Sports
Peabody West Little League Falls One Win Short Of World Series
The state champions were eliminated from Williamsport contention with a loss to New Hampshire on Friday.
BRISTOL, CT —While the Peabody West Little League team certainly did not go down without a fight, the state champion's hopes of going to Williamsport, Pennsylvania for the Little League World Series were dashed on Friday with a 5-0 loss to New Hampshire.
Peabody West ran into a dominant pitcher and could not break through against North Manchester-Hooksett's Mason DeVall. The resilient squad was eliminated from the New England Regionals one victory shy of the championship game.
New Hampshire will now face Connecticut for the regional title on Saturday. Because the coronavirus crisis is preventing international teams from participating in the Little League World Series in 2021, for the first time this year the New England region will send two teams to Williamsport and the North Manchester-Hooksett team clinched the second berth on Friday.
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While Peabody West never put any runs on the scoreboard, the All-Star squad did battle valiantly and threatened in each of the final three innings.
Mark Bettencourt walked, Brendan Kobierski singled and both runners moved into scoring position on a wild pitch before a ground out ended the fourth inning.
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Jimmy DiCarlo reached on a fly ball to right field that was misplayed and Aidan Horgan singled in the sixth before DeVall got out of that jam with a strikeout.
Peabody West made things really interesting in the sixth inning when Ryan Skerry singled, Tyler Lomasney reached on an error and Stephen Saggese reached on another New Hampshire miscue before DeVall ended the game with a strikeout with the tying run on deck.
New Hampshire scored two of its runs in the second inning and tacked on three more in the fourth.
Peabody West finished 1-2 in Connecticut with a victory against Saco, Maine on Monday and a loss to Manchester, Connecticut on Thursday.
This Peabody West team was vying to be the first from Massachusetts to make it to Williamsport since 2009 — when the hometown program also won States and went on to win the New England championship.
More Patch Coverage: Support Sought For Peabody West Little League All-Stars
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