10-Year-Old All-Stars Advance

The following information was submitted by Darren Klein:

The Marblehead 10 Year Old All-Stars continued their exciting and successful summer of baseball by winning their Round 2 Trophy Weekend Championship Game in the Bay State Tournament of Champions. 

To qualify for the trophy round, Marblehead once again found itself in the familiar position of having a do or die game against Melrose.  After Jackson Klein pitched a gritty couple of innings to keep the score tied at 3-3, Kyle Saulnier came in and shut Melrose down for the next three innings.

Marblehead’s bats then came alive behind big hits from Klein, Dahlia Galante, Eric Gonzalez, Ben Brennan, Sebastian Fisichelli, Jack Bentley and TJ Zagarri. Brennan pitched the final inning to secure the 8-3 win and a trip to Framingham for the Round 2 trophy weekend. 

On Saturday of trophy weekend, Marblehead played top seeded Andover Blue in a pitching duel. 

In a scoreless game, Sean McCarthy got Marblehead going in the 4^th inning with a text book bunt and Galante brought home the first run of the game to break the tie. That was all the offense Marblehead would need as Emmet Janney threw the gem of the summer pitching a complete game shutout while only walking an incredible one batter in six innings. It was a true masterpiece.

Marblehead was able to tack on two more runs for a 3-0 victory behind timely hitting and great base running from Zagarri, Bentley and McCarthy.  All game long Marblehead displayed great defense, which included gems from Loch Sheridan, Will Twadell, Gonzalez, Brennan, Bentley and McCarthy before Zagarri ended the game with a diving catch in centerfield to secure the win.

The finals involved a nail biter against Sudbury Red.  Marblehead scored in the 1^st inning when Klein singled and Fisichelli doubled him home.  Fisichelli then controlled the game from the mound pitching 4 strong innings and leaving the game in a 1-1 tie. 

Saulnier relieved him and as usual pitched two dominant innings, although Sudbury was able to score one run in the 6^th inning to take a 2-1 lead.  Marblehead was down to its final out when Zagarri came up to the plate and belted the first pitch for a clutch double to tie the game and ignite the entire Marblehead dugout.  As the game went into extra innings, Brennan took the mound and retired Sudbury’s best hitter to end the inning and keep the game tied.

Klein started off the 7^th inning with a sharp line drive to shortstop before advancing to second on an error.  Fisichelli then came up to the plate and ended the game much like he started it with a double off the left field fence scoring Klein and launching Marblehead into a Round 2 Trophy weekend championship celebration.              

By winning the Round 1 and Round 2 Championships, Marblehead earned the 2^nd overall seed in the Final Baystate Tournament of Champions involving the top 16 teams, which begins with home games at Gatchells field on August 8, 10^th and 12th as Marblehead tries to qualify for the quarterfinals. The team has continued to play hard and display great sportsmanship all summer long behind the leadership of Manager Jac Bentley and Coaches Kevin Brennan and Ron Zagarri.