Shrewsbury National Runs Out of Gas

Last night marked the end of the line for the Shrewsbury National Little League All-Star team.

Shrewsbury ran up against a talented Grafton team in the Massachusetts District 5 semi-finals and ultimately didn’t have the answers as Grafton notched an 8-2 win at the Washington Street Park Complex.

“I’m proud of the boys and how far they’ve come this year,” said Shrewsbury manager Mark Abbott after the loss. “The boys played well, Grafton just played a little better. Their pitcher did a good job of keeping us off the board and the bases.”

National was in search of its second district title in three years. It last wore the crown in 2009. Instead it will be watching the remainder of the season from the bleachers.

“Grafton’s pitcher wasn’t doing anything special to keep us off balance. He just threw strikes and when we hit the ball we hit it at people,” said Abbott. “That’s baseball it happens. Grafton is a good team.” 

Grafton provided starting pitcher Brian Fletcher all the run support he would need as the team belted out 11 hits including two home runs. Grafton claimed a 5-0 lead after three and a half innings and never looked back.

Shrewsbury starting pitcher James Abbott lasted four and two-thirds innings before hitting the Little League pitch limit of 85 pitches. He was replaced with Ryan Svendsen, who worked the final inning and a third. All the runs were charged to James Abbott as he was hit with the loss.

Neither team could break through during the opening two frames. Shrewsbury managed just two base runners through the first six outs. A leadoff single to open the first inning by Svendsen and a two-out walk to Patrick Galvin in the second but couldn’t do anything with either.

Grafton drew first blood in the third inning with four runs on three hits. The highlight of the inning was a two-run homer off the bat of Brad Bombard. Mike Holbrook also delivered an RBI single in the inning as well.

Another run in the fourth gave Grafton a commanding 5-0 lead and it was becoming apparent that midnight was approaching for the Cinderella story of Shrewsbury National.

However, in the home half of the fourth Shrewsbury attempted to climb back into the game. With one out, Dave Turro beat out an infield hit before James Abbott attempted to help his own cause by belting a 1-0 fastball over the right field fence for a two-run dinger and cutting the Grafton advantage to 5-2.

Unfortunately that was where the magic would end for National. Grafton took back the momentum with three more runs in the fifth inning to make it 8-2 and chase James Abbott from the hill.

With one last crack in the sixth inning National attempted to go down swinging. A leadoff single by Casey Boudreau kicked the inning off on the right foot. Pinch runner Ryan Trocki advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Turro went down looking for the first out before James Abbott walked to bring an end to Fletcher’s night on the bump. Dylan Lague was brought in to slam the door and he did just that striking out both batters he faced to end the ball game.