Peabody West clinches fifth straight sectional crown

WOBURN – Back in the mid-’90s, the UMass-Amherst men’s basketball team lived by the credo “Refuse To Lose” under head coach John Calipari.That same mantra could now be applied to the Peabody Western Little League team.For the fifth consecutive year, the District 15 champions now have a Section Four pennant to add to their collection. Peabody ran its winning streak in sectional play to an almost unfathomable 16 consecutive games thanks to a 13-2, 4-inning win over Stoneham on Monday at Weafer Park that sends it to the state finals for a sixth time since 2001.”I don’t think there are many teams that have ever won five of these in a row,” Peabody West manager Bob Sullivan said. “We got good pitching, hitting and defense.”Peabody will begin its run for a second straight Massachusetts championship on Thursday (4:15) at Kelley Field in Norwood when it takes on either Westwood or Newton West.Many of the players from last year’s Peabody team that advanced to the Little League World Series, along with manager Dave Batchelor, were on hand Monday to see this year’s West team put on a hitting show against the District 13 champions.The game never truly was in doubt as Peabody smacked nine hits in only 3 1/3 innings and finished the tournament with 44 runs in its four games in Woburn.”I think that we’re peaking at the right time and that’s what you want to do,” Sullivan said. “Now we just need to stay hot as we go on to the next level.”Peabody gave the ball to Traverse Briana on Monday and the lone returnee from last year’s club didn’t disappoint. He needed only 54 pitches to work through four innings of four-hit ball, allowing two unearned runs while striking out seven and walking one.Briana was given all the offense he needed to work with in the bottom of the first as Peabody exploded against Stoneham starter Ryan Smith.Smith actually struck out Briana to begin the inning before it went downhill quickly. He followed by walking Kyle Lynch and allowing a double to Ben Irvine that plated Lynch for a 1-0 lead.Bobby Sullivan followed by reaching on an error that scored Irvine for a 2-0 lead. A walk to Nick Palma and a groundout by John Villani followed. Catcher Bobby Caproni singled before right fielder Zack Crawford, playfully given the nickname of “the Beast” by his team for his stature as an 11-year-old, cleared the bases with a grand slam to dead center to make it 6-0 after one.”Zack is a streaky hitter,” Sullivan said. “If he gets hot, people better look out.”Stoneham threatened to cut into the lead in the top of the second as Smith singled and Nathan Cox doubled to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Briana, however, was having none of that notion as he promptly struck out Kyle Mackay, Brandon Cann and Brian Ghannam to end the inning.Moments later the lead was 7-0 as Briana blasted a 2-2 pitch from Smith over the left field bleachers and into the woods surrounding the field.Stoneham would get a pair of unearned runs in the top of the third before the Peabody bench got into the act in the bottom of the third.Josh Freedman was hit by a pitch before Matt Tracy belted his second homer in as many games to make it 9-2. Briana would bring in Steve Guttadauro later in the inning before scoring himself on a Lynch double to make it 11-2.”Tracy looks like he’s in a nice groove right now for us,” Sullivan said.After another 1-2-3 inning from Briana in the top of the fourth, Peabody ended things with a flourish as Sullivan walked and Tracy launched his second 2-run shot of the game to put it on ice.