Pine Hill wins a slugfest in City Series

LYNN – The day didn’t start out all that great for Pine Hill Reds manager Pete Dawson, but it certainly ended well with a 16-10 win over the West Lynn Red Sox in City Series play at Wyoma.A sudden burst of rain delayed the start of the game and when it came time for the coin flip, Dawson was on the losing end.”I lost the flip for the seventh straight time, so we had to be the visitors,” Dawson said.But things improved in a hurry. The sun came out. The crackerjack Wyoma grounds crew got the field in shape and it was off to the races.The game began well for Pine Hill. A bunt single by Dawson’s grandson Josh Mateo set the stage for an RBI single by Liam Johnston. (Johnston was injured in a collision during the game and had to be taken to a hospital.) Hustler Kevin (Thunder) Durant smacked a two-run single for a 3-0 lead.Sean Leydon’s Red Sox got one run back moments later when left-handed slugger Eric Pedro lofted a sky-scraping home run over the flagpole in center, his third round-tripper of the series, to make it 3-1.In the second inning, the Reds socked not one but two home runs after Dan Lilji and Mateo each got doubles. Johnston belted a two-run homer and when Mike Leavitt launched his first home run ever, Pine Hill went up 8-1. An excited Leavitt was so happy with his homer, he had all his teammates sign the ball.The Red Sox still had Eric Pedro, so they were not shaken. Will Hunter started a rally with a single and Nick Medeiros did likewise for a run. Leydon doubled to make it 8-3 and Pedro, looking like Jacoby Ellsbury with his left-handed swing and style, slugged another home run for three more runs. It was 8-6.Pine Hill failed to score in the third, so when West Lynn’s Alan Valoy and Mo Seguiera each had long hits for a run, the lead was down to a run at 8-7.The Reds got hot again in the fourth when Johnston and Dione Rodriguez stroked hits. Durant’s made it 9-7 and Ceaser Carrero’s clutch two-run single upped it to 11-7. Durant, son of former Classical all-star player Derek Durant, dashed across the plate on an overthrow and it was 12-7.Lou Vidal’s RBI hit for WLA in the fourth cut the lead to 12-8, but the Reds, led by Johnston, Rodriguez and Carrero, scored four more in the fifth inning to take a 16-8 lead.This was not a pitcher’s duel, in case you didn’t notice. Pedro, running as fast as his athletic grandfather Pistol Pete Pedro did in days of yore, sped to first for a single and an RBI, but it wasn’t enough as both teams ran out of breath.