North Bounces Back with a Win in Londonderry

Nashua North traveled to Londonderry on Monday to take on the Lancers. After a sloppy loss to South in which North only managed 4 hits and 3 runs, the TItans came alive by showing discipline at the plate and getting timely hitting. In the 1st frame, the 2 & 3 hitters both drew walks and after a successful double-steal, came home on Adam Leith's line-drive double to right center field. Leith would later score on a passed ball.

In the 2nd, North added two more runs on a sacrifice bunt and another passed ball. In the 4th, North plated 3 more runs by showing discipline at the plate and another 2-run double, this time by Karkhanis. North sealed the victory by scoring 3 more runs in the top of the 6th, and winning 10-0 in 6 innings.

Matt Lipkind, junior, pitched a gem: 2 hits, no walks, and nothing but ground balls (including the base hits). Not a single Lancer got past 2nd base, thanks to 2 double-plays. Parker Jamerson (junior) came in for the 6th frame to put the game away for good. He too was the beneficiary of a double-play (a line drive hit to Kelvin Rodriguez who tagged the runner at 2nd) that ended the game.

After last Friday's debacle against South, this was exactly the game North needed, great starting pitching, good base-running, terrific defense (3 double-plays), and timely hitting. The Titans travel to Hampton on Tuesday to take on Winnacunnet.

Is Turner taking the pill today? I just might make the drive over there if I get out of work early? NYK much better writeup then the local newspaper, at least you give the forum reader a feel for what happened.

Wow - that's a good win for the boys, especially with timely hitting and manufactured runs. Last week was tough with seeing two good pitchers (kid from Keene really did a nice job on the bump and Maloney/South seemed to handcuff North). Did you see Kinnon (lefty) or Moloney (righty) or someone else? Londonderry supposedly has a very strong offense - limiting them to 2 hits is good stuff. No walks - watch out - that's solid pitching. Keep your players on their toes and in the game... Of course, now Londonderry will be looking to exact some revenge on Wed. night against BG...

GNG wrote:Is Turner taking the pill today? I just might make the drive over there if I get out of work early? NYK much better writeup then the local newspaper, at least you give the forum reader a feel for what happened.

Thanks GNG. Yes, Turner will take the hill today, should be a good match-up, our #1 versus a strong hitting team. I hope the old adage of "pitching and defense wins games" prevails today. Turner and Root pitched well on Friday against South, the defense and 4 hits is what hurt North that game.

Kind of an odd start time for today's game: 5 p.m. I expect we won't be back in Nashua till 8 - 8:30 p.m.

JAF wrote:Wow - that's a good win for the boys, especially with timely hitting and manufactured runs. Last week was tough with seeing two good pitchers (kid from Keene really did a nice job on the bump and Maloney/South seemed to handcuff North). Did you see Kinnon (lefty) or Moloney (righty) or someone else? Londonderry supposedly has a very strong offense - limiting them to 2 hits is good stuff. No walks - watch out - that's solid pitching. Keep your players on their toes and in the game... Of course, now Londonderry will be looking to exact some revenge on Wed. night against BG...

Yes, after the South game, this is exactly what the boys needed. It was the first thing my kid said when he got home.

Londonderry had Dan Kinnon, the lefty, (a.k.a. DK, which is confusing to the North parents since my kid's called BK!) on the mound. He's an accomplished pitcher no doubt, good velocity on his fastball and effective curve ball. What put him in a hole were the walks and hit batsmen. Lead-off guy was hit twice, plus 4 walks, so we had 6 base runners on that alone. Toss in the passed balls and the base hits and North was able to capitalize.

Moloney was playing SS.

Yesterday was a very good outing for Lipkind. I know all those ground balls make a coach very happy, plus like you said, it keeps the fielders alert.

Good luck Wednesday.

North's pitching staff threw another gem, this time out in Hampton against Winnacunnet. Turner threw 5 scoreless innings, giving up 1 hit and 1 walk. Connor Root came in to hurl a scoreless 6th and Parker Jamerson closed it out with a scoreless 7th.

North scored twice in the 3rd, 3 times in the 5th and once in the 6th. Leading the way offensively for North were Joe Breen with two doubles, Adam Leith and Matt Fortin with a double each. North also capitalized on the walks and the hits came at the right time.

The final was 6-0 North. Winnacunnet played a very clean game defensively, no errors I believe. We had a couple, but they weren't costly.

North has a home game tomorrow against Spaulding, Dover on Thursday (away), and Concord (away) on Friday. Still a lot of work to do, but at least the boys have gotten off to a good start.

Not sure who the projected starter is for tomorrow. The good news is that no one pitcher has thrown more than 5 innings, and the pitch counts have been very low.