Legion Baseball Captures District Title Over Andover

Another league, another title for Peabody ball players.

On Saturday, the Junior League of Peabody’s American Legion Post 153, won its district championship by defeating Andover 6-2. The Peabody club went 4-0 in the double elimination tournament, defeating North Andover (9-4), Newburyport (7-4), and then Andover twice (6-2 both times).

Peabody finished its 20-game regular season format, 11-9, and in the initial playoff contest, saw Kevin Guzofski pitch a full game with Andrew Lessard and Steve Leavitt contributing two hits and two RBIs apiece.

For the Newburyport win, Matt McIsaac pitched the game and he and Maynard Wheeler each contributed two hits and two RBIs each.

Mike MacKenzie took the mound for the first game against Andover, with Mackenzie, Carlos Ortiz and Guzofski also adding two hits each. The second time around, Guzofski and McIsaac shared duties on the mound. George Tsonis and Pasquale Cappuccio each belted out triples while Max Gordon accounted for two RBIs to pad another 6-2 win for Peabody.

Legion baseball, founded in 1925, in this area north of Boston, consists of 11 teams in District 8: Andover, Chelsea, Haverhill, Lynn, Methuen, North Andover, Peabody, Saugus, a co-op Swampscott-Marblehead team and two clubs in Newburyport.

The Junior League is ages 17 and under while the Senior League is 19 and under. The younger Peabody club is managed by Ken MacKenzie and coached by Lou Karger.

The Legion’s senior league did not make the playoffs.