Peabody West ousts Shore

They have been two of the most consistent Little League programs in the area for the better part of the last two decades and for the second time in four years, Wyoma and Peabody West are set to lock horns for the District 16 title.On Wednesday, at Wyoma?s Reinfuss Field, West punched its ticket into the finals as it jumped on Lynn Shore early with an 11-run first inning en route to a 13-5 victory in the loser?s bracket finals.Peabody West will face Wyoma on Thursday (5:45) at Pine Hill needing to win twice to claim the title again.?I am proud of this team,” Peabody West manager Ed Silva said. “We were kind of shell-shocked after what happened on Sunday, so it was nice to see us get our swagger back a little bit (Wednesday). But Lynn Shore had no quit and they can swing the bat like crazy. Needless to say, I was nervous even though we were up 11-0.”It was not long ago that Lynn Shore?s league was in danger of folding, but in three years, the program has come from the bottom of District 16 to having given the defending champions a scare twice in the tourney.?The kids were in it right down to the end,” Lynn Shore manager Mark Sullivan said. “They have nothing to hang their heads about. I think that they gave Peabody West a scare.”Like the teams? first meeting five days earlier, it was a big inning from Peabody that did in Shore?s hopes.After Shore left a pair of runners on in the top of the first, Peabody went about putting up a crooked number.John Mulready (3-3, 3 RS, 3 RBI) led off with a walk that Joe Gilmartin (2-4, 3 RS, 2 RBI) followed with a single. A wild pitch moved both up 60 feet before J.C. Espinal?s hit plated Mulready.A throwing error on Angelo McCullough?s grounder to third scored two more runs before Jenarro Herbert grounded out to third to plate McCullough for a 4-0 lead. Walks to Joe Castrachini and Jack Flaherty sandwiched a hit batter to load the bases.Jake Murphy walked before Mulready singled to score two more runs and make it 7-0 and knock Shore starter Wando Perez out of the game. Andy Duverge came on and was rudely greeted as an error scored Murphy and a passed ball plated Mulready.McCullough ripped a 2-run homer with two outs to cap the scoring.Less than 24 hours earlier, Shore overcame a seven-run deficit to stay alive against Saugus National. In the top of the second, Shore tried to begin an even bigger rally.Max Gieg led off with a walk and Angelo Person followed with a single. An error on the play moved both runners up to second and third. Jerimies Brito walked to load the bases.Seth Menard?s grounder to second was thrown into right field, scoring Gieg and Person to get Shore on the board. Duverge?s one-out single reloaded the bases with two outs before a throwing error brought two more runs across before McCullough got the final out.Duverge, meanwhile, was doing a great job of keeping Shore in the game thanks to brilliant relief pitching.Gieg got Shore a run closer in the fourth when he led off with a single. McCullough got the next three batters.He left with two on and one out in the top of the fifth as Silva summoned Dana Tennant from the bullpen. He got back-to-back strikeouts to end the fifth and added two in the sixth before Gilmartin finally allowed Peabody West fans to relax when he cranked a nearly 400-foot homer with one out in the bottom of the fifth to make it 13-5.