Swampscott Sox win 13th NSBL title, defeating North Shore in six

SWAMPSCOTT – The 2012 North Shore Baseball League’s playoffs came to a thrilling conclusion on Tuesday evening at the Swampscott High School ball field, with the Swampscott Sox winning 9-6 to take the title in six games over the North Shore Phillies.Swampscott trailed by as many as four until the top of the fifth when the Sox offense finally came alive against Phillies starter Cory Moore. By inning’s end, things were all knotted at six while the Sox stole all of the momentum.The fifth started with a stinging single to right by Ryan Healey before David Lightbody drew a walk. After getting Jonathan Santelises to fly to right, Moore allowed an RBI double to Chris Cole. Lightbody would score on a wild pitch.Teghan Malionek walked before he and Cole both came around to tie things on a two-out, two-run double from leadoff hitter Junior Santos. The Sox offense kept things going while Fred Cole (winning pitcher) and Tim Kiely (save) shut down the Phillies offense.Doug Spofford led off the sixth with a double to left-center before Lightbody was hit with a fastball and had to leave the game. Pinch-runner Chris Oram would come in to score behind Spofford on a two-run single from Chris Cole, which proved to be the game-winner.Swampscott tacked on another insurance run in the seventh on an RBI single from Healey, which scored Dario Medrano, who had singled after the first two outs were recorded.”Cory Moore is a stalwart, and one of the best pitchers this league has ever seen and our guys were able to take advantage of him pitching on short rest,” said Swampscott manager Joe Caponigro. “Baseball is a crazy game and if you put the ball in play, good things will happen.”After a 1-2-3 seventh, Kiely was mobbed on the mound by his teammates as the Sox began celebration of their 13th title in the league’s 28-year history.”We had some new players with us this season, some new blood, and it’s always nice for the new players to succeed,” Caponigro explained. “Anytime you win it’s really nice, but this year was great because the team we beat was as good as they come. The Phillies play the game the way it’s supposed to be played and I cannot give them enough credit for the year they had.”After three innings, it looked as if the Phillies would see one more game. A three-run first followed by a three-run third left the Phillies in great position before the Sox comeback.In the first, the Phillies got to Sox starter Erik Fields, scoring all three runs before an out was recorded. Jairo Valdez led off with a single, before stealing second, and coming in to score on a Kurtis White RBI single. Nick Day followed with a two-run homer.Rick Vail led off the third with a solo shot before Matt Turmenne and Dan Duval came around to score on a single by Valdez. The six-run explosion more than made up for the Sox’ first run, which came on an RBI double from Lightbody in the top of the first.”Erik got roughed up today but we wouldn’t have been here without the work he did for us all season,” said Caponigro of his starter. “Freddy and Tim came in and did a great job in shutting them down.”With another season wrapped up, Caponigro reflected on the 2012 campaign as a whole.”In the 24-game regular season we hit some peaks and valleys, we had to win two of three in the quarterfinals (against Kingston) to advance and we pulled it off,” he said. “We got hot at the right time in these playoffs and some bounces went our way. It was really just a great season.”