PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
Swampscott’s Nathan DeRoche lays out to make a diving catch during the game Friday against Andover National.
BY KATIE MORRISON
BEVERLY — The Swampscott Little League’s quest for a state championship ended Friday evening on a scorching-hot Harry Ball Field, against an equally torrid Andover National team.
Five baseballs flew out of the park, but, sadly for Swampscott, they were all hit by the Nats, and that helped them deliver a 12-2 win and advance to the Section 4 final tonight (7) against Beverly.
The Nats were undefeated at 3-0 in the four-team pool format. Beverly won the nightcap Friday, 8-3, over Woburn, to finish 2-1. Swampscott, 1-2, finished third.
Swampscott starter Jonah Cadorette didn’t pitch poorly, despite the score, but gave up some shots to a powerful Andover lineup.
“We tried to hold them off for as long as we could, but their bats heated up, ours never did, and we scraped a couple of runs, but couldn’t get enough runners out there,” said Swampscott manager Steve Correnti. “They hit five out of the park, and they hit good pitches out of the park. They weren’t all mistakes.”
Cadorette cruised through the first inning using just 11 pitches, and used just 13 in the second, but Andover’s Richie Shahtanian got his team on the board with a solo home run.
The real damage came in the third. Two singles put runners on for No. 3 hitter Kyle Wolff, who smacked a home run to give Andover a 4-0 lead. The damage could have been worse, however; the home run was sandwiched in between two outstanding defensive plays. Nathan DeRoche made a diving catch in center for the second out of the inning, and left fielder Matt McIntire leapt to take extra bases away from Shahtanian with a leaping grab to end the inning.
Meanwhile, the Swampscott lineup struggled to get anything going against Andover starter Nick Saunders. It got its first baserunner in the second when Cadorette was hit with a pitch, but that’d be all the team could muster through the first three frames.
Andover launched its third home run in the fourth as Owen Christopher led off the inning with a line drive over the fence in right, extending Andover’s lead to five runs.
Swampscott showed some life in the fourth. Nate Marston singled for Swampscott’s first hit of the game, and McIntire reached on an error. A groundout from DeRoche brought home Swampscott’s first run.
The rally was interrupted briefly when the next batter, Cadorette, hit a towering foul ball that hit and shattered a light, sending glass raining down on top of the Swampscott dugout. Thankfully no one was injured, and Cadorette didn’t miss a beat at the plate, coming back to hit a RBI double.
Harry Riddell hit a long fly ball to right that looked like it had a chance, but Evan Brenner made the catch in right in front of the fence for the final out of the inning, and Swampscott settled for two runs.
A couple of miscues in the field led to another run for Andover in the fifth, but Swampscott kept it close at 6-2, thanks in part to another web gem in center from DeRoche. It wasn’t until the sixth when Andover really broke the game open.
Shahtanian singled to lead off the inning and Christopher slammed his second home run of the game to make it 8-2. A couple of errors led to another run, and Cadorette was forced out of the game with 85 pitches. DeRoche took over with two on and two outs, with Wolff at the plate. Wolff crushed the first pitch he saw, sending it far over the fence in center. Two batters later, DeRoche got Christopher to ground out to Marston, who made a nice play at second, to end the ugly inning. Swampscott went down in order in the home half.
“Hats off to (Andover),” said Correnti. “We tried to keep them off balance but they made adjustments the second time through, and they executed well.”