Peabody West 10s Blast Their Way to State Tourney

[The following game report was submitted by Peabody West Little League coach Ed Silva, who manages the 10-year-old all-stars.]

Saturday night the PWLL 10-year-olds captured the Section 4 title with a 10-5 victory over North Andover East. PWLL beat North Andover East twice in this sectional -- and 10-5 Saturday night.

Saturday night, PWLL was losing 4-1 in the top of the fifth but put up nine runs in the fifth inning, highlighted by a grand slam from Joe Gilmartin that rang off the left field foul pole (memories of Carlton Fisk).

The pitching of Jake Murphy and John Mulready kept North Andover at bay and allowed the PWLL bats to take over.

Once again, this title was a total team effort over the two games. In game one, we had tremendous defense from both the infield and outfield and everyone swung the bat well. Six players in the order had multiple hit games (Angelo McCullough, Murphy, Mulready, Jenarro Herbert, Mike Silva, JC Espinal). Defensively, we played error-free baseball in game one. Outfiled plays by Espinal, Jordan Anzuoni and Ari Rozopoulos were inning-savers.

Game two was a different ballgame. Hard-throwing fireballer from North Andover kept the PWLL bats in check early. We had a couple of chances, but left runners on base. Defensively, we were not sharp and did not make some of the plays that we normally do to help our pitcher out. We told the boys the game would be a grind and to just keep battling. The game is not won in the first or second inning, we would get our chances, keep head up and keep chipping away.

I guess they listened. Defensively we improved and limited the extra outs for North Andover. Outfielders Jake Paragona, Mike Sabella and Mike Evangelista prevented the big inning by pouncing on anything that got in the outfield. The fifth inning was the turning point in the game.

The inning started with a double by Murphy. Then an RBI double by Herbert. A gritty at bat by Anzuoni to draw a full count walk got PWLL to 4-3. Next batter Jack Flaherty was hit by a pitch to drive in the tying run. An infield hit and error followed giving PWLL a 6-4 lead, which set the stage for Gilmartin's grand slam to make it 10-4 to cap the inning.

It is on to the state Final Four for this group. Parkway Little League of West Roxbury is the host site. The four sectional winners are Holden LL, Lakeville LL, Parkway LL and PWLL.

PWLL opens pool play Thursday night at 7:15 p.m. at the Camaratta complex in West Roxbury.

Special thanks to the PWLL fans and parents. It is a big time commitment and I appreciate the parents getting the boys to the practices and games.