Dedham Falls Short in Series Final to South Boston

Dedham's tournament run in the South Shore Babe Ruth World Series ended in theatrical fashion Thursday night.

South Boston scored five runs in the final two frames en route to a 10-4 win and a championship at .

"We needed to put runs on the board early in this game, but we didn’t and we fell apart, had some errors and that’s what killed us," said Dedham second baseman John Bethoney, who was impressive as a leadoff hitter for coach Kevin Hampe’s squad during their postseason run.

The difference in this series was South Boston’s pitcher Matt Nee, who was dominant in game two, in South Boston, going nine innings, and was once again near untouchable Thursday night.

The lefty with the above average fastball and a sweeping curve came back on only three days rest in the win, pitching four scoreless innings to start the game.

Dedham was able to get to Nee in the fifth, when Anthony Valentino walked, followed by a Bethoney single and a Jason Riley RBI single to get Dedham on the board and cut the South Boston lead to 5-1.

After two Nee strikeouts, an error scored Bethoney, Kevin Boudrow forced in a run with a walk and Ben Walsh slapped a two-run single to cut the lead to 5-4. But, Dedham couldn’t manage any more runs off Nee and South Boston reliever Matt Beaggan.

"We had trouble hitting their first pitcher [Nee], that lefty in two games really has done a number and we have a lot of lefties in our lineup," said Hampe following the defeat.

Dedham couldn’t capitalize with any of the clutch hitting they showed at the end of game two that went 12 innings to force the rubber match.

Dedham left seven runners on, including two on with no outs in the bottom of the seventh as Beaggan mowed down Dedham’s 3-4-5 hitters for the series-clinching win.

"We left a lot of guys on base and we had some opportunities, then our defense fell apart late in the game and in result we gave them too many runs at the end," said Hampe.

Despite having one of South Boston’s best hitters ejected during infield warm-ups in the sixth inning, it briefly appeared as if Dedham might be able to use the momentum to swing the game their way.

South Boston, however showed their toughness and Beaggan forced three consecutive ground outs.

"Bottom line is we didn’t hit [Nee] and he is a pretty good pitcher, and they hit the ball in the clutch," said Hampe.

Hampe praised his team’s effort in the tournament as they beat Westwood and Weymouth in the first two rounds.

"It’s nice to think about all the people they have played in front of, and all the baseball they played," said Hampe. "We played over 20 games this summer and that can only help them next year."

"We did well," said Bethoney, who only plays organized baseball in the summer. "We had a fun season and I am happy I played."