Cravatis pitches Danvers into Gallant final

SALEM – Danvers’ Mike Cravatis had already thrown one brilliant game in the 2010 Gallant Tournament when he struck out 14 in a win over Lynn on opening night. On Monday at Forest River Park, he one-upped himself.Facing an explosive Peabody lineup, the Danvers ace struck out 12 and walked two while tap-dancing out of a pair of bases-loaded situations to give his team a 5-3 win and a date with Swampscott tonight (6:30) in the championship game.”Mike is just a gutsy pitcher,” Danvers manager Dave Gotts said. “He probably could be the MVP of our team.”Cravatis was at his best when it was desperately needed Monday.Danvers had come back from an early 1-0 deficit to take a 3-1 lead in the second before Peabody loaded the bases with no outs and the heart of its order coming up in the top of the third.Cravatis dug deep and struck out power hitting Traverse Briana and Bobby Sullivan swinging before getting Kevin Lebel on a grounder to second for the final out.”We had runners in position when we needed them and couldn’t get a hit,” Peabody manager Joe Spatafore said. “And a lot of the credit goes to their kid for that. He pitched a good game.”Danvers then got a timely hit of its own in the fifth against reliever Lebel, who had gotten the first two batters of the inning easily. Nate Sweeney singled to keep the inning going for Andrew Olszak, who homered to right center for a 5-1 lead.”Andrew has got a natural swing and is a great ballplayer. I wish I had 11 of them like him,” Gotts said.Little did anyone realize at the time how important Olszak’s homer would turn out to be as Cravatis was mowing his way through the Peabody lineup until the seventh, when he ran into another major bump in the road.Second baseman Ryan Collins led off the inning with a double to left for Peabody. Cravatis struck out John Villani before walking Bobby Caproni. A passed ball moved Collins and Caproni up 60 feet before Aaron Dollin singled to right, scoring Collins to make it 5-2. Ben Irvine followed by dumping a single just inside the left field line, plating Caproni to bring the margin to two.Shortstop Christian Morales kept the drama going when he also singled to right, loading the bases for the always dangerous Briana. On this night, however, it was Cravatis who got the better of the matchup as he got Briana on strikes for the third time in the game, this one coming on an outside corner painting fastball.”Mike just seems to have Briana’s number,” Gotts said. “We couldn’t go with anyone else there because Briana is such a good fastball hitter.”Cravatis still wasn’t out of danger as he faced Joe Maguire but he got a grounder to second to finally allow Danvers to breathe easy.”We were able to come back at the end,” Spatafore said. “But that’s why these kids are 12-year-old Little Leaguers. They have to go out and play the games.”