Tewksbury Residents Win Title With Lowell Catholic

The spring season may have ended a few weeks ago for Tewksbury High School. But one group of the town's athletes extended their season as long as possible.

Lowell Catholic High School, featuring a strong group of Tewksbury players, won the Eastern Massachusetts Division 4 baseball title thanks to a 1-0 victory over Pope John II.

According to game coverage in the Lowell Sun, Alex Larmand notched an RBI single to left field in the bottom of the seventh inning to help the Crusaders walk off with the title. On the hit, senior Chris Underwood scored the lone run of the game and set off a wild celebration, the newspaper reported.

The Crusaders entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed in North Division 4 thanks to a 15-5 regular season record. Lowell Catholic then topped Matignon in the quarterfinals thanks to a 3-0 win. Then in the semifinals, the team snuck past Georgetown, 3-1.

Lowell Catholic's sectional title game was its most lopsided game of the tournament. The team throttled West Roxbury, 12-3, to set up the meeting with Pope John II.

Head coach Matt Stone said the team's championship victory was due to a deep roster of hard-nosed players.

"We got to the playoffs with a gritty, solid team," Stone said, according to The Sun. "We had 18 kids contributing. To get this far you have to be a little lucky. But it was hard work more than anything."