By ANNE MARIE TOBIN
LYNN — The Peabody White all-stars District 16 tournament came to a close last night with a 6-2 loss to 2015 champion Salem at Pine Hill’s Chris Spagnoli Field.
Tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the third, Salem put the game out of reach with two runs, then added two more in the fourth and one more in the fifth to seal the win.
Peabody squandered three chances to seize the momentum early, stranding two runners in scoring position in each of the first three innings.
“Against a good team like Salem, the district champions, we needed to capitalize on those early scoring chances and we didn’t,” Peabody coach Jeff Powers said. “I’m proud of the way we played and had a lot of quality at bats that went deep into counts, but you can’t settle for a run or two and hope to hang on, not against a good team.”
Peabody got off to a quick start with a 1-0 lead after one. Patrick Wood led off with a four-pitch walk, got to second and third on wild pitches and came home on Joe Raymond’s hard grounder back to the Salem starter Luke Smith.
Salem took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third. Stefan Croft led off with a walk, got to second on Josh Berabee’s infield hit to third and scored on a long double to center by Ethan Doyle. Smith then hit a chopper to shortstop Danny Barrett, who gunned it home to get Berabee, but a hard slide dislodged the ball with Berabee scoring on the play.
“That play changed the momentum in the game,” Powers said.
Smith advanced to second on defensive indifference, giving Salem runners at second and third with no outs, but Peabody starter Jason Romans got out of the jam with three strikeouts.
Barrett singled in the fourth and scored on a wild pitch, making it a 2-2 game, but Salem answered right back with three in its half to lead 5-2.
With one run in and Croft on second after doubling home Robert Palacios, Peabody flashed some glove with a nifty 1-3-6 (Justin Powers to Brendan Smith to Romans) double play, then went quietly in order in the top of the sixth to end the game.
“We had our moments, but we needed to play 18 outs, not 12 or 13,” Jeff Powers said. “Jason Romans pitched a fantastic game and he deserved better.”
