SAUGUS — It may have taken a few innings, but once the Lynnfield 10-year-old All-Stars found their groove, there was no stopping them.
Despite falling behind 3-0 after two, the Pioneers rallied with seven runs over the next three to complete a 7-3 win at steamy Hurd Field Sunday and clinch a spot in the championship game Friday night (TBD).
“The boys are very resilient and have a lot of confidence,” Lynnfield manager Chris Cavallo said. “There are 12 All-Stars on this team who can make plays in the field and hit the ball so I don’t think they ever doubted themselves. When they are down, they know they can crawl back at any time.”
“We just had some fielding miscues that really hurt us, just not knowing where to go with the ball, and we didn’t hit the ball as well as we can,” West manager Shaun Coburn said. “There were just a few plays that we’re going to work on in practice. The bottom line is Lynnfield just played better than we did.”
West came out of the gate swinging, taking a 3-0 lead after two. Connor Segee (1-for-2, R) and Robbie Stanziani (1-for-3, R) started the game with back-to-back singles. Both runners scored on wild pitches.
In the second, Brayden Coburn (1-for-2) led off with an infield single to second and scored on Jake Kallianidis grounder to third to bump the lead to 3-0. Unfortunately that was as good as it got for West.
Lynnfield’s Nico Mandell (4 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 7 K) and Luca Mandell (2 IP, 1 H, 3 Ks) were virtually unhittable the rest of the way. The only hit West mustered was a harmless leadoff single in the sixth inning from Gingy Gravalese (1-for-2).
Lynnfield began to chip away in the third, the big hits being singles from Genaro Antonelli (1-for-1, RBI, R), Korbin O’Blenes (1-for-2, R,) Matt Cavallo (2-for-3, R) and an RBI single from John Kayola (2-for-3) to make it a 3-2 game.
The Pioneers took the lead for good in the third, the big hits being RBI singles from Maverick Murphy (1-for-2) and Antonelli that made it 4-3.
Lynnfield blew the game open with a three-run fourth. Matt Cavallo started the party with a leadoff single. He got to third on a double by Luca Mandell (1-for-3, R) and scored on Nico Mandell’s (1-for-3, R) RBI single. Next up was Nico Mandell (2-for-3, R), who smacked a two-run double to make it 7-3.
Nine Pioneers got into the hit column. Xander Maliawco (2-for-3) was one of four Pioneers with multiple-hit games.
Chris Cavallo said the 11s have depth when it comes to hitting.
“It’s really been like that the last three games. Through the lineup we have excellent hitters, one through 12,” he said. “You can see from the stat sheet that hitters, nine through 12, contributed as well as the top.”
West faces an elimination game Tuesday night (TBD) at Peabody West (results too late to print).
Coburn said Segee (4 ⅔ IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3Ks) “pitched a very efficient game. He kept us in the game the whole way. The first inning was key to jump out and get the lead but we had a lot of called third strikes, just too many. Some of those pitches were right down the middle, so it’s something to work on. Guys need to be more aggressive up there and not put it in the umpire’s hands.”
Chris Cavallo wouldn’t be surprised to see another Lynnfield-Peabody West matchup in the finals.
“We’ve played them a lot and they know us very well and we know them,” Cavallo said. “They’re a great group of kids and a great team that is always well-coached as well so our games with them are always competitive.”
Coburn agreed.
“It’s quite possible we will see them again,” he said. “We have to work on situational plays so we know where to go with the ball. The guys need to know that the coaches aren’t going to tell them to go in the wrong direction so they just need to trust them and do as instructed.”
While the game started an hour late, Coburn refused to offer any excuses.
“Yes, it was hot and Lynnfield played a better ball game than we did, but to get down here early and then have to sit around for an extra hour waiting for the game to start wasn’t ideal, but the bottom line is the other team faced the same conditions,” Coburn said. “We just needed to play better and we’re going to work on that.”