Peabody West outlasts Swampscott in sectional opener

BEVERLY – If Thursday night’s contest at Harry Ball Field was any indication, fans of the Peabody West and Swampscott Little League teams better hang on because it could be a wild ride in the Section Four tournament.In a game that was right out of the “anything you can do, I can do better” playbook, it was the defending New England champions who took a 10-9, 7-inning win that wasn’t settled until Kyle Lynch struck out Leo Wile with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh.Click here for a photo gallery.”Swampscott is an exceptional team and they can hit the ball a ton,” Peabody West manager Bob Sullivan said. “They never gave up and neither did our guys. That was just a great game.”The finish probably need not have been so dramatic as West took a two-run lead into the bottom of the sixth only to see Adrian Espinal and Ryan January crank back-to-back homers to tie the game at 8-8.Peabody then retook a two-run lead in the top of the seventh when Zack Crawford doubled and scored on an error. Steve Guttadauro, who had walked and gone to third on the error, later scored on a passed ball.Things were still looking good for Peabody in the bottom of the seventh, as it was one out away from sealing a win with a runner at third in Jack Fitzpatrick. Lynch, however, hit Donnie Weisse and then walked Espinal to load the bases for the ever dangerous January, who had already homered twice.Sullivan wasted no time in deciding to intentionally walk January, much to the ire of the Swampscott faithful, and put the tying run 60 feet away.”I wasn’t going to pitch to him,” Sullivan said. “I figured we had to take the chance with walking January and pitching to the guy behind him.”After the game, Swampscott manager Mike LeBlanc admitted he probably would have done the same.”Yeah, I think I probably would have done that too,” LeBlanc said. “We just made way too many mistakes and didn’t play our best game.”The move turned into a genius move when Lynch got Wile looking at a fastball on the outside corner to finally allow everyone in Peabody colors to exhale their collectively held breath.”Kyle was just unbelievable with how he came in and held them,” Sullivan said.Peabody broke the ice in the top of the second against January. Nick Palma drew a leadoff walk before catcher Bobby Caprani lined a 2-run homer to right-center for a 2-0 lead.The District 16 champs fought right back in the bottom of the second, sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring five times.Fitzpatrick homered into the left field seats to start the rally. Chris Murphy was plunked and Travis Thurman followed with a single. A sacrifice moved them up 60 feet with Murphy scoring on a throwing error.January drove home Thurman on a fielder’s choice with two more runs coming home on a groundout and an error to make it 5-2.Traverse Briana immediately cut into that lead in the third as the lone holdover from last summer’s Little League World Series team followed a Guttadauro walk with a towering blast over the bleachers in left to make it 5-4 after three.January got one of those runs back in the fourth when he drilled a hanging curveball out of the park to make it 6-4, where it stayed until the sixth when Peabody charged back.Guttadauro bunted for a hit and Briana followed with a walk. They each moved up a base on a wild pitch before Guttadauro scored on an error. Briana came home to tie the game on the back end of a double steal before Ben Irvine went the opposite way to left for a 2-run homer to give West an 8-6 lead.