Wyoma bows out in Little League sectionals

BEVERLY – The wheels came off the proverbial wagon for the Wyoma all-star team on Saturday at Harry Ball Field in the Massachusetts Section 4 tournament. And by the time the day was done, the District 16 champions hopes of reaching Williamsport had come to an end.Returning to Beverly on Saturday morning in a 4-0 hole to Peabody West and having the bases loaded in the fourth inning, Wyoma couldn’t score. Peabody then broke the game open and held on for a 10-5 win.The afternoon session didn’t treat Wyoma any better as three first inning errors led to five unearned runs and a deficit that never could be overcome in a 12-2 loss to Billerica American.”We came back against Peabody to make it a close game,” Wyoma manager Dan O’Neil said. “But it seemed like we got tired (against Billerica). They hit the ball and deserved to win.”For Peabody, the weekend went a little bit better.After finishing off its win against Wyoma, West jumped out to an early 1-0 lead against Stoneham on Saturday night. But inclement weather forced the game to be finished on Sunday morning.When the two teams came back on Sunday, Peabody’s offense once again was in full flight as the two-time defending champions scored 14 runs in the next three innings to take a 15-3 win and move on to tonight’s (7) sectional final.On Saturday morning, Peabody had to dodge a scare as Wyoma’s Paul Halas struck out with the bases loaded at the resumption of play. With that bullet missed, West’s two stars then showed their stuff.Matt Correale drew a leadoff walk before Noe ripped a mammoth homer to give Peabody a 6-0 lead. Travis Jacques followed with a walk and Austin Batchelor then went yard to up the gap to 8-0 through four.But Wyoma showed some spunk by fighting back to make it a game in the fifth. Brett Erelli led off with a single and later came around on a Ricky Swanson double and Chris Price’s single. An error and passed ball got Price to third before Lucas Harris brought him in to make it 8-2.Katey Burt reached on an error, scoring Swanson, and both runners moved up on a passed ball. Dan Donovan’s double brought the margin down to 8-5. Eric Brazell then reached on an error but Donovan was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.Any thoughts about a comeback ended in the bottom of the fifth when Mike Petrosino reached on an error and Noe was intentionally walked. Jacques’ double scored Petrosino and Noe came around on Frank Lowry’s base hit.”We just ran into a buzzsaw with Peabody,” O’Neil said.Whether it was a case of the blues or not, Wyoma didn’t get out of the blocks fast in the second game of the day against Billerica.With Price starting, Wyoma’s three errors helped lead to four runs with two outs in the first to give the Americans a 5-0 lead. Harris tried to give Wyoma some life in the bottom of the first when he lead off with a homer into the left field bleachers.Brendan Tobey was hit by a pitch but Cody Parsons got Price to ground into a double play to diffuse the threat.Billerica tacked on a run in the second on Drew Salk’s homer to right and added another in the third on two Wyoma errors before putting the game out of reach in the fifth.A one out double from Parsons upped the lead to 8-1 before Nick Regas pummeled a Brazell pitch into the left field bleachers to make it 10-1. Salk’s second homer of the game followed to make it 11-1.Price showed the form that got Wyoma to the sectionals in the bottom of the inning when he drilled a homer, the team’s 14th in tournament play, to right-center. Billerica closed the scoring in the sixth with a run on three hits and an error.”We accomplished a lot,” O’Neil said.