LYNN — Tiebreakers in sports never seem to be settled without some controversy. And the one that kept the Lynn Little League softball team out of the state championship game is a perfect example.
Three teams finished the round-robin pool play part of the tournament with 3-1 records: Lynn, Worcester (Joe Schwartz), and Canton. All three teams had 1-1 records against the other two.
That meant a series of tiebreakers would settle the slate. The first tiebreaker was runs allowed, and Worcester allowed the fewest with 12 and grabbed the top spot in today’s state final in Worcester.
Lynn and Canton tied with 23, and Lynn gave up 15 of those runs in a loss to Canton.
“And really, it was one bad inning where we gave up nine runs,” said manager Jason Newhall. “The inning just got out of control.”
With both teams tied in runs allowed, the next tiebreaker was runs scored. There, a noticeable difference existed. Lynn scored 26 runs in the tournament while Canton scored 54, so it got the second spot in the final.
“We were the odd team out,” Newhall said. “But beyond that, it was a great season. We went 20-1, and we had a lot of great performances that helped us get to where we were.”
Newhall starts with his daughter, Addison, who “came out of nowhere. I don’t know if I’m up for watching my daughter pitch for four years in high school (his older daughter, Lily, was the star pitcher for St. Mary’s), but I guess I’ll be dealing with it.”
Another go-to player on the team this summer was Katie DiNicola,
“She was great,” Newhall said.
As for the rest of the team, “They all did well,” he said. “You get them together, you practice for a month, and they all come around. They started to learn and started to win. And they started to enjoy it.”
Newhall doesn’t sugarcoat.
“I’d rather be playing tomorrow,” he said. “But the big thing is we had a great year.”
He listed the players on his team.
“Gwen Protz improved greatly,” he said. “I think she is going to be a great player. Kiley Schippilleti made all the plays and had some big hits.”
“Jianny Bernabel did great,” he said. “She came around on her hitting and had a couple of big hits.”
“Lena Owuni is very athletic,” he said; “As a shortstop, she’d make a play in the hole and then throw to first. Siena White is a small kid, but toward the end, she was driving the ball out of the infield. You knew she was there.”
“Gabriel Doney improved greatly and had a couple of hits,” Newhall said. “She just kept improving. Emma Pento became one of the better defensive players we had in the game and played wherever we needed her late in games. Also, she has good speed.”
“Kelsy Kwiatek, Bella Veilleux, who had a couple of good hits, Reigh-Lyn Comeau, and Erin Furlong were our subs, but they were always ready to play and did a good job for us.”
