DANVERS — The Peabody West 10s accomplished a lot this summer, but fell short of the ultimate goal, losing 9-3 against Reading in the Section 4 Little League Championship – a tightly-contested matchup until the fifth inning.
West got out to a great start – a perfect start, actually. Back-to-back singles from Leo Pietrosanto and Bryce Ragusa put runners in scoring position after a passed ball.
Cam Segee brought home the first run of the game with a sac-fly to left field, scoring Pietrosanto (1-0). Ragusa came home after an RBI double from Logan LaTorella, and suddenly, it was 2-0 West.
That’s not all. Nick Dattoli showed his speed, beating out an infield single and bringing home a run to give West a commanding 3-0 lead.
“We got off to a huge start with some big hits in the first inning,” West Coach Phil Ragusa said.
Not so fast. Reading got all three runs back in the bottom of the second after two runs were walked in, and another through a single.
“We score three quick runs and then nothing after that. You have to be more consistent than that throughout the game,” Ragusa said.
And unfortunately for West, it didn’t score the rest of the game.
“That’s just how baseball is,” Ragusa said.
The bottom of the fifth inning is when Reading found its groove at the plate, loading the bases and scoring six runs on five hits.
“I don’t think we had any errors. They loaded the bases and had like four or five hits in a row,” Ragusa said. “There’s nothing you can do about that. We made some nice plays in the field, but they just came away with more hits tonight when it counted and when it mattered.”
Ragusa praised Reading for battling through early adversity.
“Hats off to Reading. They came right back after being down (3-0) early,” Ragusa said. “In the end, they hit really well and they got us.”
A game is a lot more than a final score, however.
“I’m very proud,” Ragusa said. “I’m not willing to say we’re second best in this section. I think we’re better than what we showed today.”
One player who was everywhere was Dattoli. In the first inning, he made a diving catch before following it up with another in center field – both to the pleasure of the traveling West supporters.
“He’s been great. He’s played great in the field,” Ragusa said. “From the routine catches to the more difficult ones, he’s making plays. He threw a runner out last night at the plate, which was huge. And today, he had some great catches.”
Despite the loss, West has another tournament to compete in.
“We’re not done yet. We’re playing in the Stan Brown Tournament,” Ragusa said. “We won that two years in a row, so we’ll be looking to bounce back.”
