U12 Mariners Fall to Gale Force

Despite jumping out to an early lead, the Marblehead Mariners fell to the Georgetown Gale Force by a final score of 11-7  Tuesday night in a curfew-shortened game at Georgetown Middle/High School.

The Mariners tallied their first run just three batters in to the outing, when leadoff batter Montana Joyce scored on a sacrifice fly by Emily Promise. After notching the first RBI of the game, Promise took to the pitchers circle and delivered a scoreless home-half of the inning.

The offense continued to advance in the second inning for the Mariners as seven batters came to the plate and two more runs were scored thanks to an aggressive base-running game plan, which included a double-steal executed perfectly by Morgan Ross and Sam Payne.

In their second trip to the dish, the Gale Force knocked in their first two runs of the game and narrowed the Marblehead lead to just one run, 3-2.

The two evenly matched rosters battled through the next two-and-a-half innings in a back-and-forth tug of war resulting in a tie ballgame heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, when the Gale Force blew the game open.

With the score knotted at five, Georgetown worked the bases full and employed the same masterful base-stealing strategy Marblehead capitalized on in the second inning. This small ball tactic accounted for four runs and a 9-5 lead when Rory Donoghue connected on a bases-clearing double to put Georgetown up 11-5.

The attack was capped after Donoghue's hit, as league rules call for an immediate end to an inning in which the offense has scored six runs.

Marblehead was given a chance to rebound in the top of the sixth inning, during which they added two runs to their total and cut the Georgetown lead to 11-7. Following Ross' strikeout to end the top of the inning, the game was called due to time restrictions enforced by the league.

After the game, Georgetown Manager Joe Cifuni dismissed the notion that the Mariners were outmatched on the field.

"We fell asleep at the beginning and our pitching kept us in it. Then obviously the bats came alive toward the end," he said. "This was one of the best games we've played all season from a competitive standpoint, with two teams giving it all they've got."

Promise and Bridget Cifuni both pitched complete games for the Mariners and Gale Force, respectively.