RallyNorth.net

 The way Newburyport and Amesbury's offenses have struggled this year, it would be hard for either club to argue with the adage that hitting is generally the last part of the game to come around.

The state of the Newburyport and Pentucket baseball programs could easily be perceived as two teams moving in two different directions.

Starting with Newburyport, the Clippers are in the midst of rebuilding a program that won three straight Cape Ann League titles from 2004 to 2006. The Clippers struggled to a 10-11 mark last spring in their first season after the graduation of a strong senior class that included Joe Pace, Brendan Russell and Jared Notargiacomo. With yesterday's 2-1 loss at Pentucket, this year's Newburyport team dropped to 1-4.

Triton picked up its first victory over Newburyport in two seasons Saturday | a 3-2 victory at Lower Field.

Triton's Sam Ferrara scored from third base on a passed ball in the top of the seventh. That run proved to be the difference. Joe Katin earned the complete-game victory for the Vikings in the opener, allowing six hits and one earned run.

Few Newburyport baseball players remain from the team that clinched its third consecutive Cape Ann League title in 2006.

And perhaps that's a good thing for the Clippers.

No longer harbored with the pressure of continuing a run of CAL titles, Newburyport continued to establish its new identity yesterday in a 3-2 loss to Haverhill at Lower Field. Hillies pitcher Leif Sorenson was the difference, earning the complete-game three-hit victory.

Perhaps a moment of silence wouldn't be long enough to memorialize one of the region's most influential sports figures.

In that sense, it's only fitting that the entire opening weekend on the local baseball scene will be spent paying tribute to Bert Spofford, who died at the age of 90 last July.