WRENTHAM - The Wrentham Youth Hockomock 12-year old baseball team finished seventh recently at the state tournament in Tyngsboro.

To get there, Wrentham beat Norton and Foxboro in the district tournament. After losing the first game to Foxboro 3-1, Wrentham had to defeat Norton and then Foxboro twice to advance. Against Norton, Nick Malatesta allowed just one hit, losing a perfect game in the sixth and final inning. He finished the game with a flourish, striking out the side and finishing with 14 total Ks as Wrentham won 5-0.

Wrentham then avenged its earlier loss to Foxboro, defeating them 11-5 and then 18-4 in four innings to advance to the state tournment.

Battling Marshfield in the first game of the tournament, Wrentham fell behind 8-0 at one point. Going into the final inning the score was 16-7, but Wrentham rallied, finally falling 16-13 with the tying run at first base. Wrentham hit five homeruns in the game and kept it from ending in a Mercy rule by throwing two runners out at the plate before staging its comeback.

Facing elimination, Wrentham defeated Chelmsford 3-2 to stay alive. Malatesta went four innings and picked up the win. Justin Tupper closed the game out with two solid innings of relief. Michael Agnello hit a two-run homerun to give Wrentham a 2-1 lead, then Chris Mahoney hit a solo shot to break a 2-2 tie and send Wrentham on to the next round. But the 12 year olds suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Tyngsboro to send them out of the tournament tied for seventh place. It was a tough loss for Wrentham, who hit the ball solidly but just couldn't seem to plate any runs.

"We outplayed them, but we didn't get any runs," said coach Chris Cooke, who has coached the kids since they were nine. "We hit the ball right at them."

The Wrentham team is currently playing in Plainville in the KP Classic, where they earned the number one seed in the elimation round with victories over teams out of Pembroke and Norfolk. They will play the winner of the Norton Easton game at 12 p.m. on Sunday.