Peabody West set to head for Bristol

PEABODY – The flashing electronic sign at the corner of Johnson and Lowell Streets heading towards Ross Park says it all: “Peabody West LL, State Champions. Good Luck at the Regionals.”For the second time in four years, a Peabody West team will hop aboard a bus this morning and set out for Bristol, CT and the New England Regional with the goal of making the Little League World Series within its sights.Click here for a photo gallery.”The goal from the first meeting we had on June 15 was to get to Bristol,” Peabody West manager Dave Batchelor said. “And when we started with that first game against Manchester-Essex (in district play), we wanted to take it one at a time. But we told the kids to keep Bristol in the back of their minds.”And since Nick Bona struck out Newton Central’s Jason Beshansky to clinch the state title, it has been a whirlwind of activity for the team and its coaches.On Tuesday, the players were invited to dine with their parents at Prince Restaurant in Saugus. They will have breakfast this morning at Westside Restaurant before taking a tour around town en route to hitting the road to Connecticut.”Everybody has been running around like crazy,” Batchelor said jokingly. “Parents have been trying to book hotels, set up rides, and even the kids’ heads have been somewhere else. We let them enjoy this a bit, but we will get them back in line when we get to Bristol.”When Peabody arrives in Bristol later today, the team will see some very familiar uniforms, as the 2009 New England Regional will look a lot like the tournament West played in three years ago.Lincoln, RI; Portsmouth, NH; and Glastonbury, CT also were in Bristol three years ago and find themselves back among the final six again. Joining them will be Brattleboro, VT and Bangor, ME.Peabody will open its pool play round on Saturday morning (11) against Bangor and will play again Sunday (2) against Lincoln. After an off-day Monday, Peabody takes on Portsmouth on Tuesday (5) and Glastonbury on Wednesday (4) to cap the pool play round.”We think that we’re as good as any team that’s going to be there,” Batchelor said. “We’ve got two good pitchers in Austin (Batchelor) and Matt (Hosman) and that’s what it comes down to. The key is to get into the playoff round and to be able to set up your pitching.”Peabody could possibly have a chance to rest either Batchelor or Hosman depending on the outcome of the other games. Three teams (Bangor, Glastonbury and Lincoln) will have all played three games in the round-robin before Peabody plays its final two.Depending upon the outcome of those first four days and Peabody’s opening games, the chance is there for West to perhaps rest one of its top pitchers for the semifinals.”That’s the big thing. We will probably know where we stand with those teams having played three games already,” Batchelor said. “Whatever it takes, two wins, three wins, we want to be in that last four.”Peabody was expected to be one of the teams contending for a spot in Bristol with four returnees and eight players that played AAU baseball against top-notch competition, and it took contributions from all 12 players on the roster for West to pull off the title. A perfect case in point was the state title game against Newton.Anthony Cravotta came off the bench to make a diving catch in the third inning and first baseman A.J. DiFillipo’s unassisted double play in the fifth with Peabody down a run kept his team in the game. And after Austin Batchelor put Peabody ahead with a homer, Nick Bona (who hadn’t pitched in the entire tournament) slammed the door with the bases loaded to preserve the win.”That’s what a team is all about,” Peabody assistant coach Danny Marchese said. “It has to be that way and it’s been all 12 guys chipping in.”Don’t get an idea, though, that Peabody is content with just going to Bristol. The bigger prize is still very much on its radar.”You never know what’s going to happen,” Batchelor said. “Now we have a chance to go to Williamsport a