Last modified: Thursday, June 19, 2008 11:23 PM EDT Ben Hastings, the starting pitcher for Foxboro Post 93, fires one in against Norwood. (Staff photo by Drew Pillsbury) Post 312 overcomes shaky start, Norton BY DANNY CRANDALL SUN CHRONICLE STAFF - John Pelland didn't have to say a word, didn't even have to shoot a dirty look or two. After watching his Post 312 American Legion baseball team commit four errors in the first inning and gift-wrap a 3-0 lead for Norton Post 222, Pelland could justifiably have rearranged the dugout furniture or chewed his boys out. After all, this was supposed to be a showdown between two of Zone 9's remaining undefeated teams. Instead, Pelland clapped his hands a few times - as he usually does before his team takes its hacks - and let the South Attleboro bats do the talking. Post 312 indeed responded with five runs in the top of the second inning and that set the tone for an 11-5 victory over Norton Thursday night at the Dave Mollica Baseball Complex. "Norton's a good team and we were really looking forward to this game. We were hungry for a win," said Pelland, whose team is now 6-0-1 overall, 6-0 and atop the Zone 9 standings. "To come out and play as poorly as we did was disheartening. But the coaches didn't have to say anything. You could just tell looking at them that they weren't happy and that they were going to take care of things." South Attleboro's five-run answer in the second inning included RBI hits from James Kelly, Matt Boulter and Lucas Gagne, while Ryan Lee got another run home with a groundout. Now pitching with the lead, Mike Mancini was in control the rest of the way for South Attleboro as he ended up going six innings, giving up just two earned runs while walking two and striking out five. He wasn't helped much by the South Attleboro defense, which committed a season-high five errors, but he wasn't rattled either. "Mike came off the field and said we're gonna be fine," said Pelland. "That's senior leadership right there. He knows we're averaging 11 runs a game. He knows we're not going to lose 3-0. He settled the guys down and they went out and dropped five runs on them right away." Norton reliever Neil Johnson came on in the third as touched for two quick runs as Post 312 made it a 7-3 game. Another run in the fourth and then two in the sixth put this one out of reach, Kelly with a clutch, two-out RBI single over the third-base bag in the sixth, followed by a booming RBI triple off the bat of Boulter. Kelly was the offensive hero for Post 312 as he had four of the team's 15 hits, going 4-for-4 with three RBI and three doubles. Boulter was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI while Gagne was 3-for-5 with an RBI and Lee was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Lon Bornstein also drove in three runs for South Attleboro. For Norton, Devin Askew had a good night with an RBI groundout in the first inning and an RBI double in the fifth. Andrew McCarty was also 2-for-4. Rick Travers added an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh as Norton tacked on a runner against South Attleboro reliever Connor Larkin, who almost escaped the inning unscathed after initiating a 1-6-3 double play, robbing Askew of another RBI hit in the process. "This is a good win for us. We want to be the only undefeated team in the district, and to bounce back after the start we had shows a lot," said Pelland, whose team is at Apponequet High School tonight (5:45) for a game against Berkley. Norton (4-1) also returns to action tonight at Chew Park against Westport. Norwood 5, Foxboro 4 FOXBORO - Norwood scored four unanswered runs after falling behind 4-1, including three runs in the top of the seventh for the come-from-behind win. Norwood's comeback spoiled an otherwise sensational game by Foxboro's John Garabedian, who had two of his team's five hits, including a three-run home run. Garabedian walked in the first and scored on an RBI single by Chuck Erickson. In the fifth, Garabedian (2-for-2) ripped a three-run home run to make it a 4-1 game. However, Norwood scratched for a run in the sixth to cut the lead to 4-2, then rallied for three runs off of reliever Anthony Chiarolanza to win it. Chiarolanza walked the first two men he faced in the seventh and both runners came around to score on a double, tying the game at 4-all. A groundout and a sacrifice fly later and Norwood put this one in the win column, that despite Garabedian almost cutting the winning run down at the plate with his throw from the outfield. Post 93 had a one-out walk in the bottom of the seventh but didn't threaten more than that. Ben Hastings pitched well for Foxboro and left after walking in a run with one out in the sixth. Chiarolanza got out of the bases-loaded jam with a double-play ball. Foxboro (3-3-1) travels to play Stoughton tonight.