In a second straight win-or-go-home showdown, Swampscott rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to walk off Peabody West, 3-2, at Wyoma Little League Field in Lynn Monday evening.
The dramatic victory sends Swampscott (3-1) into the final three of the District 16 12U All-Stars Tournament, alongside Wyoma (3-1) and undefeated Peabody (3-0). Peabody West (3-2) has now been eliminated.
Trailing 2-1 entering the bottom of the seventh, Swampscott took advantage of the extra-inning runner-on-second rule as Archie Packer tied the game with an RBI single. Moments later, with bases loaded and two outs, Jax Dudevoir hit a ground ball to the right side that allowed Harry Fitzgerald to score the winning run from third.
“It was such a tight spot,” Swampscott manager Mike Rossi said. “The fact Jax came up with that hit and beat the ball down the line. I mean, that’s one of the things that we push the kids to do: don’t give up on the play. It’s either, don’t stop running till you hear ‘out’ or ‘foul.’ And so that’s exactly what he did. He made contact with the ball. He forced the kid to make the play. He bobbled it… game winner right there.”
Swampscott had tied the game at 1-1 earlier in the fourth inning before Peabody West retook the lead in the top of the seventh on a single from Logan Dresser.
On the mound for the Big Blue, Cormac Ray turned in a strong start, going 5.2 innings and allowing one run on six hits while striking out four. Danny Hall pitched the final 1.1 innings, allowing one hit and one run with two strikeouts.
“They’ve been lights out,” Rossi said of the duo, who have thrown a combined 24 of Swampscott’s 25 innings in the tournament thus far.
“It’s hard to figure out which one I want to go with,” Rossi said. “But for this matchup here, I did a bit of scouting for Peabody West, and I know that they do have problems with kids that have some type of off-speed stuff, where I felt Cormac would offer a little bit more. He came out and he shined again for us again. Very proud of him.”
On offense, Ray, Michael Rossi, and Dudevoir each singled. Jackson Danahy reached base twice on walks and scored Swampscott’s first run. Archie Packer also walked and added the game-tying RBI single.
Bryce Ragusa led Peabody West with two singles including a clutch go-ahead RBI in the top of the seventh inning. Parker Santos doubled, and Dresser, Reid Ruffing, Nick Dattoli, and Tyler DeAmelio each had a single. Dresser knocked in Peabody West’s first run.
Ruffing started for Peabody West and struck out four over 3.1 innings, allowing one run. Owen Skerry followed with a scoreless inning of work. Leo Pietrosanto pitched the final 2.1 innings and allowed two runs.
Swampscott will now face Wyoma on Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. at Hurd Ave Field in Saugus. In their first meeting, Wyoma won 1-0 behind a dominant outing from lefty Anthony Owumi, who struck out six and allowed just two hits across six shutout innings.
“We’ve seen Wyoma already,” Rossi said. “I think we’re going to probably face the same pitcher that we’ve gone against already. So we’re prepared. We know that he pitches fast, he’s a lefty, so we’re expecting those weird arm angles and that type of stuff. But we’re ready to go.
“And again, we’re just taking this one game at a time. Like today we were 100% focused on this game, not thinking about anything. We’re not thinking about the next game. Everything is focused on this one game.”
