Four-peat complete for Peabody West in sectionals; Lynnfield bows out in earlier action

LYNN – Coming into the Massachusetts Section Four Tournament, Peabody West manager Dave Batchelor had one question left to answer about his team: How would it perform when the game was on the line?On Sunday at Wyoma’s Reinfuss Field, Batchelor’s troops answered that question with a stellar performance under pressure against North Andover East in the finals.Taking advantage of a pair of North Andover errors to score a single run in the third inning, Peabody then rode the back of Austin Batchelor and Mike Correale, who combined on a three-hitter, to take a 1-0 win, Peabody’s 12th consecutive in the sectionals, and a fourth consecutive sectional crown. (The other local team in the sectionals, Lynnfield, had been eliminated on Saturday with an 11-9 loss to North Andover.)The District 15 champs will open their quest for a state title on Thursday night (7) at Beverly’s Harry Ball Field against the Section Three champs.”Everybody said coming in that North Andover was the fourth-best team coming in here,” Batchelor said. “But they kept on winning and showed that they are a very good team.”After slugging its way to the sectionals, Peabody showed that its pitching staff was the equal of its offense. Batchelor, who won two of the three games for Peabody, struck out 21 and walked three in his 8 1/3 innings of work in Lynn while Matt Hosman struck out 12 and walked two to get a win and a save. But it was Matt Correale who was the unsung hero on Sunday, relieving Batchelor in the fifth when the Peabody starter reached the 85-pitch maximum. He got West out of that inning and then worked a perfect sixth to save the day.”Austin pitched a great game and then (Matt) came in and pitched great,” Batchelor said.Batchelor and Correale needed to be on their game Sunday because North Andover’s Max Burt was every bit their equal in the finals. He held Peabody to four hits and was victimized by the two third-inning errors.”It was almost a perfect game for us,” North Andover East manager Bill Burt said. “Other than that one botched play, we played perfect.”Batchelor absolutely blitzed his way through the North Andover lineup in the first three innings, striking out eight over that span with Burt’s first-inning single being the lone blemish on the record. Burt, meanwhile, was matching Peabody’s starter pitch-for-pitch through the first two innings.In the third, however, Peabody’s patience paid off – along with a little bit of luck.Matt Hosman got the rally started when he lined a double off the left-field fence. After Burt got Batchelor to ground out to short, he looked to be out of harm’s way when Traverse Briana hit a grounder to third. The ball, however, went under the glove of Joey Bramanti to keep the inning going.The mistake proved to be critical when an errant throw to second to get Briana got away, allowing Hosman to score for a 1-0 lead.”What happened on that play is that the second baseman usually covers the bag on that play,” Burt said. “But he had gone to cover first and the shortstop is supposed to cut the ball off but couldn’t get there. It was just a botched play.”That run would prove big as Batchelor had to work out of trouble in the fourth when North Andover drove his pitch count up. Ryan St. Pierre doubled and John Iannarone walked before a strikeout and a fielder’s choice had them on third with two down. Batchelor got John Boudreau looking to escape.Batchelor would depart in the fifth after striking out Matt Moody for his 12th whiff of the game. Correale took over and immediately allowed a single to Burt but settled down and retired Bramanti and Marc Patnaude to end the inning.The sixth would be a little less stressful for Correale and Peabody as he struck out St. Pierre, got Chris Bosco on a groundout and fanned Todd Patnaude looking to end things.”We were pretty fortunate to get through this one,” Batchelor said.Lynnfield saw its chances for a title end on Saturday against North Andover in an 11-9 loss. After scoring nine times in the