It was 21 up, and 21 down for Izzy Levasseur on Friday afternoon.
Or put in a word: Perfection.
The Amesbury senior was the definition of the phrase unhittable, opening her 2024 playoff run tossing a perfect game with 19 strikeouts in a 3-0 victory over No. 26 Saint Bernard’s. You probably don’t need help with the math. But just to reiterate the domination, Levasseur recorded 21 straight outs, and only on two of them was the ball hit into the field of play.
With the victory, No. 7 Amesbury (16-4) is headed back to the Division 4 Round of 16 — where it’ll host either No. 10 South Hadley or No. 23 Cohasset next week.
Levasseur also eclipsed 500 career strikeouts in the win, which is absolutely wild when you consider she’s only been the starter for two years.
The Redhawks were only able to muster three hits on the day, but that turned out to be all they needed. Junior Lexi LeBlanc had one of them, as well as a sacrifice fly in the first inning that scored Cali Catarius. Freshman Celia Tavares singled in the fourth inning and scored on an RBI-single from Hope Shanahan, and Addy Cooper scored the team’s final run.
Port baseball on wrong end of walk-off
It’s always tough to see a season come to an end, and even tougher when it happens via a walk-off.
Unfortunately for Newburyport baseball, it was on the wrong end of it.
Just by two-hundreths of a percentage point — an extra run or two here or there during the year — the Clippers were the No. 17 seed in the Division 3 state tournament, and had to travel down to the Cape to play No. 16 Nauset on Saturday. It ended up being a pitcher’s duel between both team’s best, but in the bottom of the seventh inning, Ethan Beer delivered the walk-off RBI-single to score Devin Farrell, sending Nauset on to the next round with a 3-2 victory.
For the Clippers (14-8), another solid season comes to an end.
Junior ace Evan Luekens tossed the first 6.2 innings, striking out six while scattering just five hits. He also settled in nicely after the second batter he faced, Evan Archer, cranked a two-run home run to put Nauset up 2-0 in the blink. But offensively, Ben Cook had Newburyport’s lone hit of the game, as Nauset starter and Bridgewater State commit Chase Beach (7 IP, 2 ER, 1 H, 15 Ks) threw a gem.
The Clippers were able to manufacture some runs to nearly steal a victory. Cook’s RBI-double in the top of the second scored Parker Cowles — who walked — then in the fourth, Cook again delivered a sacrifice fly after the first three batters of the frame walked.
No. 2 Newburyport girls tennis rolls
There wasn’t too much stress in the playoff opener for the Newburyport girls tennis team.
The No. 2-seeded Clippers, the two-time defending Division 3 state champs, swept No. 31 Nauset, 5-0, to advance back to the Round of 16. They’ll now face a familiar foe in No. 15 North Reading on Tuesday at 4 p.m. (at Pentucket HS).
Harper Bradshaw and Carly McDermott both won 6-0, 6-0 at Nos. 1 and 2 singles, and Bridgette Mellet handled her No. 3 singles match, 6-0, 6-2. Then at doubles, Lauren Brennan and Janie Turgeon won 6-3, 6-2, while Delaney Woekel and Elsie DeGrano took home a 6-0, 6-0 victory.
Georgetown lax hangs tough, but bows out
It was a tough draw for the Georgetown girls lacrosse team.
Seeded No. 18 in Division 4, the Royals had to travel down to the Cape to play No. 15 Fairhaven in the first round on Friday. And despite a valiant effort, the Royals did see their season come to an end with a 19-10 loss.
Offensively, Molly Giguere led the way with six goals, Lexi Sheahan had the other four, and junior Sam McClure had a great day on the draw along with five assists. Georgetown (6-13) got 10 saves in net from Ruby Nisenbaum, and both Lyla Schneider and Nayla Anderson played strong games on defense.