LYNNFIELD — It’s been quite a summer for the Lynnfield Little League program.
Two of its three All-Star teams (10s and 11s) won District 16 titles and competed in their respective sectional tournaments. The 11s, in fact, made it all the way to the Section 4 championship game only to drop a 1-0 heartbreaker to Beverly.
Newhall Park was hopping with five district tournament games this summer, including one 12-year-old game.
Just last week, the league wrapped up its inaugural 9-year-old Battle by the Lake tournament, won by Saugus, which defeated Peabody, 9-8, in eight innings Thursday night. Eight teams including Lynnfield participated. Other teams included East Lynn, Swampscott, Marblehead, Saugus, Peabody, Peabody West, and Winthrop. Lynnfield advanced all the way to the semifinals only to be eliminated by Saugus.
The game took more than three hours to complete, thanks in part to a miraculous comeback by Peabody in the bottom of the sixth inning. Trailing, 6-1, Peabody battled back with five runs to send the game into extra innings. Twice, Peabody had the game-winning run on third base only to be denied.
League President Tom Kayola said the idea to host the tournament came after Wyoma Little League decided not to run its 9-year-old tournament any more, a tournament in which Lynnfield, and many of the teams who played at the Battle by the Lake tournament, have been regular participants.
“The feedback from everyone who participated was tremendous and it was great to see so much activity and excitement at the park,” Kayola said. “After we learned that the Wyoma tournament was not going to be held, our board stepped in. We wanted to expose our kids and families to the cadence of what’s involved with summer tournaments so that they know what to expect next year when they are playing as 10s in the district tournament. Plus, it’s just another way to keep these kids learning the game.
“We could not have asked for a better event. The championship game was really fun and to have it play out the way it did made it so memorable for everyone. It was one of the best 9-year-old games I’ve ever seen. The tournament was exactly what our board had hoped for. We wanted families to have fun, so we had things like cornhole and concessions, so we plan on keeping it going in the future for as long as we can.”
Kayola said proceeds from the tournament will be added to the league’s capital fund and that the league is committed to continuing to improve its facilities. Last year, the league installed a new scoreboard at Newhall Park. Improvements to the back field have also been in the works, making for greater use.
Thanks to a $45,000 state grant secured by House Minority Leader Rep. Bradley H. Jones Jr., the league is set to start working with the DPW in August on major field improvements at Glen Meadow Park that will remedy poor drainage conditions that render the field unplayable after heavy rain. That work may also include a batting cage. Kayola said he hopes similar improvements may also be in the works for the infield and home plate area at the Lynnfield Middle School, which also has drainage issues.
The timing for the fields’ upgrades couldn’t come at a better time. According to Kayola, there were more kids playing spring Little League this year than last and “we’ve got more kids playing summer baseball than in years past across all ages with the 8s in Swampscott/Peabody West, 9s in Battle by the Lake, and 10-12s in districts and in Jimmy Fund.”
Kayola said the league is grateful for all of the volunteers and to the DPW who have stepped up to elevate Lynnfield’s Little League program.
“So many people have put in a lot of work as volunteers all season long to keep our concessions open and run this tournament. We are so fortunate to have a great relationship with our DPW. We couldn’t be doing what we are doing without them” Kayola said. “We are really appreciative to have received state funding to help keep our fields playable.”
Kayola was quick to credit previous boards for laying the groundwork to bring Lynnfield Little League to a higher level, especially for their efforts in bringing district games back to Lynnfield.
“We hadn’t hosted a 12s District 4 game in a very long time, so we were so happy to have been able to get back to that again,” Kayola said. “It was guys like Jack Dahlstedt, Steve Walsh and Dave Lucey – to name a few – who picked it up and got us through COVID to a league we can truly be proud of. We wanted to bring it to the next level and these guys handed it off to us in such great shape for us to get there. They helped put us in a position to do that and to get district games again, so that’s the plan for us going forward.”
