City Series: Martinez, Pine Hill defeat Wyoma

Ysael Martinez threw strikes 74 percent of the time on his way to a 3-1 Lynn City Series victory for the Pine Hill Reds over Lynn Shore’s White Sox (now 1-1) in a pitcher’s duel at Wyoma on Sunday.Liam Johnston was the closer who shut out Shore the final inning.Manager Pete Dawson wasn’t surprised with Martinez’ “striking” effort.”He had pitched a great win in the all-stars for us, and I felt he would do the job today,” Dawson said.Shore’s 10-year-old hurler Max Gieg was equally impressive. He went in the fourth inning before his pitch count was up, striking out eight Reds.Lynn Shore, trying to win its second game in two days, got a single from Wilber Rosario, who advanced to second on a bobble. Brayan Rodriquez walked and Gieg added an infield hit with Wilber scoring while another runner was declared out on an interference call.Dawson’s Reds rallied in the third when catcher Daniel Lilyn walked and scored on a passed ball. It was 1-1 going into the sixth. Josh Mateo drew a base on balls. Johnston reached on an error. Dione Rodriguez doubled to left to score Mateo, and after a fielding bobble, Coach Dawson waved his grandson Josh in to score for a 2-1 lead. Johnston walked. An infield hit loaded the bases, but Shore’s relief hurler Kendrick Jean Francois needed just one pitch to get the Reds hitter to pop into a double play.Johnston (related to the popular Wright family of Pine Hill; he is cousin of Matt Wright’s son, who played in the Williamsport World Series last year) pitched the final inning, receiving tremendous fielding support by third baseman Kevin Durant, who made two great throws for outs to seal the deal.West Lynn 12, East Lynn 1At Wyoma on Saturday, Eric Pedro poked two home runs and David Hunter hit a gigantic grand slam for West Lynn.Pedro, a catcher, rocked his first round-tripper of the game in the opening frame. He displayed more Pedro Power with a second home run leading off the third. He was gunning for his third round-tripper in the fourth inning until the Cardinals decided to intentionally walk the slugging Sox catcher with four straight way-outside pitches.This loaded the sacks; on third was Miguel Valera, on second stood Aedan Leydon, and on first now was Pedro, who began wishing that the next batter, David Hunter, would hit a grand slam.”I definitely was hoping for Dave to hit a grand slam,” admitted Pedro.Hunter, another power hitter, eagerly took aim for the fences by knocking the stuffing out of the first pitch and sending the ball into the centerfield trees.”That made me feel better,” said Pedro.West Lynn stayed hot in the fifth as Valera hit a gapper to left, Kai Rojo a single and Maurice Sequeira a two-run triple. It was now 8-1. Leydon’s hot bouncer made it 9-1. Pedro reached on a fly ball miscue, and Hunter walked and scored the clinching run on Lou Vidal’s 2-run single.The home plate umpire then yelled “Game over” while invoking the 10-run lead rule.”Pedro has been our leader all season and it’s great to see him getting back to 100 percent, ” said WLA manager Sean Leydon.Pedro, a son of former baseball all-star Rick Pedro, and grandson of “Pistol” Pete Pedro of college and pro football fame, pulled his hamstring last month during a hockey tournament in Canada. Catcher Pedro and the Red Sox play again Tuesday night.Kevin Depena was a pitching star for East Lynn, striking out 9. Vidal and Hunter combined for nine strikeouts for West Lynn.Shore 3, Wyoma 1At Wyoma on Saturday, Lynn Shore’s red-hot White Sox proved that their regular season record of 19-2 was no fluke, in the 62nd annual Lynn City Series at the home field of Wyoma’s league champions.”Our pitcher, Hubert Martinez, was the MVP of the game,” said Shore coach Mark Sullivan. “He had a five-hitter and struck out seven with a strong fastball. The White Sox defense behind him was great today.”Martinez has now won 12 straight games.Sullivan said the White Sox are also last season’s Shore champs, known then as the Mariners.”We bought new uni