WEST NEWBURY — Phil Desilets didn’t even glance at his bullpen.
Heading to the bottom of the seventh inning with his team holding a newfound one-run lead, the veteran Georgetown skipper had no doubts letting Ty Southall jog back to the mound to try and finish what he started. The duo have only been working together for about 2.5 years now, but Desilets has already learned to know better than to take his junior ace out of a pressure situation.
He knows the fury that he would face.
“If I try to take him out he’s going to bite my head off!” laughed Desilets. “That’s Ty, he wants the ball. As long as he’s got pitches left to throw, he’s going to want that ball. And I trust him 100% that he’s going to go get it.”
Tuesday afternoon, that trust paid off once again.
After surrendering a leadoff walk to open the frame, Southall buckled down and retired the next three batters in order, getting a game-ending groundout on his 109th pitch to lead Georgetown to a gritty win over Pentucket, 5-4. Both teams came into the game ranked inside of the top-10 in their respective divisions, and a battle between two of the CAL’s best this spring more than lived up to the hype. The Royals built a three-run lead in the top of the sixth inning only to watch it dissapear in the bottom half, but rallied to find the game-winning run in the seventh before Southall showed why he’s our reigning Daily News MVP.
“It says a lot about our character and our buy-in,” said Desilets. “We’re still building on the little things, but the guys believe in each other. They’re confident that we’re going to find a way to get it done.”
That confidence was on full display in the biggest moments.
Because the sixth inning was certainly a shock to the Royals (10-3), who came into the game still ranked No. 2 in Division 5. They finally felt like they had built a cushion over their Division 3 foes with a three-run top half to make it 4-1, only to watch as the No. 10-ranked Panthers (8-3) matched it in the bottom half to tie things right back up. But quickly regrouping, Ryan Skahan (2-for-3) led off the seventh with a double, was bunted over to third by Nate Anderton, then scored what would be the game-winning run off a towering double to center from leadoff man Brendan Loewen (2-for-4).
And it also spoke to the team’s grit on a larger scale.
Georgetown had won seven in a row heading into last weekend, only to see that streak snapped against undefeated Hamilton-Wenham — the No. 1-ranked team in Division 4 — in a mega-matchup on Saturday night. Of course the Royals didn’t want to lose two in a row. But being able to quickly put that game against the Generals behind them, only to then put blowing a three-run lead against Pentucket behind them and win, speaks volumes.
“It wasn’t the end of the world, (Hamilton-Wenham) is a really good team,” said Desilets. “But we’re confident that we can beat them and hang with them, we’re confident that we can compete. But I just keep harping on the little things. We did it today, and it’s a great win against a really good Pentucket team.
“And to be able to bounce back like that says a lot about us.”
But Pentucket continues to prove that it’ll be a tough out come playoff time.
While Southall (7 IP, 2 ER, 6 Ks) gets the win, for most of the game it was a classic pitcher’s duel between himself and Panther ace Luke Pergola (6.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 Ks). The senior righty ran into some trouble in the sixth — that wasn’t entirely his fault — but similarly, coach Mike Wendt wanted nobody else on that mound in the seventh when the game was tied.
“That’s why I put him back out there in the seventh, because this is the guy that I want on the hill to go out and win the game for us,” said Wendt, who is now serving in his second stint as Pentucket coach. “Luke’s been incredible for us this year.”
It just wasn’t quite enough.
Pentucket already has a few walkoff and extra-inning wins this year, but came up just a tad short of adding another on Tuesday. Georgetown struck first in the top of the fourth inning, as Southall reached third on a single and two-base error in the outfield, then scored on a sacrifice fly hit by Ollie Thibeault (2-for-3, 2 RBI). But the Panthers responded in the bottom of the fifth, when senior Patrick Stewart — who is back pitching after missing the beginning of the year with an injury — crushed a ball to the fence in left-center, and turned on the jets to complete an electric inside-the-park home run.
Then the entire sixth inning was completely wild.
Loewen starting the top half off with a triple, then scored on a Southall sac fly. Thibeault then popped an RBI-double that could have been caught but wasn’t, and crossed home when Nadeau lined a single to right field to make it 4-1. But in the bottom half, Noah Meyer led off the rally with a double, before Pergola (2-for-4) ripped a single up the middle. A subsequent single from Max Cloutier plated Meyer, and an RBI-ground-rule-double from Julien Powers completed four straight hits for the team and brought Pergola home.
And after a sac fly from Jake Snyder, we were tied at 4-4.
But Southall got the final four outs he needed, and Georgetown was able to make the drive home with a victory.
“The guys obviously battle and they compete,” said Wendt. “Knowing that you’re never out of a game is obviously a pretty good situation for me, right? But, sometimes it doesn’t play out in your favor like it didn’t today. We just can’t put ourselves in those spots. We’ve been able to come back and win some games, but we also know that if we play better at times and not give away a run or two, we’re not going to put ourselves in that spot.”
Georgetown 5, Pentucket 4
Georgetown (10-3): 0 0 0 1 0 3 1 — 5
Pentucket (8-3): 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 — 4
Georgetown (5): Brendan Loewen ss 4-1-2, Willy Valera cf 3-1-0, Ty Southall p 2-1-1, Colin Neilson cr 0-0-0, Ollie Thibeault 3b 3-1-2, Shawn Riley dh 3-0-0, Rex Nadeau RF 3-0-1, AJ Machiavelli 1b 2-0-0, Ryan Skahan c 3-1-2, Jeremy Neilson cr 0-0-0, Nate Anderton LF 2-0-0, Kyle Gilstein 2b 0-0-0. Totals 25-5-8
Pentucket (4): Donovan Yoder 2b 4-0-1, Noah Meyer 3b 4-1-1, Luke Pergola p 4-1-2, Max Cloutier c 3-1-1, Julien Powers ss 3-0-1, Patrick Stewart dh 3-0-1, Jake Snyder 1b 2-0-0, Jayden Pabst cf 3-0-1, Will Cacciapuoti lf 2-0-0. Totals 27-4-8
RBI: G — Thibeault 2, Southall, Loewen, Nadeau; P — M. Cloutier, Powers, Stewart, Snyder
HR: P — Stewart
WP: Southall (7 IP, 2 ER, 6 Ks); LP: Pergola (6.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 Ks)