Peabody Western, Lynnfield ready for sectionals

One team was a power in District 16 at the beginning of the decade, the other has become the North Shore’s standard-bearer for Little League excellence. And today (5) at Reinfuss Field, District 16 champion Lynnfield and District 15 champ Peabody Western will meet in the Section Four tournament.Lynnfield is back in the sectionals for the first time since 2002 when it reached the championship game, losing 4-3 to Andover American in Woburn. Since then, the program has taken a roller-coaster ride, but has been on the way up the past two seasons before finally claiming the district flag under manager Kevin Canty this year.Lynnfield’s road to the district title started with a 3-2 win over Nahant. Following a 9-4 win over Revere, Lynnfield overcame a 5-0 deficit to beat Wyoma, 8-5. A 6-5 win in the winners’ bracket final over Saugus American propelled Lynnfield into the finals.Swampscott derailed Lynnfield in the first game, winning 13-3, but Canty’s team rode the back of its ace, Justin Foley, to an 8-1 win in the decisive game.”Justin has been outstanding in all three games he’s pitched,” Canty said. “As long as he throws strikes and keeps the ball down, he’s tough to hit.”Canty also knows that Peabody West will give his team perhaps its toughest challenge of the tournament so far.”Considering what they’ve done the last couple of years, you’d have to say they come in as the favorite,” Canty said. “They are a good, solid, well-coached team.”Being back in the limelight is something that Canty knows has been good for the program as well.”I talked to a lot of people, and they are all planning on coming down (today),” Canty said. “I was thinking about this the other day. We’re one of only 16 teams left in the state and we’ve made it pretty far. But we want to get to the next level.”To reach that next level, Lynnfield will first have to knock off a team that has basically made the Section Four tournament into its own personal playground in recent years.Peabody West is looking for an astounding fourth consecutive sectional championship, having won its last nine games in the tournament. Since the tournament turned into a double elimination affair in 2000, Peabody West has made it an amazing six of nine years.”The last eight or nine years, this program has been very good,” Peabody manager Dave Batchelor said. “We’ve definitely had the talent and some very good coaches.”Peabody blitzed its way through the District 15 tournament, outscoring its five opponents by a combined score of 49-2, led by a quartet of returnees from last year’s state semifinal team in Matt Hosman, Austin Batchelor, Mike Petrosino and Matt Correale.”Matt and Austin certainly have been good,” Batchelor said. “Eight of the kids on our team play AAU and they get good experience playing against that caliber of competition. And with that kind of pitching and offense, even the coaches can’t screw that up.”It will also mark the third time this decade that Peabody will come to Reinfuss to compete in the sectional. In 2001, West advanced to the finals but lost two straight games to Pittsfield South.Two years later, Batchelor was the manager of a Peabody team that handed Saugus American its only loss on its road to the Little League World Series. And in 2005, Peabody was one win away from what could have been five consecutive district titles but Danvers American rallied to win two straight and seal the title.In the other game today at Wyoma, District 13 champion Stoneham will take on District 14 champion North Andover East at 2. The two winners will play tomorrow at 5 with the losers playing in an elimination game at 2.