BEVERLY — For six innings Wednesday night, the Danvers National Little League all-stars got the pitching and defense they wanted in their Section 4 opener against Acton Boxboro.
In the top of the seventh, the Nats’ vaunted offense finally erupted.
Scoring five times on five hits, Danvers National knocked off A-B, 6-2, in extra innings at Harry Ball Field.
“We had only had a few bleeders for hits (2) up to that point, so I was hoping the offense would finally come around … and it did,” said Nats manager Stan Gesualdi, whose squad finished with seven hits total. They had been held hitless since the second inning prior to exploding in the seventh.
“I’m not sure why it was; maybe practicing in the hot weather the last three days drained both of our teams,” he added. “But we played solid defense and the pitching kept us in it to finally get that big inning.”
With one out in the top of the seventh, Danvers National leadoff hitter Teddy Blake flared a single over the second baseman’s head into right. Zane Spencer followed with a one-hop double off the fence in left-center, scoring Blake for a 2-1 lead.
Jacob LeBlanc followed with a walk, and Drew Carlson greeted reliever CJ Vroom with an RBI single to right. Ryan Moroney brought home another run with booming first pitch single to right center, and after an infield lineout Jaxon Currier brought home another run for the Nats with an RBI single down the line in right.
This made a winner out of Cam Sillars, the Nats’ third pitcher of the night. He pitched the final three innings and gave up just two hits (both in the bottom of the 7th) while striking out four, including the final two batters he faced.
Danvers National positioned itself nicely for the rest of the Sectional in terms of its pitching. Spencer, the hard-throwing righty, started and threw 54 pitches, fanning the last six hitters he saw and seven in total while giving up just one hit. Little League rules stipulate he must now rest for two days, but he’d be available to pitch a potential sectional title game Saturday afternoon.
LeBlanc relieved him and pitched the next 1 1/3 frames. He and Sillars both were credited with throwing 35 pitches, meaning they’d be able to toe the rubber again on Friday.
“We wanted to make sure we had two or three guys ready to go on Thursday (against Beverly) and two or three more guys eligible for Friday (vs. Swampscott), then have Zane ready for Saturday,” said Gesualdi.
Moroney or Kenny Blake is expected to start Thursday’s 5:30 p.m. game against Beverly.
Danvers National took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Teddy Blake walked and wound up scoring on an infield error. Acton Boxboro — which had gone unbeaten in District 13 play — tied it up in its half of the inning after Jasper Lee singled to deep short and wound up crossing home plate off a wild pitch.
Currier made two fine catches in right field for Danvers National, including tracking down a deep shot from A-B’s Luka Sinic in the bottom of the sixth inning. One batter before that, Zack Kaplan made a diving catch in left to prevent a base hit.
“You win the first game of a tournament like this and it’s big,” said Gesualdi. “It sets the tone and really puts your team in a good spot.”
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