HOLDEN — The road to a potential New England Regionals trip will be a little bit longer than the Little League all-stars from Boxford hoped.
Thursday in the opener of the Massachusetts Final Four tourney, Boxford was three outs away from victory when Parkway Little League put together an unstoppable sixth inning rally and emerged with an 8-2 victory at Holden Little League’s Swenson Field.
This year’s state finals are following a double-elimination format, so Boxford will need to win three straight games to claim its first ever state title. The road back starts Friday back in Holden, when Boxford will face the loser of Thursday’s late game between Pittsfield and Bridgewater in an elimination game at 5 p.m.
“We’re not done,” Boxford manager Paul DeLeo said. “The message to the boys was that everything is still in front of us. In baseball, you can bounce back and that’s what I love about this game.”
The District 15 and Section 4 champs from Boxford had a 2-1 lead going to the top of the sixth and final inning. Parkway strung together six straight base hits to take the lead and busted the game open on a bases loaded, bases clearing double by Charlie White.
By the time the inning ended, Parkway had eight total hits and scored seven runs. That was more than Boxford allowed in the entire D15 tourney, but the youngsters didn’t have much to hang their heads about. Defensively, Boxford held a few hard hit balls to the outfield to singles and made the right throws … Parkway simply found ways to hit the ball to gaps.
“My hat’s off to (Parkway). We didn’t give it to them, they earned it,” said DeLeo. “They hit some pretty tough pitches.”
Starter and ace Jake DeLeo limited Parkway to four hits and one run over the first 4 1/3 innings. He was lifted at 50 pitches, which leaves him eligible to throw in Sunday’s state final should Boxford advance. Henry Carrieri threw next, going 38 pitches in order to remain eligible for a potential elimination game on Saturday, and Henry Pracht finished up in under 20 pitches.
Managing arms and pitch counts with eyes on the rest of the tourney is the name of the game at this stage of the Little League all-star tournament. Parkway used five different pitchers with their started hitting the max and no one else throwing more than 20.
From DeLeo’s points of view, all his pitchers did their jobs and kept things lined up for a possible championship run.
“The plan is still in tact. We have Jake for Sunday if we make it, which is what we wanted. We have Ben (LaChance) ready to go for (Friday). And we have Henry (Carrieri) ready to go for Saturday,” the manager said. “The pitching is set up for us.”
Looking back at Thursday’s loss (Boxford’s first of the summer as they’re now 10-1), there were a few chances to crack things open. Pracht worked a leadoff walk and scored on a wild pitch in the fourth to give Boxford a 2-1 lead, but the North Shore all-stars left the bases loaded (including a close play at home that was ruled out) and couldn’t pad the lead.
Boxford had a baserunner in every inning and stranded a total of 11 men on base. That was atypical of the kind of clutch hitting and productive offense they’ve had so far this summer.
Jake DeLeo, Brendan Foley, Graham McKenzie and LaChance all had hits for Boxford. Pracht worked three walks and scored while Harry Stevens worked a pair of freebies and Jackson Surface did the same. Bennett Taeger also dropped a perfect sac bunt and made a couple of nice defensive plays at second to hold Parkway off in the early innings.
Parkway took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Matt Andrade surprised Boxford with a first pitch bunt single and he came around to score on an RBI single by Anderson Malone (who finished 3-for-3). Jake DeLeo got out of the that jam without allowing any more runs and breezed through the second and third innings on just 17 total pitches.
In the bottom of the opening frame, DeLeo tied things up for Boxford after depositing a leadoff single into center. He advanced on a wild pitch, took third when Pracht’s walk loaded the bases and proceeded to steal home.