Marblehead 13's Fall to Danvers

With a berth in the state playoffs on the line, the Marblehead 13 year-old baseball All-Stars saw their Cinderella run in the post-season end with an 8-6 loss to Danvers Monday night at Clancy Field in Lynn.

Marblehead entered last night’s game with one loss, dropping an earlier game to Danvers 4-3. The win means that Danvers moves on to the state tournament that will begin Friday night in Quincy.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with this group of guys,” Marblehead manager Dan Brothers said. “Nobody expected a lot of us heading into the playoffs, but we played well and we surprised a whole lot of people.”

“Good luck to the boys from Danvers, they played us tough, and I wish them the best in the next round,” Brothers said.

Danvers scored three runs in the bottom of the first, before Marblehead could get their offense going.

Leadoff hitter Pete Morrison, Teddy York, P. J. Roy and James Allan scored for Marblehead in the top of the fourth, on three hits and two walks.

Morrison scored twice for Marblehead, and York led the offense with two hits and two RBI’s. Will Fitzpatrick, Garrett Keough and Gabe Rowe also knocked in runs for Marblehead.

Danvers came right back in the bottom of the third to retake the lead at 5-4, and never trailed again.

Beau Dana started on the mound for Marblehead and took the loss, exiting in the sixth in favor of Keough. The righty kept Danvers off the board in the fifth and sixth innings.

Dan Lynch, Ed Tylus and Andrew Olzak scored the final three runs for Danvers, giving the home team an 8-4 lead after four full innings.

Marblehead chipped away with a run in the fifth and one more in the sixth, but 8-6 was as close as they would get.

Will Fitzpatrick grounded out sending Gabe Rowe home with the fifth Marblehead run, and Rowe plated Pete Morrison with a sacrifice fly to right for the last Marblehead run in the top of the sixth.

Brian Donahue, who came in for Danvers’ starting pitcher Mike Cravatis with two outs in the sixth, retired the final four batters he faced to get the save. Cravatis got the win for Danvers, striking out three in 5 and 2/3 innings.

“This is a good bunch, we play hard, we practice hard, we’re excited to be able to keep playing this week in Quincy,” Danvers manager Rob Lynch said. “We stayed focused when we gave up the lead, and came right back in our next turn at bat.”

“We played Danvers tough in the two games, (a 4-3 loss and Monday’s 8-6 defeat), they’re a good team, but we’re a good team too and I’m very proud of our guys, they deserve a lot of credit getting this far.” Marblehead manager Dan Brothers said.

Marblehead got to the 13 year-old All-Star championship game by beating Beverly, Salem and Saugus, finishing up the tournament with a 3-2 record.