Little League: Zeuli pitches no-hitter as Peabody Blue tops Peabody White

Mason Zeuli pitched a no-hitter as the Peabody Blue baseball team defeated Peabody White, 3-0, at Pine Hill on Tuesday.”In a district game against some pretty good hitters up and down the lineup, it’s a pretty good accomplishment,” Peabody Blue manager Eric Dollin said. “He had a nice off-speed pitch that kept them off-balance.”Zeuli, who struck out 14, was just three batters away from a perfect game. He walked one in the top of the second (Colin Lomasney), and two batters reached on consecutive catcher’s interference calls in the third inning.”He had complete control the whole game,” Dollin said. “He was on his game the whole way.”Zeuli helped out with the bat. In the bottom of the first, he led off with a bunt for a base hit. He took second on an error before Tyler McGregor hit a two-run homer. Zeuli added a solo homer of his own for the final score.Peabody White pitcher Evan Mullen absorbed the tough defeat. Mullen only allowed four hits, to two players (Zeuli and McGregor). He ran out of pitches in the fifth inning.Peabody White also had its chances. After Lomasney walked in the second, he took third on two passed balls before Zeuli got out of the jam. An inning later, after a strikeout to open the frame, the two catcher’s interference calls put runners on first and second. Zeuli, however, fanned the next two batters. Peabody Blue advances to play Salem.Salem 9, Saugus American 2Bryan Pena hit a first-inning grand slam for Salem, which got five runs total that inning (four straight walks, the last one to Kyle Ouellette, before Pena’s homer). Ouellette (3 RBI) had a single and a two-run double as well as his run-scoring walk. Ruben Baez got the win, pitching 5.1 innings and striking out eight.Lynn Shore 8, S’scott 4On Monday, Shore eliminated Swampscott, in a game that had a scary moment when Swampscott starting pitcher Alex Sheehan was hit on the head by a ball. Sheehan was taken out of the game but returned later. Dylan January and Jake Scanlon pitched well in relief. Swampscott manager Pete Inzana praised Sheehan, calling him a “tough kid,” and saying he is fine now.Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].