Swampscott’s bats send District 16 tourney to the limit

LYNN – Since being sent to the loser’s bracket of the District 16 tournament by Saugus American in its first game, Swampscott has cut a swath through the rest of the field to find its way back to the finals for a second straight year. And on Thursday at East Lynn’s Volunteer Field, it ensured that the tournament would go to the limit.John King shut down a high-powered Lynnfield offense for 5 2/3 innings while his teammates pounded out 13 runs on 11 hits, including three home runs, en route to a 13-3 win and a return date for the two teams at Volunteer today (5:45) with nothing less than the district title on the line.Click here for a photo gallery.”Since that first game the kids have been on quite a run,” Swampscott manager Mike LeBlanc said. “We’re putting it together at the right time.”Swampscott turned a 3-2 game into a blowout over the final three innings, rattling off 10 unanswered runs against a previously unblemished Lynnfield staff. That offensive explosion threw a big monkey wrench into the plans that Lynnfield manager Kevin Canty had coming in.”We had a game plan going in that if we could get Jake (Burt) through four, we’d go to our best reliever,” Canty said. “But when I had to go and take Jake out in the middle of the fourth, I had a feeling that things wouldn’t go quite to plan.”King, who had been brilliant in his last two starts to help get Swampscott back to the finals, found the Lynnfield offense ready to go early as Brendan Sullivan led off the bottom of the first with a double to center. He went to third on a ground out by Burt and scored on Greg Baselesco’s two out single.As quick as Lynnfield took the lead, Swampscott grabbed it right back for good in the second.Ryan Cresta was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. He went to second on a passed ball and moved to third on King’s base hit. An errant throw on a King stolen base attempt scored Cresta and put King at third.A wild pitch from Burt brought King across for a 2-1 lead. Joey Faia and Ryan January would also walk in the inning, but Burt got David Reichert on a ground out to end the inning.Lynnfield put a pair of runners on in the bottom of the second, but King got Sullivan to line back to the mound to end that threat. Swampscott went right back to work in the third when Michael Faia walked with one out, went to second on a wild pitch. He was erased in a long rundown on Cresta’s grounder to second.Cresta wound up at second on the play and scored on King’s second base hit of the game to make it 3-1. Burt got that run back with one swing when he belted a long homer to left-center with one out to make it 3-2 after three.The Swampscott bench would help break the game open in the fourth, knocking Burt out in the process. Jeremy Villanueva led off with a single and went to second on Sam Walker’s bunt base hit. A January fielder’s choice erased Walker at second.A passed ball brought Villanueva home for a 4-2 lead. Greg Collier then delivered two more runs when he doubled to right-center for a 6-2 lead. After Burt walked Michael Faia, Canty summoned Mike Waisnor to put out the fire which he did by getting the next two batters.”I guess the batting practice is paying off,” LeBlanc said. “These kids have been hitting for 35 straight days.”Now pitching with a four run lead, King took over for Swampscott. He held Lynnfield scoreless in the fourth and then watched Sam Walker hit a mammoth 2-run homer in the fifth to make it 8-2.After another scoreless inning by King, Swampscott put the game away in the sixth as Michael Faia and Cresta hit back-to-back homers and January ripped a bases clearing triple to make it 13-2 and ensure one final game today.”All we wanted to do was get to the final,” LeBlanc said. “And now we have a shot at it.”