LYNNFIELD — When the Lynnfield 12-year-old All-Stars first played against Peabody West, the end result wasn’t what they were looking for. Peabody West claimed a 10-3 win over Lynnfield Saturday and Lynnfield hasn’t forgotten about it since.
Now, in order for the Lynnfield all-stars to win the District 16 Tournament championship, they’ll have to defeat Peabody West twice. It’s a task they know won’t be easy.
“They are a fantastic team,” Lynnfield manager Matt Adamo said of Peabody West. “They play great baseball, throw the ball real hard and can rip the ball, but our kids have a lot of fight.”
“I certainly hope we can make it a much better game,” he added.
Although the loss to Peabody West was far from ideal, Adamo says the chance to see its opponent earlier in the tournament could work to Lynnfield’s benefit.
“We saw them and we know what they can bring,” Adamo said. “I think it’s going to help us, knowing how to attack them at the plate and knowing who can do damage for them in their lineup can help us in the field.”
While they may have to earn two wins to win the District 16 championship, the focus is entirely on the must-win game Thursday (5:45 at Wyoma) for the Lynnfield 12’s.
“We have to worry about Thursday’s win first, we need this one,” Adamo said. “First off we have to hit the ball better, we didn’t hit last game.
“We have to limit our walks, we had a few too many walks last game,” Adamo added. “And we can’t make any mistakes in the field that can be capitalized on.”
Lynnfield finds itself in a good spot pitching wise with left-hander Nate Lopez taking the mound Thursday, Adamo said.
“Nate Lopez is our lefty ace, he can throw hard and throw strikes,” Adamo said. “We can’t really ask for anything better than to have him going for us.”
Lynnfield will also have Nick Hubbard available to come in for relief if needed Thursday night.
“Nick is another guy who can throw hard for us,” Adamo said. “When he gets on the mound he’s big and intimidating.”
At the plate everything starts with Nick Groussis and Tyler Adamo, who combined to score the first two runs for Lynnfield in its 9-3 win against Salem Tuesday night.
“Nick Groussis and Tyler Adamo they are one and two in the order,” Matt Adamo said. “If they can get on base they’re both fast and cause trouble and we have a lot of really big bats following them.”
Those big bats for Lynnfield include Hubbard and Christian Rosa. Hubbard was 3-for-3 with three RBI doubles in Lynnfield’s win Tuesday.
“Nick Hubbard has been absolutely killing the ball,” Adamo said. “He hit a home run against Swampscott (earlier in the tournament) that I’m not even sure has landed yet.”
Overall, defeating Peabody West will take an all-around team effort, something that Adamo feels his team can accomplish.
“This team has been together since they were each 10-years-old and has had success as 10-year-olds and 11-year-olds,” Adamo said. “If there is any team that is ready to take on [Peabody West] and have a shot it’s us.”
