Peabody West rides home runs to victory

Peabody Western Little League got the job done via the long ball Friday, defeating Wilmington, 11-6, in Little League Section 4 pool play at Tewksbury.Peabody actually trailed 3-2 heading into the fourth inning, but that changed in a hurry when John Mulready, who had homered in the first inning, hit a grand slam. The effort apparently inspired his teammates because two batters later, J.C. Espinal hit a two-run home run and two batters after that, Jenarro Herbert had a two-run blast. Peabody scored eight runs that inning.?It happened in the blink of an eye,” Peabody manager Ed Silva said. “They were beating us 3-2 and their pitcher was doing a good job.”Wilmington had taken the lead early on a two-run home run by Dom Pedi. Mulready finished the game with five RBI.Peabody also benefited from a strong pitching performance by Joey Gilmartin, who went five innings and left the game with an 11-3 lead. Dana Tennent finished up in relief.?In the first inning, they (Wilmington) just got the ball up and (Pedi) crushed it, but Joey was in control the rest of the way,” Silva said. “He gave us five full innings (he had thrown 85 pitches).”Peabody will play North Andover today in the final game of pool play.?It was great,” Silva said about the hitting display. “It makes life very easy when they hit like that for sure.”