THE LYNNFIELD 9-year-old All-Stars went 6-1 in district pool play and made it to the Wyoma Sawyer Walsh title game. The team will meet rival Peabody West again this Saturday in the Stan Brown Tournament in Danvers. (Courtesy Photo)
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield 9-year-old baseball All-Stars faced West Peabody last Saturday night in the Wyoma Sawyer Walsh title game at Reinfuss Field in Lynn.
This was the second time in this tournament the teams faced each other as Lynnfield lost by one run in the first meeting.
Lynnfield led this game, 6-5, going into the bottom of the sixth inning but West rallied and ended up winning 7-6.
Connor Segee was the hero for West with a two-run single with two outs setting off a wild celebration.
This looked rough for Lynnfield early on as Peabody West scored four runs in the first inning. However, the locals stormed back plating three runs in the top of the third.
West then scored once in the bottom of the third to go up 5-3.
Lynnfield then took its first lead of the evening, scoring twice in the top of the fifth which set up Segee’s heroics.
“It was a back-and-fourth game,” said Lynnfield head coach Bill Mandell. “This is the third time we have played them this summer since we played them once in another tournament as well, and they have a powerhouse program.”
Ben O’Hara led the Lynnfield offense going a perfect 3 for 3 at bat. He also knocked in two runs. Luca Mandell also had a big night going 3 for 4 with one RBI and he also scored twice. His brother, Nico, had and RBI single in the third while Marco Bevilacqua drew a walk with the bases loaded for an RBI.
Overall, Lynnfield had nine hits while Peabody had 10.
In the semifinal game the night before, also at Reinfuss Field, Lynnfield defeated Saugus by a final of 8-2.
Alexander Maliawco was the winning pitcher improving to 2-0. He went 3 1/3 innings giving up one run, four hits, five walks and he struck out five.
“It was a tremendous effort,” stated Mandell. “It was great to see him pitch like that.”
Nico Cavallo, O’Hara and Enzo Incerto were the other three pitchers that persevered the lead.
Lynnfield scored twice in the first inning and once in the second. They then pulled away plating five runs in the fourth inning.
Saugus scored single runs in the third and fifth inning.
Luca Mandell was 2 for 3 with two RBI and one walk while Maverick Murphy was also 2 for 3 with two RBI. Nico Mandell and O’Hara each added RBI singles as the other two runs scored on Saugus errors.
Overall, it was a successful District 16 tournament for the team as this tournament started back on July 8. Lynnfield finished at 7-2 as they came in second place going 6-1 in pool play.
Lynnfield was also missing its top hitter, Matty Cavallo, for those final two games as he was sick.
“We missed him,” acknowledged Mandell. “Hopefully, he will be back with us this weekend.”
Lynnfield will, once again, take on Peabody West this Saturday (Aug. 12) in the Stan Brown Tournament in Danvers. That game will be at Moulton Field and will start at 5:30 p.m. Lynnfield enters that game with a 2-1 record in the tournament.