PW_0711

10
WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 JULY 11, 2019
Bountiful week for major league stars
By Daniel Kane
and Anne Marie Tobin
By Anne Marie Tobin
LYNN — The Peabody West
10-year-old all-stars captured
the District 16 championship
Friday night with an exciting
come-from-behind 6-4 win over
Winthrop at Volunteer Field.
Trailing 4-0 through two, West
had only two hits.
But the Peabody bats got going
in a big way, scoring six runs in
the next two innings to take a 6-4
lead.
Peabody starter Jimmy
DiCarlo, aided by his infield,
took it from there, retiring the
side in order on just three pitches
in the fifth. He sweated out the
sixth when a Peabody error with
two outs brought the game-tying
run to the plate. Second baseman
Cullen Pasterick (2-for-2)
slammed the door shut, getting
the final out on a ground ball to
2 Large
Cheese Pizzas
$14.99
punch West’s ticket to the Section
4 tournament, which begins July
15 in Billerica (TBD).
“In the bottom of the fifth,
when he (Pasterick) threw only
three pitches, that gave him the
bottom of the sixth,” said manager
Mark Bettencourt. “He was
at 74 going into that last batter
so he was able to pitch and get
a complete game. Three outs
on three pitches? You don’t see
that often at any level. He threw
strikes and the kids made the
plays behind him.”
Peabody’s struggles began
right away in the first when it fell
behind, 1-0.
After a sloppy second inning
in which the Vikings added three
unearned runs, Peabody finally
straightened out its act.
With one out, Spenser Parziale
(3-for-3) beat out an infield hit,
took second on an errant throw
PHOTO | ANNE MARIE TOBIN
James Smith takes a lead off third base during a tournament game against Salem.
LYNN — A nine-run sixth inning was the difference
for the Peabody 12-year-old all-stars in a 10-1 win
over Saugus National in the District 16 Little League
Tournament at Wyoma’s Charlie Reinfuss Field Sunday.
Jayce Jeanpierre (2-for-3, 4 RBI, 2 runs) hit two
homes run, both in the sixth inning, to pace Peabody’s
offense. Matt Smith (2-for-4, run) knocked in three runs
while Jariel Tolentino (1-for-3, 2 runs) knocked in two.
“We had a real good day at the plate Saturday (22-1
win),” Peabody manager Justin Powers said. “I don’t
know if we just expected that to carry over. We were
hitting the ball right at guys, weren’t really striking out
a ton. We had good at-bats but they were making plays
and that’s a credit to them.”
James Smith (3 innings, earned run, 6 hits, walk, 5
strikeouts) started for Peabody. Noah Crocker (3 innings,
2 hits, 4 walks and 2 strikeouts) relieved Smith
in the fourth and earned the win.
“James and Noah did a great job,” Powers said. “It’s
just a matter of trying to balance the pitch counts and
making sure people are available if we did have to play
in the losing bracket.”
Matt Smith drove in Peabody’s first run with a single
in the fifth to tie the game, 1-1.
In the sixth, Jeanpierre gave Peabody its first lead with
a leadoff solo blast. Tolentino ripped a 2-run, bases-loaded
single to stretch the lead to 4-1. After Crocker walked to
reload the bases, Smith drilled a two-run single.
James Smith singled, setting the stage for Jeanpierre’s
second homer.. After another run came home on a
passed ball, Peabody was up 10-1.
“That (sixth) was a great inning for us,” Powers said.
“Jayce got us going and then closed it out in the end.
We have a great group over here. They all do a great
job together. We hung in there and just kept grinding
and making plays.”
With the win, Peabody moves on to the District 16
final Thursday (TBD) when it can clinch its second district
title in three years.
Peabody 22, Salem 1
There were plenty of post-holiday fireworks Saturday
at Reinfuss Field as Peabody put on a dazzling display
of offense to cruise to a mercy-rule win in three innings.
Salem cashed in on some Peabody miscues in the
top of the first to take a 1-0 lead. After that, it was all
Peabody, which pounded out 14 hits, 10 of them in
the first inning alone when it batted through the order
twice. Toss in five walks and a couple of Salem errors
and it all added up to 14 runs by the time the inning was
mercifully over.
“That was something. We had eight days off from our
last game, and we showed it a little in the first then
we let a couple of easy plays get away,” said manager
Justin Powers. “Luckily we found our way and then we
got the bats going when it started getting contagious.”
Peabody West 10s capture District 16 flag
PHOTO | ANNE MARIE TOBIN
Jimmy DiCarlo pitched a complete game in Peabody’s victory
over Winthrop.
Joey Smith (2-for-2, 2 runs) got the Peabody party
started with a leadoff triple. He scored on Tolentino’s
grounder to second. Crocker (2-for-3, 2 runs), Matt
Smith (2-for-2, 3 runs) and James Smith (2-for-2, 2
runs) followed with singles to load the bases. Backto-back
walks to Jeanpierre (2-for-2, 3 runs) and Tyler
Santos (2 walks 2 runs) made it a 3-1 game. Salem
stopped the bleeding and got the second out on a force
out at home. But it was only temporary as Peabody
went on to score 11 more runs, the big hits being 2-run
doubles from Zach Hartnett (1-for-2, run), Andrew
McKenna (1-for-2, 2 runs) and James Smith and a big
bases-loaded triple by Jake Powers (1-for-1).
Peabody tacked on eight more in the second to trigger
the mercy rule, the big hits being a leadoff double by
Joey Smith, a 2-run single by Jeanpierre and an RBI
single by Mason Clickstein (1-for-2, 2 runs).
to first and scored on a single by
Aidan Horgan (2-for-3). Mark
Bettencourt (2-for-3) blasted a
double to center field to bring
Horgan home. An errant relay
opened the door for Bettencourt
to race all the way home and cut
Winthrop’s lead to 4-3. Pinchhitter
C.J. Olympio (1-for-2)
lined a triple to left. Two batters
later, another Pinch-hitter
Jackson Taylor (1-for-1) brought
Olympio home with a clutch
single up the middle.
West kept its foot on the gas in
the fifth. DiCarlo (1-for-3) beat
out a bobbled chopper back to the
mound, advanced to second on
Parziale’s single and scored on a
wild pitch to make it 6-4.
“This game we got contributions
from so many different
players and that’s what you
want to see in a team,” manager
Bettencourt said. “Places we
didn’t expect came through with
big hits. Jackson had a huge RBI.
That’s a kid who gets only at bat
a game and he came through. C.J.
had that blast to left, again another
kid who usually gets only
one at bat but he took advantage
of it. Marky, Spense, Cullen all
had big hits. There were so many,
they are hard to count.”
West had been a front-runner
all season long, thanks to a dynamic
offense. Its modus operandi
has been to score early and
often, to the point where West
had not trailed in a single game.
That is, until Friday. Some
well-timed advice before the
bottom of the third from the
Peabody coaching squad turned
things around.
“I knew we were going to come
around to hit,” Bettencourt said.
“I did not want them to lose their
confidence. I felt they had lost their
mojo a bit there so we explained to
them we knew they were going to
score runs because we have averaged
almost 10 a game.
“We said they needed to be
patient and if they believed, they
would get this done.”