Published in the June 22, 2017 edition

By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI

NORTH READING – Last summer, the North Reading A’s lost to the Swampscott Sox in the North Shore Baseball League best-of-three first-round playoff series two games to none. The A’s finished at 8-17 overall as they were 8-15 in the regular season.

This season, the A’s returned 21 of 30 total players as the 2017 campaign opened on May 24th.

After 11 games, the A’s record sits at 3-8 as they are in eighth place out of 11 total teams (the top eight qualify for the playoffs which start at the end of July).

“We only recently got a full team,” explained A’s player- manager Joe Dardeno, who is from North Reading. “Five of our losses were one-run games and we have gone 2-2 in our last four games.”

On Monday night, the A’s pounded the Marblehead Seasiders, 10-1, at North Reading High School for their fourth win of the year. It was their second victory in their last three games.

Along with Dardeno, there are three other A’s from North Reading. Those three are Rich Giannatassio (second baseman), Matt Divecchia (first base) and Ben Harrow (utility).

Harrow was a NSBL All-Star last year as he hit .500. He also led the team in runs batted in with 14.

Kevin Rooney is the team’s other retuning all-star. He is the oldest player on the team at 39 but the right fielder right field hit .313 last summer.

After 11 games, infielder Mike Bailey leads the team in average at .407.

Bob Barry is the team’s top pitcher so far with a record of 2-2 and an earned-run average of 2.21. He has struck out 15 and walked five.

Dardeno feels that Beverly, the defending league champions, and Kingston will be the teams to beat in the league.

Swampscott heading into the week in first place at 8-1 while the North Shore Storm is second at 7-2.

The next game for the A’s is on Sunday afternoon at 5:30 as they face the North Shore Phillies at Breed Field in Lynn . Monday night at 6, the A’s host the North Shore Storm (admission is free).

Next Wednesday, at Twi-Field in Danvers, the A’s take on the Peabody Champions at 7:45 pm.