WORCESTER >> North Reading really couldn’t have envisioned a better start. The ending was much to its liking, too.

The ninth-seeded Hornets put up five runs in the bottom of the first inning against No. 11 Arlington Catholic and that propelled North Reading to a 10-3 victory Friday at Polar Park to capture its first Division 3 state title since 2012 and its fifth in program history.

Junior first baseman Nick Torra (3-for-4) and sophomore left fielder Christian Lava (2-for-4) paced North Reading’s offensive attack with three RBI each.

“It’s unbelievable. You can’t even put it into words, honestly,” Torra said. “Since day one, we’ve been at this grind. This has been our goal. Not winning certain games, winning this game.”

North Reading (21-4) put the pressure on Arlington Catholic (16-7) right away, totaling five hits and four stolen bases in their first at-batst. The first three batters for the Hornets reached, with Lava opening the scoring with an RBI single. Gavin Brady then brought in a run on a groundout before Max Forristall flicked a single to left field with the Cougars’ infield drawn in for a 3-0 lead.

Torra got his strong performance started by lining a single to left to bring in two more runs, which gave the Hornets a commanding advantage.

“I think there’s definitely nerves for everybody when you come to a state title game, and you could feel it a little bit,” North Reading coach Eric Archambault said. “So one of our goals was to try to scratch a run across early in that first inning and take the lead. And we exploded for five. That was awesome.”

Arlington Catholic chipped away at the deficit with single runs in the second, third and fourth innings as Trey Flaherty’s RBI single got the Cougars within 5-3.

But momentum flipped in the fifth when North Reading turned an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play and tacked on an insurance run when Matt Mancinelli motored around from first to score on a bloop single by Torra.

North Reading broke things open in the sixth with four runs and Lava supplied the big hit in the frame with a two-run single.

The state title victory brought on even more significance to the Hornets, who played in honor of sophomore teammate Brady Cullen. Cullen was out for the season due to a brain tumor.

“I was telling my teammates in BP, it was like destiny. It was just made sense. Everything lined up. Everything is perfect,” Torra said. “It feels great doing it for him, (play for Brady) on the side of our hats. He’s a special kid. … It’s definitely a special moment.”