JAKE NARDONE hit an RBI single in the 3rd inning during the Senior Townies first playoff game against Reading yesterday. (Dan Pawlowski File Photo)
Published in the August 6, 2018 edition.
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
MALDEN — The Wakefield Senior Townies entered the postseason of the Middlesex Senior Babe Ruth League yesterday as the eighth and final seed with a record of 12-11, matching them up against a powerful league-best Reading team who finished 19-5.
Reading ended the regular season as the league-leader in runs scored with 210, 29 more than the next closest, Medford.
The Townies countered that firepower with Colin Jaena, a state champion pitcher with Austin Prep in the spring.
After allowing three runs in the first, Jaena locked in and kept the Reading bats off balance, racking up 10 strikeouts in the process.
In the end, the three runs were just barely enough to beat Wakefield as the Townies got one run in each of the first and third innings.
Cal Tryder walked in the top of the first and stole second. He would later score on a two-out error From the Reading right fielder off the bat of Tommy Mottl.
Reading started their half of the first with back-to-back singles. After Jaena got the third batter to strikeout, a two-RBI triple made it 2-1. A groundout to shortstop Cole Kraus scored the third run and Jaena ended the inning on a strikeout.
After a scoreless second in which Jaena struck out the side, he reached in the top of the inning on a dropped third strike, and stole second, setting up Jake Nardone, who drove Jaena in with a base hit to cut the lead to 3-2, but Wakefield’s offense stalled again in the inning.
The Townies put together a two-out rally in the fourth when Danny Hurley hit a base hit and Erich Hickey walked. Cal Tryder hit a single but it wasn’t deep enough to send the running and Jaena struck out looking to end the frame.
The righty came right bak in the bottom of the 4th and picked up two more strikeouts on his way to a one, two, three inning.
While Jaena and the defense continued to play well, The Townies couldn’t get anything else going offensively, as they were doomed by their 14 strikeouts.
The loss isn’t the end, as the double elimination tournament means Wakefield will play again tonight, back at Malden Catholic’s Rotondi Field at 5:30 p.m. The Townies will meet the Malden Bambinos, who also lost a one-run game yesterday, 2-1 against Medford. The Townies were 0-2 against the Bambinos during the regular season, dropping the first game 8-2 on July 1, then 4-2 on July 20.
