Busy weekend for Little Leaguers

With a spot in the District 16 final up for grabs on Sunday at Saugus American?s Grabowski Field, both Peabody West and Wyoma turned to their big guns on the mound to try to get the job done.West?s John Mulready and Wyoma?s Bobby Alcock lived up to their billing. Mulready was outstanding, surrendering four hits and striking out 11 in 5 1/3 innings, but it was Alcock who got his team into the final thanks to a 2-run homer in the fourth and five one-hit innings with eight strikeouts as Wyoma hung on for a 2-1 victory.?That was a tremendous game by two outstanding pitchers,” Wyoma manager Rick Anderson said. “Both of them battled right to the end. Bobby made the pitches when he had to and we got the defensive plays when we needed them.”The only blemish that Alcock or reliever Kyle Finnigan gave up was, ironically, to Mulready when he led off the bottom of the fifth with a single. But a diving catch in center by Connor Donovan and then a pickoff at third on a passed ball helped seal Wyoma?s win.?We didn?t want to let Alcock beat us and that?s basically what he did,” Peabody West manager Ed Silva said. “John got a curveball up and he hits a fly ball that gets up in the jet stream and just gets out. Both pitchers threw well. We just didn?t get the hit that we needed.”Mulready was dominant in his first trip through the Wyoma order, setting down the first nine in a row. Alcock, meanwhile, was effectively wild. He struck out six in the first three innings but also pitched his way around three walks to keep the game scoreless.The second time through the top of Wyoma?s order wouldn?t go as well for Mulready.Finnigan got things started with a sharp single to right. That brought Alcock, who had struck out swinging in the first, to the plate.Mulready went with a curveball, but he missed up in the zone and Alcock was able to get enough on it to drop it just out of the reach of Jordan Anzuoni at the wall in left for a 2-0 lead.?We knew that we had to score first because it was going to be tough going against John,” Anderson said.Connor Donahue followed Alcock?s homer with a double before Mulready got the next three batters to end the inning. Peabody would come right back in the bottom of the inning.Jenarro Herbert walked with one out and was lifted for special pinch runner Joe Castrachini. An error on Jack Flaherty?s grounder to second put the tying runs on. They would reach scoring position on a passed ball before Mike Silva walked to load the bases.Alcock got Pat Hosman to ground back to the mound. His momentary bobble prevented a double play and allowed Castrachini to score from third to make it 2-1. Jake Murphy would then go down looking to strand the tying run at third.After Mulready whiffed the side in the top of the fifth, Peabody threatened to tie it in the bottom of the inning. After Mulready singled and moved up on a passed ball, Donovan made a diving catch on Joe Gilmartin?s sinking liner to center.Wyoma then got a break when a wild pitch with J.C. Espinal up hit the backstop and came straight back to catcher Nick Galeazzi, who fired a strike to third to punch out Mulready. A strikeout of Angelo McCullough on Alcock?s final pitch of the game ended the fifth.Finnigan took over in the bottom of the sixth and got a 1-2-3 frame to get the save and send his team to the finals.?Even when we were up 2-1, I never felt safe,” Anderson said. “Especially with the lineup that Peabody has over there.”Lynn Shore 1, Nahant 0At Wyoma?s Reinfuss Field on Sunday, Wando Perez? walk-off single with one out in the bottom of the sixth scored Jomar Moreta to send Shore into a game this evening (5:45) against Saugus National.Neither team could get anything going over the first five innings as Moreta and Max Gieg, along with Nahant?s Ryan Graciale and Connor Donovan, put the shackles on the offenses.Moreta led off the bottom of the sixth with a single and then used heads-up baserunning to go from first to third on Julian Silvestre?s infield single with one