Softball All-Star Juniors Bow to Salem in Little League Tourney

The all-star junior league squad of Peabody West softball players packed it in for the season Wednesday night, suffering a 10-3 loss to Salem in the Little League tournament.

Salem was crowned Junior League District 16 Champions with the win at Saugus High School.

For their inaugural year of fast pitch play, the Peabody West girls played well beyond expectation, coach Mike Sullivan said of his junior all-star squad.

He said Salem was a tough team to play, and despite the loss and being knocked from the tournament, he is “very proud” of his players’ efforts. He noted he was also dealing with some injuries and players being on family vacations. Sullivan added that the girls’ themselves are still enthused at being able to play fast pitch now in Peabody and are looking to enter some tournaments this summer.

“Peabody is just loaded with talent,” Sullivan said.

In the regular season, the Senior Division was ages 13-16, but for tournament play, the All-Star squad was broken down into two teams in order to play at the District 16 level (13 and 14). The older team — the Senior All-Stars — move right on to Sectional play in July due to the lack of of a tournament format for the district, according to Sullivan.

His squad started off with a win against Saugus and took another huge comeback win on Saugus Tuesday night, 15-14, after trailing 11-0 until the fourth inning. Both losses in the double elimination format came at the hands of Salem.

For more information on Peabody West Little League Softball, check out the Web site.