BEVERLY — Saturday morning’s Section 4 Little League all-star championship game is now set.
In a 10-inning classic late Friday night, Danvers National claimed a 3-2 victory over Swampscott at Harry Ball Field thanks to Teddy Blake’s second homer of the game, a 2-run blast in the top of the 10th.
With their victory, the Nats will take on Acton-Boxboro — which defeated Beverly, 3-0, in the opening game of the evening — for the sectional crown Saturday (10 a.m.) back at Harry Ball Field. The winner moves on to next week’s Massachusetts Little League Final Four in Andover.
It took 2 hours and 35 minutes to decide the Danvers National/Swampscott classic, a game that featured terrific pitching, outstanding defense and, of course, clutch hitting.
The contest was tied, 1-1, after the regulation six innings of play. Swampscott had scored first, with leadoff man singling to start the bottom of the first inning and eventually scoring on Gavin Cerrutti’s sharp RBI single to center. Danvers National tied it up in the visitor’s half of the fourth inning when Blake (3-for-4) boomed an opposite field shot onto the screen past right field.
Blake, the Nats’ leadoff hitter and catcher, has now hit three home runs in his last two sectional games.
Still tied after six innings, the teams went to extra innings. After neither scored in the seventh, they started each ensuing inning with a runner on second base (the batter who made the last out of the previous inning), per Little League rules.
The Nats got a runner to third with one out in the top of the eighth, but Swampscott reliever Dylan Arndt recorded back-to-back strikeouts to get out of the jam.
Swampscott then had a golden opportunity to punch its ticket to Saturday’s final in the home half of the frame. Jason Fabiszewski hit an infield single and stole second, putting runners at second and third. A walk to Kate Pavey loaded the bases with none out. Right-hander Drew Carlson came on in relief for Danvers and managed to escape the jam, getting a strikeout, an infield grounder — where second baseman Dominic DeOrio nabbed a one-hop smash and threw home to force the runner — and a groundout to first, ending the inning.
After getting out of the top of the ninth unscathed, Swampscott again nearly won it in the bottom of the inning. With the runner on base to start the frame, leadoff hitter Jett Nichols (2-for-4) laced a single to center field. But Ryan Moroney of the Nats fielded it cleanly on one hop and came up throwing, firing to Blake at the plate to nail the runner trying to score from second. Swampscott ultimately stranded runners on second and third.
Finally in the 10th, against Swampscott’s third pitcher of the night, Blake hammered a long fly ball, again going opposite field. This one cleared the net and landed on the second field at Harry Ball, scoring Thomas Somes ahead of him.
Down to their last three outs, Swampscott made a valiant comeback attempt. Back-to-back one-out walks to Max Rowe and Jackson Fitzgerald loaded the bases, and Fabiszewski lofted a sacrifice fly to center that brought home Connor Mohan from third. But Carlson bore down to strike out the final batter and put his team in the championship game.
Cam Sillars started for Danvers and pitched 4 2/3 innings of four-hit, 5-strikeout baseball before reaching the 85-pitch maximum limit. So did Swampscott’s Beckett Brown, who gave up four hits and struck out seven in his 5 1/3 innings of work.
Danvers National, which has played extra innings in all three of its sectional games thus far, will have its mound ace, Zane Spencer, rested and ready to go for Saturday morning’s finale.
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In the opening game of the evening, the District 13 champions from Acton-Boxboro scored all of their runs in the bottom of the fourth inning as lefty cleanup hitter Jack Bergeron hammered a 3-run homer to the opposite field, driving the ball into the metal bleachers in left-center.
Beverly hurler Jeremy Demers had cruised through the first three innings, striking out eight without allowing a hit. But infield base knocks by Jasper Lee and Luca Simic set the tone for Bergeron’s deciding blast.
The best chance for the Garden City kids came in the top of the fifth when they loaded the bases after singles from Steele Irons (2-for-2) and Mason Baker, plus a fielder’s choice by Luke Boudreau (that forced Irons out at third) and Demers reaching on an infield error. But Acton-Boxboro’s CJ Vroom, who spun a complete game three-hitter, got out of the jam with a line out to second base.
Demers threw 69 pitches in his 4 /3 innings for Beverly, finishing with nine punchouts and just three hits allowed. Southpaw Trey DeOrio relieved him and got the final two outs of the fifth, including a strikeout.
Beverly finished 1-2 at sectionals and 5-4 for the summer all-star season.