Wyoma takes District 16 title with small ball style

SWAMPSCOTT – Last year, the Wyoma softball all-stars had to sit and watch as their archrivals from Swampscott took the District 16 championship and eventually a spot in the Eastern Regional semifinals. On Thursday at the Forest Avenue Fields, Wyoma was the team celebrating.Led by a four-hitter from Michaela Hamill on the mound and seven runs over the first two innings, Wyoma claimed a district title with an 11-6 win.Click here for a photo gallery.”It is never easy when you go against Swampscott,” Wyoma manager Don Hamill said. “We wanted to jump on them early and we were able to do that. And Michaela pitched a great game.”Wyoma used its speed on the bases to wreak havoc and beat Swampscott at its own game.”They beat us at what we wanted to do,” Swampscott manager Jim Capone said. “They did the little things and we didn’t.”Hamill set the tone for the day when she led off the top of the first for Wyoma with a triple. She came home on a passed ball for a 1-0 lead.Emma DeJoie was hit by a pitch and stole second. Ally Dunnigan followed with a walk before groundouts from Brittany McPherson and Kaitlyn Marcinko increased the lead to 3-0.Swampscott got a run back in the bottom of the first when Elizabeth Weisse reached on an error, stole second and third and came home on a Hannah Leahy groundout.Wyoma would break the game open in the second, sending eight batters to the plate and scoring four times.Rachel Fisher led off with a single and then went to third on Lindsey Tobin’s sacrifice bunt. Madison Angelelli followed with a single that upped the lead to 4-1.Hamill singled and DeJoie reached on an error that scored Angelelli and Hamill for a 6-1 lead. Dunnigan’s fielder’s choice gave Wyoma a commanding 7-1 lead.”We were very aggressive on the bases and took advantage of our chances,” Hamill said.Wyoma added to its lead in the top of the third as an error led to two unearned runs. Swampscott fought back and cut the lead to 9-3 on a pair of errors.Single runs in the fourth and sixth innings gave Wyoma an 11-3 lead heading to the bottom of the sixth. Not ready to give up the title without a fight, Swampscott scored three times before Hamill struck out Veronica Rizzo to end the game.”We really wanted to get this title back,” Hamill said. “Everyone came in and did a great job for us. We worked all tournament on small ball and it paid off (Thursday).”