PEABODY — The Lynnfield 10-year-old All-Stars gave it their all, but their dream of playing in the Section 4 championship game went up in smoke Sunday afternoon at steamy Lt. Ross Park with a 10-8 loss to District 15 champion Beverly.
Trailing, 10-5, and down two its last three outs, Lynnfield rallied and pulled to within two with two outs. With the tying run at the plate, Nico Cavallo drilled a bullet to center field. Unfortunately for him, it was right at center fielder Logan Reynolds, who snagged it without moving so much as an inch.
“That’s baseball,” said Lynnfield manager Chris Cavallo. “They tried their hardest, but they’re only 10 years old. They’re going to make mistakes and we had that one rough inning, but they bounced back. We fought back as much as we could. We had a little bit of bad luck on some hard balls that were hit right at people. We needed more timely hitting when we had runners in scoring position and maybe just getting that good bounce.”
The loss concluded three games of pool play with the top-two teams advancing to the championship game. With the win, Beverly will play District 13 champion Billerica Monday at 6 p.m. back at Lt. Ross Park.
With both teams tied with 1-1 records, the game had high stakes with a spot in the championship game on the line. Truth be told, Lynnfield couldn’t have gotten off to a better start with a four-run first inning – the big hits being two-run doubles off the bats of Luca Mandell (2-for-3, 2 R) and Xander Maliawco (1-for-2). Beverly cut the deficit to 4-1 in the second on an RBI groundout from Greg Richardson, then took advantage of some sloppy fielding and a couple of seeing-eye singles in the third to take a 5-4 lead.
Lynnfield tied things up, 5-5, in the fourth. Luca Mandell led off with a single and got to second on a throwing error and third when Nico Mandell’s (1-for-2, R) fly ball to center was misplayed. He scored on a fielder’s choice from Ben O’Hara (1-for-2, R).
Beverly regained the lead, 6-5, with a solo run in the fourth and exploded for four more in the bottom of the fifth to lead 10-5.
Lynnfield’s rally in the sixth started with No. 11 hitter Finn Charville (1-for-2, R) and No. 12 hitter Korbin O’Blenes. Charville led off with a single and O’Blenes followed with a walk. Both advanced a base on a wild pitch. Matt Cavallo singled to short to load the bases. Luca Mandell reached on an error at first with Charville scoring, then Nico Cavallo brought O’Blenes home with a sac fly to right with Matt Cavallo tagging up to third and then stealing home to make it 10-8.
“All summer long, they (Charville and O’Blenes) have done that,” Chris Cavallo said. “We have 12 excellent hitters in our lineup, so whether No. 10 is up or No. 1 is up, I feel we have confidence they can get on base. It’s hard to come from five down. Give credit to Beverly. They swung the bats well and had very timely hitting and got guys on base.”
Nico Mandell, 9-year-old Owen O’Blenes, 9-year-old Luca Mandell, and 9-year-old Nico Cavallo shared the pitching duties.
With a fourth 9-year-old in Genaro Antonelli, Chris Cavallo said the future is bright for next year’s 10-year-old team.
“I’m very proud of those guys as they’re not just add-ons; they are special kids who add a lot to our team,” Chris Cavallo said. “All of these kids learn from these games. They have a lot of growing to do and there are a lot of hurt feelings right now, but in an hour, they’ll be eating ice cream and enjoying the rest of the summer.”
In other section 4 action over the weekend, the Peabody West District 4 champion 11-year-old All Stars (1-2) and Peabody West 10-year-old All-Stars (0-3) failed to make it out of pool play. The Peabody Tanners District 4 champion 10-year-old softball All-Stars (1-2) also failed to make it out of sectional pool play.
