BEVERLY — Danvers National Little League all-star manager Stan Gesualdi says his team’s hitting has been a bit like a roller coaster so far this summer.
Wednesday night, the Nats hit the ball like they were riding Space Mountain down at Disney World.
Danvers sent an incredible 19 batters to plate and scored 13 times in the first inning of the District 15 championship game against Beverly at Harry Ball Field. That explosive and impressive opening salvo that featured 11 total hits and a grand slam by Teddy Blake was more than enough to send the Nats to an 18-0 win and their first District 15 title in six years.
“It was definitely good to see,” Gesualdi said of his team’s bats coming alive. “We hit the ball 1-through-12. That hasn’t always been in the case in some of our other games, but we certainly had it going tonight.”
As District 15 champs, Danvers advances to the Section 4 playoffs being held at Harry Ball Field beginning next Wednesday.
Beverly, by virtue of finishing second, also advances because District 14 has folded into another section. In order to maintain the four-team sectional format, the host district (rotating each year between 13, 15 and 16) now gets to send two teams through.
Still, the Nats wanted the bragging rights and wanted to bring the District 15 championship pennant they ran around the park with back their home field in the Oniontown. They earned it with all 12 of their batters either getting a hit or scoring a run in that first inning alone.
It was already 8-0 in the first by the time Blake strode to the plate with the bases full. He launched a grand slam deep to center, extending the lead to 12-0 and bringing the crowd to its feet.
All told, Blake finished a triple shy of the cycle and had six RBI. Other multi-hit men for the Nats (who were held scoreless in the second and third but added five in the fourth inning) were Zane Spencer (2-for-4, 2 runs), Cam Sillars (3-for-3, 2 runs, RBI), Jaxon Currier (2-for-2, 2 runs) and Kenny Blake (2-for-3, 2 RBI).
Additionally, Jacob Leblanc had a hit and reached all three times, Ryan Moroney singled and had an RBI, Dom Onorio singled with one RBI and Thomas Somes, Kyle Marsello and Zach Kaplan all added one hit each.
The pitching and defense were just as impressive for Danvers National. Spencer needed only 48 pitches to complete the 4-inning game (by contrast, Beverly threw 68 pitches in the first inning alone). He fanned three and trusted his fielders to make plays: Beverly put the ball in play 11 times in 14 plate appearances, and the Nats played errorless defense.
“Pitching and D have been our bread and butter,” Gesualdi said.
Steele Irons had two of Beverly’s three hits in the ball game and catcher Mason Baker also singled. The Garden City kids loaded the bases in the fourth with two outs but couldn’t scratch a run across.