PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Peabody’s Ryan Knight (right) beats a wide throw to Lynn shortstop Jared DeFillipo for a stolen base.
By SCOT COOPER
LYNN — The Lynn 14-year old Babe Ruth all-stars knew going into Wednesday night’s playoff game with Peabody that they had to win it to stay alive in the state tournament.
The weather wrecked Lynn’s plans to put Peabody away, however, and the two teams will pick up where they left off Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Fraser Field.
Where the two teams left off was with Peabody’s No. 5 hitter, Anthony Conforti, up at the dish, leading off in the top of the second inning. A couple of blasts of lightning appeared way past the left field fence during the first inning, but when the blasts got a little closer in the second inning, the game was postponed after a 30-minute delay.
“It’s the same situation, no score, top of the second, their guy is up against our ace (Luke Mannion),” Lynn coach Dave Galeazzi said. “Everything’s the same, we’ll pick things up where we left off, our job is still the same, we have to win the game to stay alive, whether we played it tonight, or tomorrow night, which we’re going to do now.”
“I thought that we came out a little tight in the top of the first really, we walked a guy and he made it to third, but we held, and we really settled down, I think, after that first half inning,” the coach added. “We’ll come back out tomorrow night and try to win it and keep going, picking things up right where we left off.”
Mannion walked Peabody’s Ryan Knight with one out in the top of the first. Knight stole second, but was stranded at third when Mannion induced two infield popups.
Peabody sent Alex Gonzalez to the mound and he went right through Lynn’s first three hitters. Gonzalez will now have a full day to prepare for the bottom of the second.
“The situation is the same for us, there’s no ifs, ands or buts for us, if we win, we’re in, and if we lose, we’re out,” Galeazzi said. “So we’ll come out Thursday night and do our best to come out with a win.”
Lynn Babe Ruth vice-president Jeff Earp said he’s excited that the Babe Ruth tournament is in the city. Earp said once again, Lynn is shining in the spotlight with this baseball tournament after Manning Field delivered when it hosted the MIAA soccer and football playoffs.
“When I told one of the coaches that we were moving the games from Bowzer to Fraser he seemed a little disappointed, but then he saw Fraser for the first time and just said, wow this is a professional baseball field,” Earp said. “Being from Lynn we’ve heard all the jokes and the stereotypes over the years, so for people unfamiliar with Lynn to come to see our fields at Bowzer and here at Fraser, they’re amazed, we have top notch facilities. We put about ten thousand dollars into Bowzer to get it ready for this season and I think it shows.”
“We are packed with men’s leagues, Babe Ruth, the junior varsity plays its games there, teams are coming from all over to play here (at Bowzer), the fields are always packed, and I think they’re very impressed with the baseball facilities in Lynn,” Earp said. “It’s a lot of work to get this (Babe Ruth) tournament here, but I think the selection committee likes what it sees with our fields and the way we run things here in Lynn. I’m happy to destroy some stereotypes.”