BOSTON — It was only a matter of time.
Hamilton-Wenham’s offense had been a bit pedestrian, by its own lofty standards, in the first three games of the Division 4 state tournament. Tuesday in the semifinals at UMass Boston’s Monan Park, the bats woke up in a big way.
The top-seeded Generals batted around in the sixth inning and bashed their way by Saint John Paul II, 10-0, to advance to the Division 4 state championship game. H-W (23-1) will play in the final game of the season for the first time since 1988, facing Seekonk at Worcester’s Polar Park on either Friday or Saturday.
Senior Owen Waddell was electric on the mound for Hamilton, nearly spinning a no-hitter in tossing 6 2/3 shutout innings. The only hit he allowed was a bleeder up the third baseline that had to be scored an infield single. That was Saint John Paul’s only baserunner of the game to reach third base and Waddell sat down the last 13 consecutive batters in a masterful performance that included 10 strikeouts.
Ollie Blatz came on for the final out, officially sending Hamilton-Wenham to the state final.
Offensively, the Generals did the job gradually throughout the game before exploding in the late innings.
It was scoreless until the fourth, when Ryan Fazio clubbed a deep double over the left fielder’s head to plate Griffin Hawkins (reached on error). A bases loaded walk draw by Ben Holland made it 2-0, but the top of H-W’s order failed to do further damage as Lion pitcher Henry Roy (9 strikeouts in 5 1/3) escaped.
A quick inning by Waddell got H-W back in to hit quickly and the Generals didn’t miss a beat. Chase Cann (3-for-4) got it started with a single and a triple to the wall by Cormac Heney (2-for-4) made it 3-0. Waddell then dropped down a perfect squeeze and Heney slid under the tag for a 4-0 edge.
Then a series of errors by the Lions in the sixth helped the Generals put the game away. Hits by Heney, Matt Coughlin and a double by Jack Areneo were all part of the onslaught as H-W sent 11 to the play and scored six times to leave no doubt by extending the lead to 10-0.
It was a full circle moment for the Generals, who reached the state semifinals last spring but were beaten handily by Lynnfield. Having the cleat on the other foot Thursday night as satisfying for H-W’s seniors, who’ve dreamed of playing in the state championship game since their Little League days.