By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
TEWKSBURY — In their third game of the Conway Tournament in Tewksbury, the North Reading 10-year-old All-Star baseball team lost to Salem, New Hampshire, 18-7, on July 19.
Salem led wire-to-wire as they plated five runs in the top of the first inning. They added two in the second, seven in the third, and four in the sixth.
North Reading scored two in the first, three in the second, one in the third and one more in the bottom of the sixth.
“They have a good-hitting team,” said North Reading manager Doug Korba.
North Reading’s offense had 10 hits in the loss. Finn Clark was 2 for 3 with a walk. Nolan Heard and Frank Costello were also both 2 for 3 with one RBI.
Colton Hayter had an RBI on a fielder’s choice.
On July 13, North Reading rolled over Hudson, New Hampshire, 17-8.
The team had two big scoring innings with six runs in the third and fifth frames
“We had a lot of aggressive base running,” pointed out Korba, as the squad stole over 10 bases.
The team finished with 11 hits as they had four multiple hitters. Clark was 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI while Tyler Street was also 2 for 3.
Heard went 2 for 3 with one RBI while Brady Guidicianne was 2 for 3.
North Reading also took advantage of inconsistent Hudson pitching walking 11 times.
Max Korba was the winning pitcher going five innings. He gave up five runs (one earned), three hits, one walk and he struck out six.
In the first game of the tournament, North Reading lost, 8-3, to Georgetown on July 12.
Georgetown scored four runs in the first and third innings.
“With the exception of Finn, the bats weren’t going,” admitted Korba, as the team had only four hits.
Clark had three of them going a perfect 3 for 3.
In the District 13 tournament, North Reading went 0-2.
“Wilmington couldn’t field a team so there were only three teams in our pool,” explained Korba. “So we only played two games.”
On June 25, North Reading lost, 8-1, to guest Billerica at Benevento Field.
Billerica scored twice in the first inning and six more in the second
“We dug ourselves too much of a hole,” admitted Korba.
The lone run came in the sixth inning as Guidicianne had an RBI single to score Sam Scott, who reached base on a walk.
North Reading had some costly errors in the game as six of the Billerica runs were unearned.
North Reading had just four hits.
In the opening game of the districts, on June 23, North Reading was shutout, 10-0, by host Andover at Deyermond Park.
Andover scored once in the second, four times in the fourth, twice in the fifth and three more times in the sixth as North Reading won the coin toss and was the designated home team.
“They had two pretty good pitchers,” recalled Korba, as his team had five hits.
North Reading took on Merrimac (Mass) in the playoffs of the Conway Tournament on Tuesday (result not available at press time).