Milton Downs Braintree in Babe Ruth Tournament

On Friday, in the Babe Ruth 14-year-old District Tournament at  in Braintree, the hosts took on Milton in the winner’s bracket of the double elimination event. Milton had previously defeated Marshfield in their opening game, 12-9, while Braintree had defeated Kingston, 11-1.

Only one of these teams would be able to stay unbeaten and remain in the winner’s bracket, though, and the short trip home across I-93 was
an enjoyable one for Milton as they came out on top, 6-2.

“I want to congratulate the Braintree team,” Milton coach Lloyd Hill said, noting that they’ve become very familiar with them ever since they’ve been competing against them starting at the age of 9 in Little League.

“I think the dimensions of the game, the pitching pounding the strike zone, the baserunning creating a lot of pressure on the defense… We didn’t swing at a lot poor pitches, so we weren’t chasing pitches. And the last thing was our defense was outstanding. The outfield, the infield, everybody was very patient and they moved their feet to get to the ball, so really 100 percent effort all around in those dimensions.”

Right from the start of the game it looked like Braintree might be in trouble. Milton starter Ryan McDougall was dominant, limiting the tournament hosts to just five hits in the game. He lasted 6.2 innings before being lifted in the seventh, when it looked like Braintree might be putting something together; however Braintree couldn’t make anything happen off relief pitcher Matt Doherty either.

“He was doing great,” Braintree assistant coach Domonic Zingarelli said about McDougall. “He was throwing strikes. We couldn’t hit him. He was doing his job.”

Milton got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning. After shortstop Matt Doherty hit a bloop double down the left field line with one out, McDougall (2-3) followed with a bloop single to left. Third baseman Cody Carr (2-2) then knocked a line drive into center to score Doherty, and Milton had an early 1-0 lead.

Braintree was able to tie it up in the top of the second when catcher Gino Larossa doubled to lead off the inning. Two batters later Cal Berman knocked him in with his own double to knot it at one. But Frederick Connolly (2-2) led off with a double. After Doherty was hit by a pitch, Braintree brought in Connor Columbus to pitch. Connolly and Doherty would both score after some mental errors by Braintree’s defense.

“They played a great game,” Zingarelli said. “We just made a couple mistakes that just killed us right from the beginning and we couldn’t overcome those mistakes at the end of the game. We just dug ourselves too big a hole.”

Braintree scored a run in the fifth to cut the lead a little, but Milton was able to score three more runs in their half of the inning, essentially putting the game out of reach.

Milton now stays in the winner’s bracket and will play the winner of Weymouth-Quincy on Tuesday. Braintree will play in the loser’s bracket Saturday against Duxbury.