Lynnfield wins District 16 title

LYNN – Unlikely heroes usually have a way of showing themselves in a championship game. On Friday at Volunteer Field, Lynnfield had just that in Mike Look. The No. 7 batter in manager Kevin Canty?s lineup, Look went 3-for-3 with a fourth inning homer and a 2-run single in the fifth while Justin Foley needed only 88 pitches in twirling a complete game and give Lynnfield its first District 16 championship since 2002 thanks to an 8-1 win over Swampscott.?When your number seven batter hits like that, it kind of puts the other guys back on their heels a bit,” Canty said. “And Justin has been our ace pretty much the entire tournament and he pitched like it (Friday).”Canty?s bunch now has six days off as it will next take the field in the Section Four tournament at Reinfuss Field against either Peabody West or Beverly East, who will play tonight (7) at Beverly?s Harry Ball Field for the District 15 crown.?I kind of pointed out to the guys before the game that Lynnfield has been kind of known for not playing well in these tough games,” Canty said. “All I asked them to do was to go out and play hard because when we play well, we?re a tough team to beat.”Across the diamond, Swampscott finally ran out of gas after winning six consecutive games to reach the winner-take-all game. After jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first, they never could come to grips with Foley, who held Swampscott to four hits in the game.?I do think we kind of ran out of gas finally,” Swampscott manager Mike LeBlanc said. “But give all the credit to Lynnfield. They came out, played hard and (Foley) pitched very well.”Foley made one mistake in the game and it came early when Ryan January led off the bottom of the first with a long home run to make it 1-0. Swampscott?s lead wouldn?t last long as Lynnfield responded in the second by taking the lead for good.Look and Danny Sullivan singled with one out. A third straight single by Alex MacLachlan and an outfield error got Look home to tie the game. Brendan Sullivan followed with a grounder to first that scored Danny Sullivan to make it 2-1 Lynnfield.Swampscott stranded a pair of runners in the second and then had a chance to tie in the third when Lynnfield made a game-changing play.January singled to lead off and was sacrificed to second by David Reichart. The Swampscott catcher then tried to sneak to third when no one was covering but Jake Rourke threw a strike to Look who applied the tag to turn an unlikely double play.As fate would have it, Look was the leadoff batter for Lynnfield in the fourth and he delivered a home run off Greg Collier to make it 3-1.Foley, by this time, was in a groove, holding Swampscott to two hits over the final innings. His teammates then delivered the knockout blow in the fifth as Rourke doubled in one run and Look drove home two more to make it 6-1 Lynnfield. Danny Sullivan?s sacrifice fly completed the four-run outburst which left little doubt who was going to be carrying the banner around Volunteer Field after the game.?Give Swampscott a lot of credit. To come back and win six games in a row after losing their first, that showed how much resiliency they had,” Canty said. “But this feels pretty good. I?ve lost five games coaching in this tournament, and four are to that team over there.”