Swampscott finally returns to glory

LYNN – When you talk about Little League on the North Shore, for the better part of three decades the first name that came off the tongue of most people was Swampscott. And for very good reason.From 1975 until 2001, the program that called the Greenway home at the time was almost money in the bank when the calendar turned to July and all-star play began. During that stretch, Swampscott won an astounding 18 of 27 District 16 championships, including an amazing nine in a row from 1991 to 1999.Yet as the calendar turned into the 21st century, a funny thing happened: the playing field drastically leveled and Swampscott suddenly wasn’t the powerhouse anymore.The program won the district title in 2001, but would watch as Saugus American would finally get the District to the Little League World Series in 2003 and see other teams like Saugus National, Wyoma and Lynnfield claim the title.On Friday at Wyoma’s Reinfuss Field, however, the long dry spell finally came to an end. It was certainly not pretty at times, but the result was exactly what veteran manager Mike LeBlanc had been waiting to finally see happen: his team able to celebrate a championship following a 9-5 win over reigning champion Lynnfield.”That was the first team to really give us a fight and we knew that Lynnfield wasn’t going to go down easily as the defending champions,” said LeBlanc, who finally held the district pennant in his fifth try as manager. “We knew going in that this was our chance to get a little payback for last year.”Last season was especially heartbreaking for Swampscott as it had a shot at claiming the title by coming from the loser’s bracket to force a winner-take-all game with Lynnfield, but it came up short as Lynnfield won its second-ever district title.This year, Swampscott has simply been a team on a mission. Until Friday, the club had never seriously been pushed in any of its games, but they shockingly were in a 3-0 hole in the first when Pat Davis blasted a mammoth homer off starter Ryan January.Strangely enough, LeBlanc never had to say anything to his team when they came off the field.”This team has a mindset and they know where they want to go,” LeBlanc said. “So I didn’t really have to say anything when they came in. They know how to get the job done.”And get the job done his team did. Slowly chipping into the Lynnfield lead, Swampscott would finally go ahead for good in the top of the fourth, taking a 6-3 lead. The only problem was that January was perilously near the 85 pitch maximum and would have to leave with two outs in the bottom of the fourth and the lead cut to 6-4.Craig Murphy, however, came in and slammed the door on the defending champions for the final 2 1/3 innings to earn his place in the pantheon of heroes in this tournament.”They were a better team than us,” Lynnfield manager Kevin Canty said. “And I think they have a very good chance to do some damage.”It wasn’t until Swampscott added three runs in the top of the sixth that LeBlanc finally let himself begin to think that his club was finally going back to the top of the mountain.”I think that when we got those extra runs in the sixth, I felt a lot more comfortable,” LeBlanc said. “This is by far the best team I’ve had in all the years I’ve managed this team. They know what their destiny is: they want to win a state championship.”The second step towards that state championship will begin on Thursday when Swampscott plays in the Section Four tournament against the District 15 champion, either Beverly West or Peabody West.Ironically, in the nine years that Swampscott went without a championship it has been Peabody that has taken up the role of dominator. Since 2001, West has won seven of 10 District 15 titles, a pair of Massachusetts championships and joined Saugus American on the list of local teams to make the LLWS last summer.Peabody West also eliminated Swampscott in the 2001 Section Four tournament before losing in the state finals to Pittsfield South.”We really would b