BEVERLY — A terrific summer run by the Danvers National Little League all-stars finally came to an end Saturday at Harry Ball Field in Beverly.
Less than 12 hours after claiming a thrilling 10-inning victory over Swampscott the previous night, the Nats saw their Williamsport tournament run halted by Acton-Boxboro, 5-0, in the Section 4 championship game.
“I’m very proud of these guys. We had a great run,” Danvers National manager Stan Gesualdi said after his team was presented with the tradition Little League pins for making it to the sectional final. “They should be proud of what they did. To get to this point is a great accomplishment.”
Danvers National had just four hits on the day, two of those coming in the bottom of the fifth as Cam Sillars and Jaxson Currier both singled with two out. But they were left stranded as Acton-Boxboro starter Luka Simic got his seventh and final strikeout to escape the jam.
The Nats stranded six runners on base, but only one (Sillars) reached third base.
Zane Spencer pitched well for Danvers National. The hard-throwing righty surrendered five hits and struck out five over 4 2/3 innings before reaching the 85-pitch maximum limit. Kenny Blake came on in relief and closed the door from there.
“Pitching and defense certainly carried us in this tournament, but I thought our bats were a little flat the last two games,” admitted Gesualdi.
While the Nats fielded a traditional 12-man lineup, Acton-Boxboro once again had just 10 players at its disposal (two others were on vacation). Because of the continuous batting order that Little League rules now play under, that gave A-B an advantage of having the top half of their order (i.e., the better hitters) bat more often than the other three sectional teams (including Beverly and Swampscott) were able to.
That certainly paid off in the top of the third inning Saturday, when Acton-Boxboro did all the damage it would need. With two out, No. 10 batter Emmett Shestok drew a walk. He took second on a wild pitch, moved over to third on leadoff man Jasper Lee’s sharp single to left, and scored the game’s first run on CJ Vroom’s liner off the third base bag.
Simic then stepped into a fastball and deposited it over the fence in left-center for a 4-0 lead.
Every Acton-Boxboro hitter but Shestok had three at-bats Saturday; not a single Danvers National player did.
The District 13 champions added an insurance run in the fifth when Ronan Sudhanand led off with a single to right and came home on a bases loaded fielder’s choice hit by Vroom.
First baseman Jacob LeBlanc and Spencer had the other two Danvers National hits, both singles.
Catcher Teddy Blake, who hit two home runs — including the game-wining 2-run blast in the 10th inning — Friday against Swampscott, had a terrific tournament for Danvers National with three homers in four games. Middle infielders Dominic Onorio at second and Cam Sillars at shortstop also excelled, as did center fielder Ryan Moroney with both his glove and his arm.
“I’m disappointed … but not overly. Like I said, it was a great run,” said Gesauldi of his District 15 titlists. “Everyone made a commitment, from the players to their families, and we hardly took any days off over the last month-plus. I’m very proud of them.”