By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
NORTH READING — For the second-straight season, the North Reading A’s missed qualifying for the North Shore Baseball League playoff by only one point as they lost their regular-season finale, 4-2, to the league’s newest team, Powerhouse, back on July 29.
The A’s finished tied for 10th-place in the 13 team league with a final record of 9-15 as they had a total of 18 points.
“The team played hard,” said A’s player-manager Joe Dardeno. “We just didn’t hit well enough. Our pitching was fantastic as we had a team earned-run average of 2.89.”
North Reading was 10th in team batting average at .261 but 6th in team pitching with that 2.89 ERA.
Derek Hoh led the team in batting average hitting .373 while North Reading resident, Mike Vittozzi, was second at .349.
Lucas Rincon led the team in runs batting in with 14 followed by Brendan Eaton with 10.
Hoh also led the squad in walks with 10 for a team-high, on-base-percentage of .484 Ryan Brown was second in walks with eight as he had a .390 on-base-percentage.
Pitcher Troy Brennan had a team-low earned run average of 1.25 in 28 innings of work as he was 2-2 on the hill.
Sam Kalvas was second as his ERA was 1.45 in 38.2 innings. He was 3-3 this summer.
Along with Dardeno and Vittozzi, the other A’s from North Reading ware Frank Cassarino (utility), Derek Reilly (catcher) and Ryan Baker (pitcher).
The last time North Reading made the playoffs was back in 2016.