THE LYNNFIELD 9-year-old All-Stars went 11-2 during a terrific summer season. (Courtesy Photo)

By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI

LYNN — It was a busy summer for the Lynnfield nine-year-old baseball All-Star team as they played 13 games in a little over a month.

They participated in two tournaments, the Wyoma Tournament, that went nine games and the Stan Brown Tournament, that lasted four games.

In the Wyoma Tournament that took place in Lynn, Lynnfield finished 8-1 as they lost in the championship game, 6-2, to Peabody West at Reinfuss Field.

“We only played four innings due to the rain,” pointed out Lynnfield manager Mark O’Brien. “We are both similar teams talent-wise so it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if we played all six innings.”

It was the second meeting of the tournament as Lynnfield won the first match-up, 12-9, back on July 11.

Lynnfield went 8-1 overall in the tournament that featured seven teams.

In the semifinal round on Aug. 5, Lynnfield beat Saugus, 11-5, at Gowdy Park (all of the games, with the exception of the final, took place at Gowdy Park).

“Our offense was solid that day,” said O’Brien, as his team had eight hits.

The offense was outstanding on Aug. 1 as they rolled over Peabody, 18-6, in a four-inning mercy-rule game.

“That was our second-best output of the summer,” recalled O’Brien, as his squad hammered out 16 hits.

Against Wyoma on July 29, Lynffield won 11-3.

“That was a complete effort not only with our hitting but our pitching as well,” said O’Brien.

Lynnfield racked up another mercy-rule victory on July 27 as they stomped Winthrop, 20-5, in a five-inning game. The offense had 15 hits in that game.

That was the second game in a row they beat Winthrop as they beat them, 15-5, on July 20.

On July 17, Lynnfield edged Marblehead 9-8 in a wild game.

Trialing 1-0, Marblehead erupted for eight runs in the top of the fifth inning. However, Lynnfield responded with eight runs in the bottom of the fifth to regain the lead and then shut Marblehead down in the top of the sixth to preserve the win.

“The kids showed a lot of hear coming back,” stated O’Brien, whose team had 12 hits that game.

On July 11, they beat Peabody West, 12-9, in seven innings. Lynnfield scored four times in the top of the seventh and then held Peabody West to one run in the bottom of the seventh to end the game.

“That was a back-and-fourth battle,” recalled O’Brien.

In the first game of the tournament, Lynnfield beat Saugus, 14-2, in a four-inning mercy-rule game.

“That game set the tone for the tournament,” said O’Brien, as his team had 11 hits.

In the Stan Brown Tournament, that took place at Tapley Park in Danvers, Lynnfield went 3-1 as they lost in the semifinals to Peabody West.

That semifinal game took place on July 24 as they fell 13-8.

On July 21 they played two games. In the late game they beat the Hamilton-Wenham Generals, 18-6, in a five-inning mercy-rule game as they had 14 hits.

In the early game, Lynnfield beat Ipswich, 16-4, in a four-inning mercy rule game.

“It helped our team played a short game in the first one,” admitted O’Brien, as it gave their pitching a break.

In the first game of the tournament, they beat the other Hamilton-Wenham team, 11-9 in a great comeback effort.

“We were trialing, 8-0,” O’Brien pointed out.

In the fourth, they scored five runs. They then plated one run in the fifth and then, down, 9-6, they rallied for four runs in the top of the sixth to pull out the win.

“That was the most exciting game of the summer in either tournament,” said Brown. “It was electric.”

The 13 members on the team were Brendan McMahon, William O’Brien, Bruno Palumbo, Matty Shields, Charlie O’Hara, Bryce Pagos and his cousin TJ, Justin Yunes, Brock, McKelvery, DeClan Morrison, and the Garcia twins, Noah and Logan.

 “I was very proud to coach this team,” said O’Brien. “The kids are good friends and they played hard for each other and it was a pleasure for me to coach them.”

O’Brien also wanted to thank his assistant coaches, Kevin Palumbo, Brian McMahon, Rob O’Hara and Stephen Garcia.

O’Brien added that he would enjoy getting to coach the kids again next summer when they turn 10.