Division 3 North Baseball: Senior-laden bunch refuse to let coach’s career end

June 04--NORTH READING -- The coach refuses to go away. And so do his players.

Frank Carey's retirement tour extended at least one more afternoon as he and the North Reading Hornets doused Shawsheen Tech, 4-0, in the Division 3 North quarterfinals yesterday. The state's all-time winningest coach now leads his club into the North semis, tomorrow, 4 p.m., against Austin Prep at Endicott College in Beverly.

"I'd say it's pretty even, the desperation we have with this being our last year together and also the fact that it's Coach's last season," said winning pitcher Ryan Boucher, one of a dozen seniors on the squad.

Either way, the immediacy of the situation brought out the best in Boucher, who came in struggling on the mound.

"I really have had a tough time with my curve ball," said Boucher. "But this time early, I went to my changeup, and that worked. Later, I found the curve ball."

Boucher unleashed an occasional hanger, but with Shawsheen runners on base, the hook was biting, and he created ways to escape.

On the day, Boucher allowed five hits with a pair of walks, one of which was intentional.

Meanwhile, the Hornets did just enough at the plate against Ram righty Dan McCreaven.

North Reading gave Boucher all the runs he'd need in the fourth on a walk, a hit batter, one Ram error and some aggressive base-running from Colby Maiola.

Shawsheen's second error of the game set up the insurance runs when Scott Leslie singled in a pair in the sixth.

With the lead, Boucher just kept pounding the zone, mowing down the final seven batters he faced.

Sectional quarterfinalists last year and state champs in 2012, the Hornet seniors have been there before and know the difference between trophy presentations and early exits.

"Two years ago we just got every break," said Boucher.

Now 18-4, North Reading will have to deal with their rival Cougars (13-10) out of the Catholic Central Division.

North Reading 4, Shawsheen 0

Division 3 North Quarterfinals

North Reading (4): Day 3b 2-0-0, S. Driscoll 2b 3-0-0, Linnane c 2-1-0, Maiola cf 2-2-1, Sanborn 1b 3-1-1, Allen lf 3-0-0, Leslie rf 3-0-1, M. Driscoll dh 3-0-0, Tamlyn-Hayden ss 2-0-0, Totals 23-4-3

Shawsheen (0): O'Flaherty 2b 4-0-0, Deranian 3b 4-0-1, Lavoie 1b 3-0-1, Gibbs lf 3-0-1, Lucia dh 2-0-1, Hanson rf 3-0-0, Poirier c 2-0-1, Collins ss 1-0-0, Barnard ph 1-0-0, Cormer cf 3-0-0, Totals 26-0-5

RBI: Allen, Leslie 2

WP: Boucher; LP: McCreaven

Shawsheen (14-8): 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -- 0

North Reading (18-4): 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 -- 4

CAREY'S HORNET EXORCISM

Even with a 7-3 record at the midway point of the season, veteran coach Frank Carey wasn't happy with his senior-laden club.

"These are experienced guys, three-year starters and we're hitting .228 as a team," said Carey. "I know how this can build up with high school kids, so I told them, we were starting over from .000. We ripped up the stats and started over. Since then, we're hitting .282 as a team with seven guys hitting over .275."

Not only that, the Hornets are winning. North Reading is 11-1 since the offensive exorcism and has now won six straight.

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