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Swampscott catcher Connor Correnti, left, celebrates with pitcher Pierce Friedman, right, after a win.
BY MIKE ALONGI
LYNN — Behind a fantastic pitching performance from Pierce Friedman and a big offensive day from third baseman Nate DeRoche, the Swampscott Little League baseball team defeated Wyoma, 6-2, in a District 16 tournament loser’s bracket semifinal game at Volunteer Field on Monday.
Friedman almost tossed a complete game, pitching 5 2/3 innings and giving up two runs on two hits with a walk and four strikeouts. He also helped himself out at the plate, going 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.
“He threw the ball great today,” Swampscott coach Steven Correnti said of Friedman. “He’s from our 11-year old team that won the district last year, so he’s kind of our veteran pitcher out there. He loves the challenge that comes with it and goes out, attacks and throws the ball hard.”
As for DeRoche, he went 3-for-4 with three RBIs to pace the offense for Swampscott. Rightfielder Dylan Dubiel (2-for-2) also contributed two RBIs.
“I thought the guys played really well today,” said Correnti. “They came out and got the bat on the ball early and scored some runs, which set up our pitcher to with a nice cushion right off the bat, and then we were able to continue that solid play throughout the game.”
For Wyoma, shortstop Christian Moran knocked a solo home run.
Swampscott came right out in the top of the first and got on the board. After a leadoff double by Connor Correnti, an infield single by Matt McIntire and a walk by Chloe Rakauskas, the bases stood loaded for Dubiel. He didn’t disappoint, smashing a two-run double into the left-centerfield gap to make it 2-0.
Friedman came out to the mound and pitched great, retiring the first eight batters of the game before giving up a walk in the bottom of the third.
Swampscott put up another two-spot in the top of the third thanks to a two-out rally. It started with Dubiel’s infield single, followed by a single by Friedman. Next up was DeRoche, who came through with a two-run single to left field to go up 4-0.
Wyoma notched its first hit in the bottom of the fourth, and it gave the team some much-needed life. With one out and no one on, Moran stepped in and launched a solo home run over the left field fence to make it 4-1. Tyler Wilson was up next and singled, and it looked like the Wyoma rally was on. But Friedman settled down and locked in, striking out the next two batters to escape the inning with minimal damage.
Swampscott added two more insurance runs in the top of the sixth, one on an RBI walk for Friedman and one on an RBI single from DeRoche.
Wyoma had one final shot at a rally in the bottom of the sixth. After two quick outs, Wilson was able to reach on an error to keep the inning alive. Next up was Aaron O’Connor, who hit a deep fly ball to right field that was dropped in the outfield, scoring Wilson from first. With the score now 6-2, it looked again like the rally was on. However, the next batter grounded out to end the game and send Swampscott on to the loser’s bracket final.
In the final, Swampscott will take on Nahant to see which team can continue its season a little longer. The game will take place at Pine Hill today at 5:45 p.m, with the winner to play Peabody West in the district final Thursday.
“They’re a great team, they just got bounced from the winner’s bracket this weekend,” said Correnti. “So they’ve been waiting for a while and I’m sure they’re anxious to play. We know them well, we play them during our regular season and a lot of the kids are friends with each other. So it’s a good little rivalry and it’ll be a lot of fun.”
