PEABODY — What a summer it’s been for the Peabody West 10-year-old All-Stars. The team won the Little League District 16 championship and played for a section 4 title, only to lose the championship game to Reading.
From there, it was on to the Stan Brown tournament hosted by Danvers National Little League at Tapley Park. And, for the third straight year, Peabody West took on all challengers and came home a champion, defeating Melrose 5-4 in the championship final.
“It’s a fun tournament with good competition. Danvers National does a good job organizing everything and maintaining their fields,” Manager Phil Ragusa said. “Our team looks forward to playing in it every year and they really get up for it. We’ve played Melrose in the championship the last two years and they are a great team that went far this year, all the way to the regional finals.”
Against Melrose, Owen Skerry started and pitched five strong innings, allowing four runs on six hits with three strikeouts and two walks. Leo Pietrosanto pitched one inning in relief. With two outs and the tying run on third, he struck out the final batter to seal the win.
“We played very good defense in the game,” Ragusa said. “Our pitching was great; they threw strikes and we made the plays in the field.”
Bryce Ragusa had a rock solid game at second base. Luca Mosca also played a key role defensively, filling in behind the dish when West’s regular catcher wasn’t available.
“Luca caught the entire game because we were missing our everyday catcher,” Phil Ragusa said. “He stepped in and did a great job in a spot that he usually doesn’t usually play.”
Phil Ragusa said the highlight of the game was made in the fourth inning by Nick Dattoli in center field. Melrose had the tying run on second base with two outs. The batter stroked a base hit to center. Dattoli fired a strike to Mosca at home to gun down the runner attempting to score from second, preserving West’s one-run lead.
“Nick knew exactly what to do when the ball was hit to him,” Phil Ragusa said. “He didn’t hesitate and came up with a perfect one-hop throw to the third base side of the plate, right on the money to Luca, who caught and tagged the runner as he slid home. It was a bang-bang play at a huge point in the game.”
After stranding Logan Latorella (single) in the first inning, West got on the board in the second. Dattoli reached on an error and advanced to second on Mosca’s base hit. Both runners moved up a base on a passed ball. Parker Santos came up clutch with a two-run single.
West added a solo run in the third. With one out, Bryce Ragusa doubled and moved to third on a sacrifice fly to right by Latorella. Skerry then singled Ragusa home with West’s third run of the game.
Santos led off the fourth inning with a double. Luke Pelletier followed with a walk, then both runners moved up a base on a passed ball. Grayson Roberge laid down a sacrifice bunt but the throw got past Melrose’s first baseman. Santos scored easily from third with Pelletier sliding home safely at home on a close play. Initially, the umpire ruled Pelletier safe, but he called Pelletier out.
“He said he dove head first into home plate, which isn’t what happened,” Phil Ragusa said. “In fact, he slid feet first and touched home plate with his hand as he slid around the catcher.”
Peabody scored the eventual game-winning run in the fifth inning. Bryce Ragusa and Latorella led off with walks. Dattoli reached on an infield error, loading the bases. Santos came up big again, ripping a single to score Ragusa.
With a District 16 title in the bag in just its first attempt, three straight Stan Brown titles, and also a Wyoma tournament title as 9-year-olds last year, the sky appears to be the limit for Peabody West.
Fast forward two years to 2025, when it will be 16 years since the Peabody West 12-year-old All-Stars had the entire city holding its collective breath following the team at the 2009 Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA. Could this be the team to do it again? While not specifically addressing Williamsport, Phil Ragusa believes this 10-year-old team has as good a chance as any.
“I feel like we are right there to becoming a great team that can make a deep run,” Phil Ragusa said. “We just have to tighten up in a couple of areas and keep improving every year and we will be in the mix. Overall, I’m very happy with how our team played this summer and, while I’m sad the summer’s over, I am already looking forward to next year.”
So are we.
