LEXINGTON — The Melrose Americans pushed the six-time reigning champion Lexington Blue Sox to three games in the Intercity League semifinals but came up just short in the best-of-three series 2-1.
The fourth-seeded Americans, who beat Reading 10-1 in a play-in game, stunned the top-seeded Blue Sox 7-5 in Game 1 at Lexington High, racking up 15 hits. Five different Americans collected multiple hits, led by ICL hits leader Pat Costigan who went 3-for-4 with 3 runs scored. John Jennings and Cory Bright both had 2 hits and 2 RBI. Aidan Barry and Melrose High baseball coach Scott Searles both added two hits. David Hunter and Gianni Zarrilli had RBI knocks.
Melrose trailed 4-2 after three but racked up three runs in the 4th to take the lead for good. Bobby Tramondozzi settled in for the 4th, 5th and 6th while Nick Colucci pitched a flawless 7th with 2 strikeouts to earn the save.
Just as a feather in the cap, Melrose even tacked on a run in the top of the 7th against former Red Sox reliever Manny Delcarmen.
Unfortunately for Melrose, that performance woke up the Blue Sox who played with plenty of urgency in a Game 2 10-6 victory at Morelli Field on Aug. 4 and in a 6-2 win back in Lexington on Aug. 5.
The Blue Sox met the Middlesex Expos in the Finals. Lexington won Game 1 3-1 but the Expos stormed back to take Game 2 1-0 and the deciding Game 3 4-1, earning their first ICL championship and ending Lexington’s six-year run on top.