While the families and friends of the Lynn Babe Ruth 15-year-old All-stars busy themselves with raising money to allow their sons to play in the New England Regionals this weekend in Keene, N.H., the players will focus on baseball.
The 15s, who won the state championship last Saturday with a 5-2 win over Parkway of West Roxbury, have sailed through the postseason without a loss. They ran the table in the District 1 tournament and then did the same in the states last week. The team demonstrated resourcefulness and a strict attention to the details of pitching and defense to win three games before making last Saturday’s final.
“We preach being where we’re supposed to be,” was how Lynn Coach Rich Avery put it after Lynn’s victory over Maplewood last week — a game that featured two double plays that got the state champs out of dicey situations.
Lynn Firefighter Leon Elwell manages the 15s, assisted by Avery, who is the site coordinator for both Manning and Fraser Fields as an employee for the Lynn Department of Community Development. Elwell took Babe Ruth teams to the World Series in 2016 (the 15s) and 2019 (senior Babe Ruth) and almost took a team of 14-year-olds to the series in 2000.
The New England Regional Tournament is in a pool-play format with Elwell and the rest of the Lynn 15s in Pool B with Rochester, N.H., Three Corners, Vt., and Pittsfield.
Pool A consists of host Keene, Waterford, Conn., North Providence-Smithfield, R.I., and Sanford, Maine.
Each team plays three games — all against their own pool. Lynn begins Friday (1 p.m.) on the campus of Keene State College against Vermont. Saturday, Lynn draws Pittsfield in a battle of Massachusetts, also at 1; and Sunday, the Lynners will play New Hampshire, again at 1.
When those three games are over, the second and third-place teams from each pool will play crossover games (B vs. A) Monday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. The winners of those two games will go on to play the top finisher in both pools at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tuesday.
The winners of those games will play for the championship Tuesday at 4 p.m.
Lynn is at work raising the necessary funds to send the boys to Keene. The drive to the college takes roughly two hours, and as League President Jeff Earp said Monday, forcing them to drive back and forth every day will compromise their playing.
Lynn was supposed to be the host for this tournament, just as it was in 2016 when it won the New Englands and went on to play in the World Series. But Babe Ruth changed its plans, and Earp said he has never been given a satisfactory explanation.
