Marblehead rally stuns Lynn in Gallant Tournament opener

SALEM – It’s not often that a slide goes down as the play of the game, but that was exactly the case for the 12-year-old Marblehead all-star team in its 9-3 win over Lynn in the Ray Gallant Tournament, Thursday evening at Stephen O’Grady Field.Click here for a photo gallery.Down 3-2 entering the seventh, Marblehead staged a six-run rally off Lynn starter Jonathan Nicosia, who had pitched well all game long. Things started with a leadoff single from D.J. Miglloire that hit the base of the right field fence of the shoebox-like ballfield.After Ben McCarthy followed with a single up the middle, a scary moment took place when a Nicosia fastball caught Jack Rucklemann squarely in the side of the helmet, drawing a collective gasp from the crowd. Rucklemann stayed down for a few minutes before walking off the field under his own power.Nicosia proceeded to plunk Seamus Kenney, forcing in the tying run and leaving the bases full. An ensuing passed ball had McCarthy attempting to take home, which looked impossible as reliever David Hunter received the flip from catcher Quinn Brinkler.The tag never came, however, as the athletic baserunner jumped while contorting his body, not only avoiding the tag, but landing and swiping home plate in the process. The acrobatic maneuver gave Marblehead its first lead.Steve Pappas and Thomas Brent would add two-run singles each in the inning, increasing the lead to five before Hunter ended the nightmarish inning with back-to-back strikeouts. Lynn was unable to put anybody across in the bottom of the frame.”Marblehead’s a good team and I give them a lot of credit,” said Lynn coach Leon Elwell. “They were down the whole game but hung tough and came back to get the win.”After four innings, it didn’t look like Marblehead would have a chance with the way Nicosia was pitching, not to mention the 3-0 deficit. Through four innings, Nicosia only allowed two hits while fanning six (eight total).”Jonathan pitched a great game for us and deserved a lot better than he got,” said Elwell of his starter’s outing. “He came out of the game when it was 3-3 and Dave came on in a tough spot with the bases loaded and nobody out. That’s a tough thing to ask of a 12-year-old to do.”Lynn’s offense got things started quickly before fading against Marblehead starter Henry Billings. Nicosia and Dave Barnard both reached on misplays at third in the first before coming around to score. Nicossia scored on a passed ball while Barnard came in on an RBI single from Dax Billingsley.The first inning ended on what would turn out to be an unfortunate theme of the game for Lynn ? baserunning mistakes. On Billingsley’s single, Briston Maynard was held at third. Teammate Kyle Bernadini kept running, though, rounding second and getting caught up in an inning-ending rundown.Another blunder on the basepaths cost Lynn potential runs in the third as Nicosia was tagged out trying to reach third on a wall-ball single to right from Barnard.”We had some potential big innings going, but we ran into outs, which you can’t do in these kind of tournaments,” said Elwell.Not seeking excuses, Elwell explained that in such a tight park, baserunning can be a bit tougher to judge.”I think the field dimensions are part of it because the kids see a wall ball and are thinking first to third, so that maybe played a part in it,” he explained.Lynn tacked on its third run in the fourth on a solo homer from Bernadini. Marblehead finally cracked its goose egg in the fifth, scoring two.Kenney plated Miglloire on a sacrifice fly before McCarthy came in on Lynn’s one defensive miscue of the game. The two runs finally cracked Nicosia’s confidence, leading to the fateful seventh inning rally.Lynn plays again on Saturday morning (11) against the loser of the Danvers/Swampscott game that followed its own.