Norwood Little League Wins Big in Skills Development

Norwood Little League is strong and well, as shown by the fact that one of Norwood Little League’s finest alumni, Catholic Memorial and Post 70 Legion pitcher John Gorman, was drafted by the Red Sox this month.

“It was awesome,” said 16-year Norwood Little League President Mike Dolanir. "His father coached here for a long time.”

Over the years, Norwood has produced some great baseball players like Richie Hebner and James Sweeney. And with over 700 kids participating in both baseball and softball Norwood Little League, residents can expect more of the same in the coming years.

On Saturday there were five games played at Kelley Field in South Norwood from both the Association Division and International Division. Games started at 9:00 a.m. and went through the entire afternoon.

One of the more exciting games of the afternoon was played by the eight and nine-year-olds of the Association League, which matched number three-seed Pittsfield against number four-seed Durham.

Both Pittsfield and Durham started their aces in Durham’s Joe Cavalari and Pittsfield’s Harry Gover. Both pitchers struck out the side in the first two innings and cruised unscathed until the third, when catcher Joe Diblasi doubled to lead off the inning and made it to third in a gutsy base running decision.

Diblasi scored to make it 1-0 when second baseman Jack Kelley notched an RBI single for the early Durham lead.

Durham managed to score three more runs to take what seem to be a comfortable 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth.

But Pittsfield had other ideas.

Gover knocked in a two out, two run double to tie the game and force extra innings.

In the seventh, Pittsfield made some key defensive plays to keep Durham off the board. The first key out was made by third baseman Dom Fanizzi who used some nifty footwork to block the base to get a crucial out. Catcher Matt Malley followed up with tagging out the go-ahead run at home plate for the final out of the inning to keep Pittsfield’s hopes alive.

The heroics came in the bottom of the eighth for Pittsfield as lucky number 7, Dan Gruber hit a shot to right for the walk-off home run. Final score was Pittsfield 5, Durham 4 in eight innings. After the big hit Gruber talked poetically about his game-winning home run.

“I felt it coming to me, I felt the breeze and I felt it coming,” said Gruber.

Pittsfield’s Matt Malley, a formidable catcher behind the plate who caught five innings and whose favorite player is Jason Varitek said, “It was crazy to come back from 4-0.”

Both teams played great and as always the focus was on development rather than wins and losses.

Pittsfield coach Kevin Malley commented after the game, “They (kids) have done a great job, they are learning some skills. It’s great to win but it’s not about winning it’s about developing skills.”