SALEM — The Peabody Little League 12-year-old All-Star team had the bats cracking from the get-go, defeating Swampscott, 4-0, Friday night to capture the District 16 championship at Stephen M. Grady Field at Forest River Park.
Swampscott entered Friday hoping to force an “IF” game and play for a third straight district title, but Peabody had other ideas, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. After that, Peabody starter Adam Grant did the rest, holding Swampscott to just one hit across 5.1 innings, while striking out 10 and walking three.
“I told them right off the start that we needed to come out hot and they did,” said Peabody Manager John Hoffman. “Hats off to Swampscott – they were dogs. They were fighting. They had tons of momentum coming in and had been playing unbelievably this week. I’ve been telling the boys all week that we needed to come out strong because I knew Swampscott was going to be a battle, so that was a big first inning.
“Once again, our pitching was unbelievable, but this was a very close game,” Hoffman added. “It was a huge team win. I don’t think any one player stood out, but it was the whole team. The whole team played unbelievable.”
“We just got off to a rough start and settled down after that first inning,” said Swampscott Manager Mike Rossi. “I pride our team on defense, but they were just putting the ball where we weren’t. That’s the name of the game. That’s baseball. It is what it is, but hats off to them. They’re a great club.”
Peabody came out swinging in this one. Jack Houlihan (1-for-3, R) got things started with a leadoff single in the first and advanced to second on a Jaxson Hoffman walk. Grant (1-for-2, R, RBI) ripped a long double to the fence in center field to plate Houlihan, then Wes Weed (1-for-3, 2 RBI) brought Hoffman and Grant home with a two-run single to make it 3-0.
Peabody bumped the lead to 4-0 in the second inning. With two outs, Lukas Downey (1-for-2, R) worked a walk off Swampscott starter Archie Packer (4 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 BB, HBP) and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Tyler Garcia (1-for-2, RBI) followed with a timely single, scoring Downey from second.
Grant reached his pitch count in the bottom of the sixth inning after striking out the leadoff hitter – his 10th punchout of the game. Declan Peterson (2/3 IP, H) came on in relief to face A.J. Carter, who ripped a line drive to Grant at short for the second out. Jackson Danahy kept Swampscott’s hopes alive with a bunt single, but it was too little, too late.
Swampscott had its chances with runners on base in every inning, but Grant was up to the challenge, allowing only three Swampscott baserunners to reach second base.
Swampscott’s best chance came in the fifth inning when Owen Jordan drew a one-out walk. Next up was Harry Fitzgerald, who broke up Grant’s no-hit bid with a single to left. Grant buckled down and got the next two hitters on called third strikes to end the threat.
“We just couldn’t get timely hits when we needed them,” Rossi said. “Obviously, you see that in the score. It comes down to hitting with runners on base and we just didn’t do that today – that’s why we fell short.”
The silver lining for Swampscott is, despite the loss, its season isn’t over because, as the district’s runner-up, it qualified for the Section 4 tournament that begins Wednesday back at O’Grady with a rematch against Peabody at 5:30 p.m.
“Everybody will be available for Wednesday,” Rossi said. “We are very fortunate to be deep in pitching.”
Hoffman said Peabody, which last won a district title in 2019, has plenty of work to do to keep its summer going.
“We’ve been chasing this district title since we were 10 years old,” he said. “We now have it, but it’s not over yet and we want to keep going. I don’ t want our summer to end. I want to keep playing and I know these kids want to keep playing, too. We can celebrate tonight, but it’s right back to work tomorrow.”
