With temperatures rising steadily toward the century mark in Wakefield last week, no one probably wanted to stray too far from the air conditioner. That being said, Willis Haviland Carrier’s brilliant invention is useless on the baseball diamond, and the summer baseball leagues soldiered on through the soaring mercury. The Eastern Basketball League was also in action last week, and the Mystic Valley 5K run around Lake Quannapowitt went down as well.
Here’s how the locals teams and athletes fared last week.
American Legion
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Wakefield Post 63 finished the regular season with an 8-10 mark, good enough for second place in the District 5 Zone C standings, and opened competition in the District 5 playoffs, known as the Chairman’s Cup—a double elimination tournament—on July 19 in Malden. Despite playing at South Broadway Field, Post 63 was the nominal home side due to the unavailability of any suitable diamonds in Wakefield.
Corporal Harry E. Nelson Post 63 fell behind 5-0 early against Malden Post 69, and it looked as though they were destined for the losers bracket, but the bats bounded to life and Wakefield pulled off a come-from-behind 9-5 victory.
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In the bottom of the fourth, Paul Ardizzoni (Melrose High) got things started for Post 63 with a bases-loaded double to drive in Wakefield’s first two runs of the game. After Malden recorded an out, Tyler Finnegan brought in two more runs with a single to left. With two outs in the inning and Wakefield still trailing by a run, Alex Markakis—the cousin of Baltimore Orioles infielder Nick Markakis—brought home Finnegan with a single to right, tying the score at five. Pinch hitter Matt Rej put Post 63 ahead with an RBI groundout to score Dylan Dennis in the fifth. Dennis would provide Wakefield with a cushion in the sixth, slicing a ball down the left field line that was misplayed allowing two runs to score. Ardizzoni brought around the final run of the game with his fourth hit of the night.
Intercity League Baseball
The Wakefield Merchants had four games on the docket last week, but only managed to get two in, as the others were postponed due to rain. The Merchants may well wish that all four were rained out, however, as they lost both contests they played, slipping behind the Andre Chiefs into third place in the league table at 14-7.
Kicking things off in an inauspicious manner on July 18, Wakefield took on the league-leading Lexington Blue Sox and was whitewashed, 9-0, at Lexington High School. The Merchants managed just three hits against starter Kevin Scanlon (4-0) and reliever Tim Bryant. James Ramsey (3-2) took the loss for Wakefield.
On July 20, the Merchants were again held to just three hits and lost, 3-1, to the Testa Corp. Bombers at Walsh Field. Ronnie Wallace (1-0) picked up his first win of the year for the Bombers, while Stephen Cool (3-1) allowed two earned runs and took the tough-luck loss. Joe Papa tripled and drove in the Merchants lone run, while Brooks Townsend and John Davison collected base hits. Wakefield ends the month of July with six games in seven days, beginning with the Arlington Trojans on July 25.
Eastern Basketball League
In the girls entering ninth grade division, the Wakefield Xplosion suffered a lopsided 38-6 loss against the MA Hoop Elite in Beverly on July 20, and are currently 2-2 overall. In the girls entering eighth grade first division, the Wakefield Hawks fell to 2-1 with their first loss of the summer, a 36-21 setback against MA Hoop Elite in Beverly on July 20. In the second division the Wakefield Warriors improved to 6-1 with a 32-28 win over the Eagles in Wenham on July 21.
Mystic Runners Lake Q 5K
The weekly 5k run around beautiful Lake Quannapowitt was held as usual last week, and the harriers of Stoneham flexed their muscles, taking four of the top five spots.
Dave Corbett took the top spot, finishing the course in 19.17, while Stoneham’s Brian Daly placed second at 19.36. Continuing the trend, Brett Kotowski, also of Stoneham, took third at 20.30. Wakefield resident Pat Dooling broke Stoneham’s grasp on the top five, taking fourth place at 22.33, while Naomi Laing collected fifth place at 23.01.
Jaimee Carlton of Wakefield took ninth place with time of 24.57.
