Redmen Top Austin Prep, Close In On State Tournament Berth

Eric Heider and the Tewksbury High Redmen threw some serious leather at the Austin Prep baseball team on Monday, turning five double plays on their way to a 5-1 win that keeps TMHS’s state tournament hopes alive.

Heider, a junior shortstop, had a hand in all five double plays, helping senior pitcher Sean McCarthy go the distance for his second win of the season.

“I don’t know if it’s a school record or not, but five double plays in a seven-inning game is a lot,” Tewksbury coach Ron Drouin said. “And to have one kid be involved in all five of them is even more unusual. Eric Heider had a real good day at shortstop.”

Tewksbury took a 3-1 lead in the third inning of this game thanks to some sloppy defense on Austin Prep’s part. Senior first baseman Matt Luppi walked and Brad Gahagan bunted his way on. Second baseman Joe Hulme knocked in Luppi with a single, and Gahagan and Hulme later scored on wild pitches.

Tewksbury tacked on another run in the fifth when McCarthy and Luppi cracked back-to-back doubles.

The Redmen added an insurance run in the seventh when Gagahan and Ryan White singled, and Hulme brought home Gahagan with a ground ball out.

McCarthy scattered nine hits, stuck out one and walked one.

“It was his best start of the year,” Drouin said. “He got ahead of hitters and we played good defense behind him.”

Tewksbury now stands at 7-9 on the season and can qualify for a state tournament berth with a win Tuesday afternoon at home against Dracut.

Senior right hander Ryan White will get the start.

“Whitey will get the start but all hands are on deck,” Drouin said. “We want to lock this in today.”

TEWKSBURY SOFTBALL FALLS TO ANDOVER, 11-9

An imposter seemed to have taken the place of the Tewksbury High girls softball team on Monday as an uncharacteristic number of fielding errors and base-running miscues led to an 11-9 loss to Andover in the team’s regular season finale.

Tewksbury had overcome a 3-2 deficit with a three-run outburst in the fourth inning as third baseman Katie Doherty and right fielder Sam Laferriere had run-producing hits in the inning.

But the wheels came off in the top of the fifth when Andover combined two hits with two Tewksbury fielding errors, a walk and a hit batsman to push five runs across the plate and take an 8-5 lead.

Tewksbury responded again in the sixth  with a four run rally. Three walks loaded the bases with no outs before second baseman Brooke Hardy knocked in a pair of runs with a single. Shortstop Tiffanie Marsh followed with an RBI double and catcher Lauren Texeira added an RBI single to put Tewksbury back on top, 9-8.

Andover decided matters for good in the seventh, though, when two walks, a double and a dropped fly ball added up to three runs, two of them unearned.

“That wasn’t like us,” said Tewksbury coach Leo “Doc” DiRocco afterward. “We played a stinker. Walks, errors, passed balls.We had an off night.”

Senior pitcher Kayla Benvenuto had pitched well through four innings, holding Andover to two runs on three hits in a 2-2 deadlock. But four walks, a hit batsman and some uncharacteristically sloppy defensive play over the last three innings added up to the team’s sixth loss of the season.

Offensively, Marsh had two hits, knocked in two runs and scored one, while Doherty also collected two hits, drove in a run and scored once. Liggiero had a hit and a walk and scored twice, while Texeira had a hit and two RBI.

Hardy had one hit and knocked in two runs. Laferriere had a hit, knocked in a run and scored once. Ally Greene walked twice and scored twice, and Benvenuto reached base three times, collecting one hit and scoring a run.

Tewksbury finishes the season at 14-6 overall, and will await Saturday’s MIAA state tournament seeding meeting to find out where and when post-season play will begin.

 “We could have really sewed up a home game (in the state tournament) with a win tonight,” DiRocco said. “Now we’ll just have to wait and see.”

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