SUTTON — A need for speed prompted a change.
Hadley’s Luke Stoneham led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a walk against Northampton in the Cal Ripken 11-and-under state semifinals Monday.
Dane Moliterno entered the tied game to pinch run and moved to second on a wild pitch.
Cooper Beckwith struck out, then Cole Boisvert took a pitch inside on the elbow to reach first. Bo Elson then walked to bring up Matthew Hanscom.
Another wild pitch sent Moliterno sprinting from third base.
He slid into home and popped up shouting, “Let’s go baby.”
That put Hadley up 3-2, the score it would ultimately win with to advance to the state final.
“He was one of the ones with heat stroke,” Hadley coach Tom Beckwith said. “He couldn’t play (in the field) because he was down. I told him stay there, stay with it. He stepped in in a big spot. He’s faster than the other kid, so I put him in there.”
Hadley will play Hudson in the state final at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday in Sutton.
Northampton trailed 2-0 after Elson scored Boisvert on a hit-and-run double in the third inning.
Boisvert also scored Hadley’s run in the first inning.
Wes Parent started Northampton’s rally in the fifth, reaching on an error and stealing second.
He went to third base on a Trey Rios single. Rios then stole second himself.
Consecutive RBI gorundouts by Tyler Vanasse and Brady McDonald tied the game at 2-2.
“Once we got to 2-2, we thought for sure we could win,” Northampton coach Bob Brittain said. “All we needed to do was come back in the next inning and score one run. It didn’t come out that way.”
Hanscom had a lot to do with it. He struck out three batters and allowed seven baserunners over six innings to pick up the win.
The plan was simple.
“Throw strikes,” Hanscom said.
Dominic Badorini took the loss for Northampton. He struck out 11, four of which went down looking.
The tight pitching matchup made for nervous dugouts on both sides.
“I was a little nervous, but I had confidence in my team that we were going to come back,” Boisvert said.
By reaching the state final, Hadley automatically qualifies for the regional tournament.
That’s a worthwhile achievement either way, but there’s still a job left to do in Sutton on Tuesday.
“They’re psyched. They knew going into this it was a trip to the regionals,” said coach Beckwith. “They want to win the championship, no doubt. They’ve got to do the same thing, they’ve got to come back and fight.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.