Lynn Babe Ruth 15s bow out

LYNN – Lynn 15-year-old Babe Ruth manager Charlie Liberge feels that his team actually lost Monday night’s game on Sunday.The Lynners were eliminated by Everett Monday night, 9-1, in the Babe Ruth 15-year-old EMass tournament, but the seeds to the defeat may have been planted Sunday in a heartbreaking 8-6 loss to Norwood.”I think that took a lot of the starch out of them,” said Liberge. “That was a tough loss.”I could see it as soon as they came to the park,” he said. “A lot of the fire that we’ve had ever since we started playing was missing.”A lot of that might have had to do with Everett pitcher Dave Fitzpatrick, who spun a tidy four-hitter in keeping his team alive in the tournament. He had Lynn shut out until Nick Day hit a towering home run over the left field fence in the seventh inning.”He really pitched well,” said Liberge. “But I have to tell you, our guy (Sean Buckland) pitched a heck of a ballgame. He gave us everything he had tonight.”Buckland had his team in the game right up until the sixth inning, when Everett, which had led 3-0 to that point, put four runs on the board to start to pull away.”We had some chances when it was a game,” said Liberge, “but we couldn’t capitalize on them.”Lynn ended innings with double plays in the second, third and fourth innings. The one that hurt the most was in the second, when Lynn got runners on first and second with one out, courtesy of a double by John Finnegan and a walk to Bobby Liberge.However, Bryan Wilkins hit a rope to Everett second baseman Brian Halfelder, who easily doubled Finnegan off second.Two innings later, with one out and a runner on third, Finnegan tried to squeeze a run home, but popped up the bunt instead, doubling the runner off third. At the time, Everett only led, 1-0.While Lynn seemed snakebitten, Everett took advantage of everything it got. An error led to the first run, and Halfelder’s single in the fifth scored two more to make it a 3-0 game.As Buckland began to tire in the sixth, Everett salted the game away. The big hit was a two-run single by Lucas Lott.Everett got its final two runs in the seventh, thanks to another two-run single by Lott.”It’s too bad,” said Liberge. “This is a really talented team that deserved better. There are an awful lot of good players over there and a lot of them are going to go on and do very well in high school.”Lynn Babe Ruth is hosting the tournament, and all games are being played at Ben Bowzer Complex. The tournament resumes Thursday night with losers’ bracket games. Saugus and Norwood will square off Friday (7:45) in the winners’ bracket final.