9-Year-Olds Win Again

It was an oppressively hot day on Grifyn Sawyer field at Gowdy Memorial Playground in Lynn and Coach Mark Cohen took that into account.

He used five different pitchers and circulated his players around the field to gain a 9-2 victory over Nahant in the second game of the Wyoma Tournament on Saturday.

Jake Miller pitched the first inning for the local team, striking out two of the four batters he faced. He was relieved by Chris Gally in the second, who struck out three while allowing four hits and two runs.

Charlie Young was chosen to pitch in the third and it proved to be a good move for Marblehead. Young stuck out all three Nahant batters in the third as well as another when he returned in the fourth.

Young found himself in a small jam in the fourth, putting a runner on second twice but great defensive awareness from Miller behind the plate and Hayden Rausch on third helped Marblehead maintain their lead as both runners were caught stealing.

Young returned to the mound again in the fifth, but after he walked the first two batters, Cohen made another change, this time calling on Charlie Kahn to pitch. Kahn was solid in his inning of work, facing only three batters and earning one strikeout.

Ryan Dombal finished up the game for Marblehead, striking out two of the three batters he faced in the sixth and securing the win for Marblehead.

The boys backed up their solid defensive effort with the offense to match, scoring nine times on seven hits. They started scoring right from the start, as the number one and two hitters, Jacob Garfield and Eli Cohen, both crossed home in the first.

Marblehead racked up four more runs in the third inning, putting together a hard-fought two-out rally to regain the lead over Nahant for good.

After Hayden Rausch walked, Tommy Woodfin, who finished the game 2 for 2 with an RBI, pushed him to second with a single through the infield. After Rausch scored on a passed ball, Garfield drew a walk. He and Woodfin would both advance into scoring position because of another passed ball. Cohen took full advantage of the scoring opportunity, connecting for a two-RBI single.

After a scoreless fourth, Marblehead put together another scoring outburst in the fifth, plating three runs and locking up the victory.

Rausch started the inning off with a towering shot to right field, which he turned into a triple. Woodfin followed with his second single of the day, driving in Rausch. After another single from Cohen, Gally produced a sacrifice fly to center, which scored Woodfin. Miller knocked in the team's last run with an outfield triple of his own, bringing Cohen home.

"This was our best game in a long time," said Coach Mark Cohen after the game. "Everyone was alert, we made some great throws getting three guys out at third, we had our hardest hit balls of the season with two triples in the last inning, and the strong pitching that we always get."

Marblehead's next opponent is the All-Stars from Winthrop, who they play on July 15 at Walsh Field.

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