Luppi, Redmen shut down Haverhill, 8-1

limited Haverhill High to just three hits in six innings as the Tewksbury High baseball team improved its record to 4-1 with a convincing, 8-1 win over the Hillies Monday afternoon at Strong Field.

Luppi struck out five and walked only one in In 20 innings so far this season, Luppi has allowed just four earned runs while striking out 15 batters. Through three games his earned run average is 1.40.

"Luppi threw pretty well again today," said TMHS coach Ron Drouin. "He only walked one and he got ahead of hitters. He was in total control."

Luppi also helped himself with the bat, knocking in all the runs he would need with a two-run double in the bottom of the first inning. Haverhill got one back in the top of the second, but Luppi slammed the door after that.

continued his hot hitting streak with an RBI single. Through five games Hulme is hitting an even .500, tops on the team.

Senior shortstop Eric Heider had an RBI triple and senior catcher Rob Wallace had an RBI double as the Redmen scored in five out of six innings. Senior center fielder Chris Andella, currently hitting .350, also knocked in a run.

"I'm very pleased with the way our pitchers are throwing the ball and I'm very pleased with the way our team is playing defense," Drouin said. "Offensively we're doing a good job of hitting with runners in scoring position. We made some mistakes on the bases today, and we've got to clean that up. But overall, we're playing well."

The only downside to Monday's win was that Andella suffered an unspecified leg  injury on a play at the plate and was taken to Saints Memorial Hospital for treatment.

"It's a good win but it could be a costly one if Chris is out for any length of time," Drouin said. "He does a lot of things for us with his bat and in the field."

Tewksbury plays at Billerica on Wednesday before hosting Lowell on Friday.

Chelmsford High junior pitcher Meghan Rich threw her second no-hitter of the season, this one at the expense of the Tewksbury High softball team Monday afternoon in Chelmsford.

almost matched Rich pitch-for-pitch, allowing just one hit in a seven-inning, complete game performance. But three unearned runs gave Chelmsford a 3-0 victory.

"With the way Kayla pitched, we should still be playing," said Tewksbury coach Leo "Doc" DiRocco. "But we're a young team and we made three costly mistakes  and that led to three runs for them."

The shutout loss was unusual for the Redmen, who had been hitting the ball well lately and had scored 40 runs in their previous four games.

"She (Rich) shut us down but Kayla pitched probably her best game ever and defensively we made some real good plays," DiRocco said. "I'm not disappointed at because if this is the best team in the league, we're not that far behind with a very, very young team."

Chelmsford improves to 8-0 with the win and Tewksbury falls to 5-2, 3-2 in the Merrimack Valley Conference.

Tewksbury plays at Haverhill on Wednesday.