HAVERHILL – Two days after one of his signature moments for Northern Essex Community College, throwing a 120-pitch, complete game with 15 strikeouts, Haverhill’s Jack Kelleher entered the Region 21 championship clincher for the kill.
C.C.R.I. had clawed back with three runs in the top of the ninth inning at Haverhill Stadium, closing NECC’s lead to 6-5 with two outs and a runner on second base.
Kelleher needed only four pitches, three for strikes, to send NECC to its fifth straight District championship.
“Jack came up came up to me in the seventh and said ‘If you need me to close it out, I’m ready,’” said NECC coach Jeff Mejia. “Two days after each start is a long toss day for Jack. He said he felt great. I told him I hope we don’t need him. But we did.”
With the tying run came to plate and C.C.R.I.’s big bopper was up, Mejia made the change.
Earlier in the game, North Andover’s Dom Pefine, pitched a gem over seven innings for NECC, allowing only two runs, two hits while striking out eight.
Mejia brought in red-hot Eric Bridges, of Saugus, to relieve Pefine and he had an easy eighth inning before C.C.R.I. bats got to him a bit in the ninth.
“If the tying run got on second base, Jack would come in,” said Mejia. “And that’s exactly what happened. And Jack did this thing.”
NECC improved to 29-7 and will host Region 15 champion Monroe-Bronx University this weekend in a best of three series with the winner advancing to the NJCAA Div. 3 World Series beginning May 23 in Johnson City, Tenn.
Game 1 is Friday at 11 a.m. at Haverhill Stadium. Game 2 is Saturday. If a third game is needed, it will be on Sunday.
As for Sunday’s night’s finale over C.C.R.I, both teams got on the board with a run in the second inning. For NECC, Marbel Soriano, of Boston, reached on a one out single to right field, before coming around to score on a two out RBI double to center field from Jaren Megan, of Fairhaven, Mass.
NECC added three more runs in the fourth inning thanks to a bases-loaded hit batsman, a sacrifice fly and a bases’ loaded walk.
Following a CCRI, run in the top of the fifth, NECC responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth on a fielders’ choice and a bobble at first base following an out.
NECC was cruising, up 6-2, heading into the ninth before things got a little hairy.
“That’s the way it always seems to go with C.C.R.I.,” said Mejia. “They are the best hitting team we see in our region. You make a mistake, they hit it.”
NECC and Monroe last met on the field in 2022 when the Knights swept the District tournament.