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Pine Hill’s Junell Leon had a double and pitched 1 2/3 innings in a loss to Nahant in the District 16 Little League tournament on Friday afternoon.
By MIKE ALONGI
PEABODY — It was a big night for Nahant’s Drew Botta, as he played well on both sides of the ball to help lead the Nahant Little League all-stars to a 3-1 win over Pine Hill in the District 16 tournament at MacArthur Park Friday.
Botta nearly tossed a complete game, pitching 5 2/3 innings and giving up one run on two hits with two walks and nine strikeouts. He also helped himself by knocking in what would turn out to be the winning run when he smacked a solo home run in the bottom of the third.
“What can you say, he was fantastic today,” Nahant coach Adolph Graciale said of Botta. “He came in and threw strikes all day, moved us through the game and then carried us on offense with that home run. He was huge today.”
Also contributing on offense for Nahant were Billy Conigliaro (1-for-4, RBI) and Sam Reenstierna (1-for-2, RBI).
Botta had a strong start to the game on the mound, retiring nine straight batters over the first three innings. He then stepped into the box in the bottom of the third and crushed a home run that hit off the top of the fence in centerfield and bounced over to make it 1-0.
After retiring the first batter in the top of the fourth, Pine Hill managed to get a rally going. Two walks and a single loaded up the bases with only one out for Pine Hill. But just as it looked like Botta was getting into some trouble, his defense stepped up behind him.
Pine Hill’s James Ball hit a hard grounder to Nahant’s Seamus Foley at first base. Instead of making the play at first, Foley had the presence of mind to fire the ball home to save the run. His throw beat the runner by inches to get the out at home, then catcher Jake Desmaris turned and fired to third base to catch another baserunner who strayed too far from the base, completing the rare 3-2-5 double play to end the inning and get out of the jam.
“You can’t ask for anything better than that play,” said Graciale. “You practice those situations all year and you hope they can execute it, and then they come through and get it done at a crucial point in the game. That was just great.”
Nahant took that momentum into the bottom of the fourth, getting runners to first and second with one out for Conigliaro, who came through with a line-drive RBI single up the middle to make it 2-0.
The same situation came up for Reenstierna in the bottom of the fifth, and he also came through with an RBI single to stretch the lead to three runs.
Botta retired the first two batters of the sixth inning and remained under his pitch count limit, allowing him to face one final batter for the complete game. Unfortunately for him, Pine Hill’s Junell Leon got the better of him with a double to left field and knocked him from the game.
Aiden Graciale came in to relieve Botta, but couldn’t keep the shutout intact. The next Pine Hill batter up was Danny Reddick, who smacked an RBI double to make it 3-1.
But before Pine Hill could really get the momentum on its side, Graciale struck out the next batter to end the game and seal the win.
“This was just a great all-around team win for us,” said Graciale. “I thought we played well defensively, we had timely hitting and we pitched well. Now we just have to continue this momentum going forward.”
Nahant will now move on to face Peabody West today at 5 p.m. Pine Hill will face the winner of Winthrop vs. Wyoma, which will be played this afternoon at 1 p.m.