RallyNorth.net

Andover hangs on for tourney title

Monday, May, 26 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

LAWRENCE | As the games and innings piled up around him this week, Ryan Walsh simply sat and hoped.

"I've been prepping for it all week, hoping it was going to happen," said Walsh who went only 2<1/3> previous innings in the week as the Warriors posted four straight wins. "It was nice to go out there and take care of business."

Walsh got the opportunity last night in the finals of the 27th Lawrence Invitational Baseball Tournament. In true Golden Warrior tradition, the senior right-hander delivered seven innings of grit, control and an absolutely petrifying breaking ball, pitching Andover past Tewksbury, 3-2, before a crowd of about 300 ringed around the South Lawrence East School.

Now 4-1, Walsh earned this one the hard way, pitching out of trouble in the sixth and seventh. The final out, a strikeout with runners on first and third, came against one of Eastern Mass.' most feared hitters, Pat Devlin (.438 avg.), causing a fist pump from Walsh and sending his mates from the dugout to mob their hero. The title was Andover's 14th, and Walsh, who allowed just four hits and fanned nine, was awarded the Frank Brucato Most Valuable Player plaque.

"My arm feels great," said Walsh, whose pitch count was up in the 120s but simply refused to relent. "My body is just really tired. The arm's fine, I'm just gassed, but it feels great."

In the teams' regular season meeting, Tewksbury dominated from the start, piling up 11 runs in the first three innings and rolling to a 12-0 victory.

This time, it was Andover's turn, albeit a bit tempered against the reigning two-time Merrimack Valley Conference small school MVP, Scott Oberg.

Sizzling Sam Clark (5 for 8, 4 RBIs in the tourney) put Andover up 1-0 in the first, lacing an RBI single to plate John Hennessy.

In the second, it was the sophomore Hennessy doing the damage, tripling to the gap to chase home Kevin Hitchko and P.J. Farnham, each of whom had singled, pushing the margin to 3-0. The runs were only the 7th, 8th and 9th earned runs allowed by the UConn-bound Oberg all season (in 48.1 innings).

"He's a great pitcher," said Hennessy, who with his 2-for-4 night saw his team-leading average skip up to .471. "We were focussing on jumping on the first fastball we saw and driving it back up the middle. We hit the ball hard, and got on base, then did what we had to do."

From there, Walsh was the story with a little bit of defensive help from his friends.

The UMass-bound Walsh cruised through four, before walking two with two out in the fifth. Along came Devlin, who got behind in the count, 1-2.

Walsh broke off a nasty curve, that slid off the outside corner, but Devlin somehow hooked it down the left field line, deep, almost into the Little League complex.

Two runs scored easily. But Andover left fielder Sean McDermott threw a perfect strike to the relay man, Hennessy, who turned and fired a one-hopper to the plate.

Devlin, the ball and catcher Mike Morander met in one big dust cloud on the third-base line. When the dirt finally settled, Morander had the ball and the tag, ending the drama for that frame with a highlight-reel effort.

"I saw Devlin rounding third, knew it was a good throw, and thought it would be a bang-bang play," said Walsh. "All the dust comes up, and I had my fingers crossed. Then to see the ump with the call, that was pretty nice."

Warrior coach Ken Maglio stuck with a clearly tiring Walsh, who on fumes, willed his team to the final six outs.

"He came to me and asked me to leave him," said Maglio. "He's a senior. The way he pitched he deserved it, so I left it in his hands."

The final at-bat with Devlin, Round 4, was a classic in itself. Walsh again got ahead with his offspeed stuff, but learned from the earlier triple.

"He's tough," said Walsh. "(On the previous at-bat) I got ahead of him throwing two deuces that he took for strikes. I just tried to sneak one more past him. I don't know how he hit that triple, on a curve ball low and away. He just slapped at it and ripped it.

"The last at-bat (with two strikes) I went with the fastball, my two-seamer,  just trying to jam him. Hopefully he'd miss it and he did."

Now 15-4, Andover finishes up the regular season today with a noon battle at Masconomet. Tewksbury heads to the Division 2 North tourney at 15-5.