By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
WESTFORD — First place was on the line last Thursday night as the North Reading Northeast baseball team (ages 14-18), visited Westford.
After scoring two runs in the top of the 1st inning, it was downhill the rest of the night for the Hornets as Westford won, 12-2, at Westford Academy High School on a hot, humid evening.
With the win, the Grey Ghosts improved to 9-2 while the Hornets fell to 9-3. Westford clinched first place as, even if they lost their final game of the regular season, they hold the 2-1 tiebreaker against the Hornets this summer.
“Our bullpen was shorthanded and they struggled,” said North Reading assistant manager Rob Vittozzi, as Westford plated nine runs in the 6th inning.
In the 1st, Tyler Boviard and Antonio Ricca had back-to-back RBI singles, to give the locals the early, 2-0 advantage.
Westford tied the game up in the third and took a 3-2 lead in the 4th against Andrew DiStafano.
“Andrew pitched very well considering the opponent,” said Vittozzi, as DiStafano (1-1) left after four innings.
Being the second seed, the Hornets hosted third-seeded Wilmington at North Reading High on July 27 (results not available at press time).
North Reading went 3-0 against Wilmington in the regular season.
If the Hornets won that game, they would play in the best-of-three finals that will start on Friday, July 29. Game two is slated for Aug. 1 and game three (if necessary) would take place on Aug. 2.
