St. Mary’s baseball captures Clancy championship

LYNN – The St. Mary’s baseball team took advantage of a pair of first-inning Lynn English errors (and five overall), scoring four times, and didn’t look back, as the Spartans captured the 29th annual Nipper Clancy Tourney with a 12-1 thrashing of the Bulldogs yesterday at Fraser Field.Click here for a photo gallery.As a result, the Spartans (16-4) have taken the title six straight seasons.Lynn Classical fell to North Reading in the consolation game, 11-10.”Winning this tourney means a great deal,” said St. Mary’s coach Derek Dana, who’s been the winning coach for the last three titles. “I played for Coach (Jim) Tgettis (who himself played for Clancy), and he used to express to (assistant coach) Tom (Donahue) and I how important this was to him.”The Spartans opened up defense of their title when centerfielder Alex Glover reached on an infield single. He scored the game’s first run, coming home on teammate Justin Sharkey’s double into the left field corner. Sharkey scored moments later when the Bulldogs (15-5) committed another infield error, and right fielder Nick Day (who was named the winner of the Skip Morrison MVP Award) drilled a two-out blast off English starter Gabe Smith over the fence in center for a 4-0 St. Mary’s edge.”As the visiting team, our game plan was to put runners on,” said Dana. “(Alex) Glover, (Justin) Sharkey, (Alex) Fiste (who reached via an error), and (Nick) Day put us up early.”St. Mary’s received a second straight solid pitching performance in as many nights. Righty Kurtis White followed the Sunday night performance of teammate Matt Turmenne (who allowed four hits, fanned seven, and didn’t walk a batter in the Spartans’ 11-1 win over Classical). White allowed single hits in the first two innings but was aided by a 5-4-3 double play in the second.The Spartans added to their lead in the third, scoring four times for an 8-0 edge. Sharkey led with a single, then went to second on Fiste’s single. They both moved up a base on a wild pitch, and then they both crossed the plate on catcher Angelo Codispoti’s single up the middle. Smith fanned the next two batters, but Codispoti stole second, then made it 7-0 when third baseman Cam Mulvey singled him in. Mulvey would score later in the inning, courtesy of another English error for an 8-0 lead.St. Mary’s scored once in the fourth, and then the Bulldogs (who earned the right to be in the championship game with their 5-2 victory over North Reading on Sunday, with catcher Roberto Reyes’ three-run homer the difference) broke White’s shutout bid in the fifth. Right fielder Eric Bransfield led with a double to right-center. An infield out took him to third, and a single by designated hitter Pat Cullen put English on the board.Yet the Spartans quickly responded in the top of the sixth. Second baseman Ryan Barrows walloped a leadoff triple, then scored on a double by Glover. Sharkey walked, and he and Barrows scored the game’s last runs when Day doubled to deep left-center.”This was not the best way for us to enter the tournament,” said English coach Joe Caponigro. “We had a tough time against their pitcher (White), who kept us off-balance all game. I don’t know how many unearned runs we allowed, but the mistakes certainly hurt. This group is a resilient one, and hopefully, we’ll get this game out of our system.”White went the distance for Sr. Mary’s, allowing five hits, fanning five, and didn’t walk anyone.”We had two pitchers who gave us great performances in the tourney (in Turmenne and White),” said Dana. “They both pounded the strike zone. Kurtis went 7-0 for us, and he backs down from no one.”In the consolation game, the Rams (7-13) had leads of 5-1 and 8-4, but fell victim to a fluky six-run fourth inning by the Hornets (9-11).North Reading scored once in the top of the first, but Classical put up five in the second for a 5-1 lead. First baseman Tyler Gauthier lashed a one-out double over the head of centerfielder Brandon Corrier. Teammate Terry Finnigan was hit