Published July 26, 2019
By RYAN MARSH
WAKEFIELD — The future of the Wakefield baseball program battled against the Winchester Townies B Division in a matchup of Lou Tompkins All-Star Baseball 14U teams as Wakefield looked to try and add another one to the win column.
Colby Lee took the mound for Wakefield, looking to hold the Winchester offense. Lee pitched a great first inning, striking out two batters and recording another out on his own.
The Wakefield offense started a little slow with two batters grounding out and another striking out in the first.
In the top of the second inning, Winchester started it up by getting two runners on base with only one out. With the runners then advancing on a passed ball, that made the situation difficult for Wakefield. Lee then struck out a batter and fielded another one himself to get the team out of a jam.
Wakefield’s offense got a bit of a jolt in the bottom of the second with a lead off walk by Philip D’Alleva. By stealing second base, Wakefield got a runner in scoring position and no outs, a perfect chance to score. A ground ball hit to the first baseman advanced D’Alleva to third base and then a base hit by Andrew Nemec drove in D’Alleva to give Wakefield a 1-0 lead.
In the third inning, the bats for both sides were generally quiet. Winchester got a couple players on base but couldn’t get any runs. For Wakefield, a two out walk put Colby Lee in scoring position but he was stranded there, as the next batter struck out.
In the top of the fourth, Winchester’s bats still couldn’t spark and stay lit long enough to score. With an error that put a runner on second, an amazing play by the Wakefield shortstop gots the batter at first and ended the inning.
The bottom of the fourth inning was the turning point for the Wakefield offense.
The inning started off with a dribbler which was fielded by the catcher for the first out. Then, a single by Steven Woish and a walk by Owen Riddell put two runners on base. D’Alleva then hit a blast into the right-center gap over the right fielder’s head. Wakefield scored two runs on the double.
With the score at 3-0, Wakefield continued to add to their lead. A wild pitch was thrown and the catcher missed the ball. The passed ball gave D’Alleva a chance to advance but he was out trying to beat the close throw down to third. The next four batters, David Amyouny, Matt Gaffney, Andrew Nemec, and Liam Warren all got on base, with three out of the four walking. Warren picked up an RBI on a walk, making it 4-0 Wakefield.
Nathan Delgado and Christian Delgado both hit singles which drove in one run each. Wakefield was now up 6-0. With bases loaded, Lee stepped up to the plate and hit a blast into the gap. This time three runs scored as the Wakefield lead grew to 9-0. A strikeout ended the inning.
The fifth inning was slow, with not much offense from either side except a bases loaded situation from Winchester in which Lee pitched himself out of.
In the sixth, Wakefield brought in Bobby Defeo to replace Lee as pitcher. Lee ended his day with five innings pitched, five hits allowed, and three strikeouts, an excellent performance. Defeo hit a batter who eventually came around to score, but didn’t allow anything else. The score was 9-1 Wakefield. The Wakefield half was quiet. The Townies got two runners on 2nd and 3rd, but the next three batters were retired in order to end the inning.
In the top of the seventh, Defeo struck out back-to-back batters, then walked two. With Winchester down to their last out, and two runners in scoring position, Defeo struck out the last batter to finalize the Wakefield win of 9-1.
The game showed potential in the bats of the Wakefield team, and strong pitching by Defeo and Lee. Wakefield improved to 3-7 and looks to continue with another win against North Andover on Saturday.
