Pine Hill claims City Series for first time in 16 years

LYNN – The last time Pine Hill won the Lynn City Series, Dynasty was the No. 1 show on television; Prince had the No. 1 song in the country with “When Doves Cry” and Eddie Murphy had people laughing at his portrayal of Axel Foley in “Beverly Hills Cop.”That year was 1984 ? and until Saturday at Reinfuss Field, that was when the Hillies last held the Lynn championship. But thanks to a stellar pitching effort from Anthony Ross, who struck out 11 in 5 1/3 innings, and a quick striking offense, the Pine Hill Red Sox finally ended the drought with a 7-1 win over the East Lynn Phillies.Click here for a photo gallery.”For us, this is a huge win for our program,” Pine Hill manager Ron Gaudet said. “A lot of these kids were here last year and have been all-stars for the last couple seasons so they knew what it was like to have the pressure.”Ross proved to be the star of the show on Saturday, as he was relentless on the mound, in holding East Lynn to just three hits while walking only one batter before leaving in the sixth.”Pine Hill is a really good team,” East Lynn manager Rich Winchell said. “One through nine, they hit very well and their pitcher was good.”The Hillies gave Ross all the offense he needed on Saturday in the bottom of the first. East Lynn starter Nate Marino got the first two batters before Ross singled. First baseman Andre Gaudet followed with a 2-run homer to left-center for a 2-0 lead after one.”Andre hit that homer there to get us going and I think that we never really looked back,” Gaudet said.Ross struck out the side in the second before his teammates exploded in the bottom of the second. Tyler Donovan and Joe Tardiff led off with singles before Raphael Castillo’s one-out hit scored Donovan for a 3-0 lead.Marino struck out Tom McGee before Evan Reddick singled home Tardiff, with Castillo crossing via an outfield error on the play. Another throwing error would allow Reddick to score for a 6-0 lead.East Lynn would be held hitless by Ross into the fourth when Amari Gaston led off with a single and raced to third on an error. Joss Polonia followed with a hit to make it 6-1 and give the Phillies a little bit of life.Ross, however, snuffed out the rally by striking out the next three hitters to give him nine K’s in the game.”Anthony has been our ace all year and he really was outstanding (Saturday),” Gaudet said.McGee provided the exclamation point for the Hillies in the fourth when he led off with a solo homer to make it 7-1. Ross would hold East Lynn into the sixth before leaving in favor of Gaudet, who retired the final two hitters to give Pine Hill its long awaited championship.