Swampscott Girls Stun Top-Seeded North Reading

Maybe it was said in jest to loosen up his team, or maybe he just had a good feeling about the game.

But when North Reading resident and Swampscott softball coach Gary Moran told his team before its matchup with the top-seeded Hornets that if they won they could come to his house to celebrate, little did he know the party was on.

Almost 2 1/2 hours later 16th-seeded Swampscott stunned top-seeded and host North Reading, 7-5, in 10 innings in a Division 2 North first-round game. It was the second straight season that Swampscott ended North Reading's tournament hopes. The Big Blue (13-9) advance to face Wilmington on Tuesday in a quarterfinal matchup.

"I told them if we won we would have a barbeque at my house tonight. So, I guess they're coming over," said Moran.

The star Saturday, as she has been all year, was pitcher Hannah Leahy. The University of Rochester-bound senior went the distance, giving up just eight hits while getting on base four times herself, knocking in two runs, and scoring one run.

"Hannah is unbelievable," said Moran. "I don't have enough good things to say about her. She does it every game, on the mound, she does it at the plate, she's been unbelievable."

With the score tied at 5-5 in the 10th, Sydney Cresta tripled to right field, driving in Leanne Nisbet and Ashley Bucklin. Leahy then came out in the bottom of the 10th and retired the Hornets in order.

"We got the lead, we gave it back, we got the lead, we gave it back, they battled and just never gave up. Everything we needed to do we did. We have to tighten up the defense a little bit though. That was a little shaky at times."

After loading the bases in the first inning but not scoring, Swampscott did the same in the second but this time pushed across two runs on a Leahy single. Then the back-n-forth began. North Reading (18-3) tied it with two runs in the fourth, courtesy of three Swampscott errors, that plated Guiliana Peppe and Cassidy Gaeta. The Hornets took a 3-2 lead in the sixth on Cassandra Pascucci's double that scored Jessica Ferrazzani.

Swampscott took the lead back with two in the top of the seventh, scored by Leahy and Kasey Kennedy, and it was 4-3. But it was North Reading's turn and the Hornets scored one in the bottom of the seventh to send it to extra innings. After a scoreless eighth, Swampscott scored one in the ninth (by Ashley Marston), only to have North Reading match them on a run by Courtney Luker.

With the score knotted at 5-5, the 10th was all set up for Cresta's big hit but this time there would be no North Reading response. But in at least one North Reading home, the party was on.