SWAMPSCOTT — A seven-inning thriller. A game full of close calls. Whatever you’d like to call it, Sunday afternoon was action-packed.
In the end, however, the East Lynn 12-year-old Little League All-Stars fell, 9-8, to Winthrop, which plated three runs in the sixth inning and three more in the seventh to put a lid on things.
It brought an end to East Lynn’s season.
“This is a bittersweet ending to my Little League coaching career,” said East Lynn manager Andy Lang. “I have given almost 10 years to East Lynn Little League. I’m truly proud of the leadership, coaches, parents, and, most importantly, young men we have produced over the years. Most of the 2021 City Series Champion Padres are now playing at a high level for coach (Leon) Elwell and crew at Lynn Classical, and I expect the same from most of this team. As long as I made a small difference in any of these kids’ lives, it was worth every tryout, practice, game, ice cream, and Gatorade.”
Lang’s team trailed by three ahead of the sixth inning with two out and two on. Enter Amauri Quintana, who launched a game-tying, three-run homer on the first pitch he saw. It was his second dinger of the season and first among All-Star games.
Winthrop battled back in the top of the seventh, pushing three across against Izzy Rodriguez and Quintana. But a lead-off walk from East Lynn’s Yormanny Contreras and a double by Raiden Por led to the “heart-and-soul of our team,” Tyler Lopes, as said by Lang, coming through with a clutch single to pull East Lynn to within a run.
But that was all. Winthrop reliever Ryan McKenzie struck out two and forced a game-ending pop fly to short.
Por was strong on the mound for East Lynn, allowing just three singles and punching out seven. Rodriguez entered in relief and breezed through the fifth.
“We relied on Raiden’s right arm all year long,” Lang said. “Time and time again, he came through for us. He has worked very hard to get to where he is at in his career.”
“There were a lot of close calls – and, at this level, and with the amount of talent on the field, it’s expected,” Lang said. “Triant (Chase/Winthrop SP) was magnificent on the mound for them. We put balls in play, but they made the outs and we didn’t.”
Rodriguez was honored at the start of the game for his first All-Star home run (5th overall), which came against Saugus earlier this summer.
