LYNNFIELD — Lynnfield’s 15U Lou Tompkins All-Star team ended its regular season with a victory over North End 5-0 at Lynnfield High School Thursday.
Lynnfield won the game before it even started due to a forfeit. North End couldn’t field an entire team with only eight players. However, the boys still wanted to play, and Lynnfield allowed them to use one of its players as a fielder, but each team only batted eight.
“The kids came out, you know it is hot out here, but they just want to play baseball. We found a way to string some hits together and get a win,” said Lynnfield Coach Dave Tracy.
The scoring started early for Lynnfield in the bottom of the first. Matthew Tracy hit a single to left field that was played errantly, which helped him advance to second. Unfortunately for North End, Tracy scored on a hard hit ball by Mikey McCarthy under its shortstop to take a 1-0 lead.
Later in the inning, Luke DiSilvio hit a ball similar to Tracy’s to left field that once again went over the fielder’s head, scoring McCarthy from first to extend its lead to 2-0.
While Lynnfield’s bats were hot, Jake Carr for Lynnfield was dominant on the mound. He dispatched North End in short order in each of the first two innings, allowing only one hit.
As Carr continued to dominate on the mound, so did Lynnfield’s bats, albeit with the help of some poor fielding from North End. In the bottom half of the third, after Trevor Sullivan walked, Charlie Morgan hit a grounder back to North End’s pitcher, Max Howard. Howard threw the ball to second for the force out, and it was dropped.
With runners on first and second, McCarthy hit a steaming ground ball to short that was once again played errantly and scored both runners, taking a 4-0 lead.
Lynnfield continued to get some insurance runs in the bottom of the fourth behind an RBI single from Joe Wozniak.
Although Lynnfield looked poised to cruise to a victory, it did not come easy. North End threatened in the top of the fifth after Carr walked the bases loaded. However, he responded in a big way, forcing three straight ground outs and escaped the inning without allowing a run.
Lynnfield’s bats quieted down after the fourth, and its defense stayed steady. Dylan Nguyen replaced Carr on the mound in the top of the sixth, shutting down North End in the final two innings, sealing the 5-0 victory.
Although Lynnfield won its final game, it is on the outside looking in for the playoffs, where the top two teams advance, according to Tracy.
“Our division has four teams with over 10 wins, so it is certainly more difficult to advance, but I think we need a little bit of help from some other teams, but we did what we could control today, which is win today,” said Tracy.
Even with a murky playoff future, Tracy was proud of his team for its remarkable season.
“These kids played well this year. I think we have 11 wins, you know, 11-5. I have had most of these kids since they were 9, so I think this is our sixth year playing together — won a lot of games over the seasons. We actually won the District Championship as 11-year-olds a few years ago,” said Tracy.
