frame, mixing a little bit of wall ball and with a dash of small ball.

Kyle Johnson lit the wick on the fireworks with a power-alley shot to left-center that struck the wall. Originally, the rocket was ruled a homer as the ball bounced back to the left fielder, but the umpires convened and changed it to a double.

Keleher immediately went to senior speedster Joe Moritz as a pinch-runner. On the first pitch, Weymouth squared to bunt, pulling the third baseman in just enough for Moritz to sneak behind and swipe third. Two pitches later, he dashed home on a wild pitch to tie it.

Weymouth went down swinging but Greg Bates certainly didn't.

There was no doubt about the Morency fastball Bates sent soaring some 380 feet to left, clearing the fence and the billboards behind it for a homer and a 2-1 lead.

"The first time I went up he was throwing me pretty much all fastballs the entire at-bat," said Bates, who, fueled by adrenaline and emotion, never slowed into a home run trot. "I've never hit a home run before in my life. He threw me a fastball knee high, and I just got all of it. I didn't really see it, and I didn't see the umpire, so I just kept running."

Perrault on the lead was money in the bank, allowing just one hit over the final three frames. He also got a huge lift from fleet center-fielder Hal Landers, who hauled in a gap-seeking liner with two on (walk, hit batter) in the North sixth and doubled off the straying runner at second to end the frame.

For a little insurance, Bates singled in the Salem sixth, moved up when Matt Hardy was hit and raced home on pinch-hitter Brad White's single.

No. 1 Salem 3, No. 5 Nashua North 1

Class L Semifinals

Nashua North (1): Kyle Harvel lf 4-0-0, Alex Hernandez c 3-0-0, Brad Zapenas ss 2-1-1, Alex Morency p 2-0-1, Nick Guest 2b 3-0-0, Mark Morency 3b 3-0-0, Kevin McGowan p 2-0-0, Harrison Brown 1b 3-0-2, Sean Coughlin rf 3-0-0, Totals 25-1-4

Salem (3): Hal Landers cf 4-0-2, Peter Allain 3b 1-0-0, Joe O'Dell 1b 3-0-1, Kyle Johnson dh 3-1-1, Larry Weymouth lf 3-0-0, Greg Bates 2b 3-2-2, Matt Hardy rf 2-0-0, Greg Gardner c 2-0-1, Brad White ph 1-0-1, Josh Heil ss 2-0-0 Josh Jones ph 1-0-0, Eric Perrault p 0-0-0, Totals 25-3-7

>Nashua North (14-8):<b> 000 100 0 — 1

>Salem (19-4): <b>000 201 x — 3

RBI: NN — Morency; S — Bates, White

WP: Perrault; LP: Morency

Streaks ended

Salem ace Eric Perrault was masterful, but did surrender his first earned run in 36 innings.

Senior Greg Bates clocked a 380-foot homer, which he said was the first of his entire career.

Text Only | Photo Reprints

Sports

Search Results

Discussion

Salem storms into title game

Site Map

Contact Us