For the third straight game, the fate of the Hamilton-Wenham Little League Williamsport all-stars was decided on the final pitch … and for the third straight game, the team with the last-ups came out on top.
Beverly’s 12-year-old all-stars rallied by the Generals in a District 15 elimination game Monday night at Harry Ball Field, scoring twice in the bottom of the sixth inning to prevail, 4-3, and advance to Wednesday’s championship game against unbeaten Boxford (6 p.m.).
For Beverly, the victory was a mirror image of Friday night’s 3-2 win over H-W in which the Garden City kids scored all three of their runs in the bottom of the sixth. H-W stayed alive with a walkoff win of its own on Saturday against Gloucester in an elimination contest, then found itself back in another nail-biter on Monday.
Trailing by one with three outs to work with, Beverly got a major lift when leadoff hitter Bobby McGrath sent the inning’s second pitch over the fence for a towering homer to tie the contest, 3-3.
A pair of walks and an error loaded the bases, and Anthony Carney came home with the winning run on a deep sacrifice fly by Logan Reynolds.
Beverly (now 5-2 overall in tournament play) will need to top unbeaten Boxford (6-0) twice in order to win the District 15 title. Should they win on Wednesday, the ‘if necessary’ game is set for Thursday. Beverly is seeking to win the District 15 pennant for the first time in 10 years, while Boxford aims for its first-ever in the tournament’s 58-year history.
Evan Haley held Hamilton-Wenham (4-3) scoreless for the final five outs, allowing just one hit with no walks.
The Generals took a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning by stringing together four hits as Hayden Potter led off with a double, Griffin Maidment singled, Charlie Payne stroked an RBI single and Ben Stein followed with an RBI single.
Beverly pitcher Drew Fox bore down to end the inning without allowing any further damage. He wound up striking out three over 4 1/3 innings to keep his team close enough to mount a comeback.
Carney, McGrath and Haley had two hits each for Beverly while Ben Belanger and Greg Richardson also provided singles.
For Hamilton, Graeme Watson scattered six hits and fanned six over 4 1/3 innings before reaching the 85-pitch count limit. Will Thompson, Karmyne Thompson and Jack Dillon also had hits for H-W.