SAUGUS – For the second straight year, the town of Saugus has established itself as the elite program in District 1 Babe Ruth.Just like last year, Saugus has captured two of the three age-level titles for the district, winning the 15-year-old crown Monday night with a dramatic eight-run seventh inning for a 13-12 win over Lynn; and capturing the 14-year-old championship Tuesday night with a taut 6-2 victory ? again, over Lynn.In the 15-year-old category, both Lynn and Saugus will compete in the states, because Lynn will host them at the Ben Bowzer Complex at Breed Middle School. The Saugus 14s will move on to the state tournament at Adams Field in Quincy. Schedules for both tournaments will be released early next week.Tuesday night, at World Series Park, Lynn – which had to climb through the losers’ bracket to play Saugus – looked as if it might be poised for a repeat of its previous night’s win over Beverly, when it scored seven runs in the first inning.This time, the Lynners got two off Saugus starter Riley MacEachern. After getting the first out, he walked Brendan Mageary, who advanced to second on a wild pitch. Mageary came home on Kyle Devin’s single; and Devin, who had advanced to second on a walk, followed Mageary home when Shaddai Fernandez stroked a single to left.”He may not have warmed up enough,” said Saugus manager Derek Sweeney, “but that’s a good team over there, too. They had to fight their way to get back here.”Perhaps, said Lynn manager Mike Mageary, if Lynn had been able to build on that lead, things might have been different. But MacEachern seemed to find his rhythm after that, striking out both Matt Merritt and Joe Field. And he only gave up one hit thereafter.”He’s the type of pitcher,” said Sweeney, “who you have to get to early. If he can get past the first inning, he’s usually lights-out.”Saugus got a run back right away when Dom DiPesa doubled and scored on a groundout by MacEachern. Things could have been easier for the Saugonians, but Lynn lefty Ben Bowden picked four of them off first base.”He has a pretty good move over there,” said Sweeney dryly.”I’d say we belonged on the same field with them,” said Mageary. “We played them tough. Our guy matched their guy pitch for pitch, I thought, and he picked four guys off first. We just ran into some bad luck.”It wasn’t luck that got in Lynn’s way in the third, when Saugus went ahead for good. It was defense. The Lynners committed two errors in the inning, allowing two Saugus runs to score. Leadoff hitter A.J. Guthro walked and DiPesa reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second. He scored on Nick Antonucci’s single, but Antonucci made it all the way to third when the throw home trying to nail DiPesa sailed wide. He scored on an infield error.Things got quirky for Lynn in the fourth, when Saugus went up 4-2. Saugus’ Nick Sweeney led off with a walk and went to second on an infield out. After Anthony Finnocharo’s bunt moved Sweeney to third, Guthro dumped one that fell just in front of left fielder Field, allowing the run to score.”That made a big difference,” Mageary said. “That changes everything. Now we can’t play for just one run. We have to play for two.”He’d have to play for four an inning later. And again, it was a well-placed bloop hit that made the difference. With runners on second and third and two out, catcher Nick Enos flared one that fell between three fielders in short center, giving Saugus two more runs and a 6-2 lead.”These kids deserve it,” said Sweeney. “They’ve worked hard. We got good pitching, and got the defense behind him.”
