LYNN — After his first three batters, it didn’t look as though Pine Hill Braves pitcher Ryan Amirault would cruise through the West Lynn Red Sox lineup Monday. West Lynn laced three hits and scored a run to take an early lead, but Amirault wasn’t fazed. The right-hander settled down and was unhittable the rest of the way, striking out 13 in 5 2/3 innings to lead the Braves to a 3-1 win in a Lynn City Series elimination game at Gallagher Park.
“Ryan’s one of our best players,” Braves manager Joe Driscoll said. “He’s a 12-year-old and he just pitched the game of his Little League career right there. He’s just a great athlete all around.”
Amirault also helped his own cause at the plate, reaching base twice and scoring a pair of runs. Anthony Seals had a big day for Pine Hill at the plate and in the field. Seals (1-for-2) added a run and one RBI.
After Amirault reached his pitch count limit with two outs in the sixth inning, Riley Driscoll came on in relief to finish the game. Seals helped his new pitcher out with a diving play at second base to knock down a ground ball and made a throw to first from his knees to close the win.
“Anthony Seals, in my mind that’s the play of the game right there,” Driscoll said. “To make a diving stop like that to end a game was huge.”
Driscoll has nothing but respect for East Lynn. The two teams played in another close game last Thursday, a 3-1 Red Sox win.
“We’ve seen (East Lynn) quite a bit,” Driscoll said. “We have a lot of good friends over there. The kids are all friends. We’ve scrimmaged them a handful of times over the years. We knew it was going to be tough. It was just an awesome way to finish.”
For West Lynn the season comes to a close with just a few too many mistakes costing the Red Sox in Monday’s loss.
“It was tough,” West Lynn manager Rich Contreras said. “Pitching was really the key for us going into (Monday). It was tough but we kept it close until the very end.
“We had a great season,” Contreras said. “The kids played real hard and always listened to the coaches. We got this far and did well. A lot of these kids are all-star players too so it was a great year.”
The Red Sox got off to a hot start in the first inning. Eddie Lewis started the game with a double and Rowan Merryman brought him home with a RBI single to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. After another single, Amirault got out of the inning with three straight strikeouts.
Amirault was hit by a pitch to start the bottom half of the first and moved over to third on a passed ball and a ground out. Seals plated Amirault on a RBI bunt to tie the game at 1-1.
An infield error and a handful of passed balls cost the Red Sox in the third. Lewis started the inning on the mound with a pair of strikeouts but Amirault reached on an infield error and stole second and third base before scoring on a passed ball. Seals laced a single and scored after three more passed balls to give Pine Hill a 3-1 lead.
That was all the run support Amirault needed, allowing just one more hit going into the sixth. Victor Contreras laced a single to give the Red Sox some hope in the sixth but a strikeout and ground out brought West Lynn to its final out. Amirault walked his last batter but Seals came up with the big play Pine Hill needed to seal the win.
Pine Hill moves on to play Wyoma in the semifinal at Gallagher Park Tuesday (5:45).