LOCAL YOUTHS KEY IN BASEBALL
TOURNAMENT WIN
July
14, 2010 | 11:01am
Yaphank, NY—The
Legends Navy 14U baseball team defeated the
LI Braves 8-0 to capture the 2010 Summer
Classic championship at Baseball Heaven on
Long Island, New York.
Ryan Boucher and
Mike Driscoll, both of North Reading, played
key roles in the team’s victory.
Boucher contributed at the plate,
tallying eight hits and seven RBIs in 14
tournament at bats over the two-day,
six-game drive to the championship.
Driscoll did his work on the mound. The righthander gave up
just one run and three hits over eight
innings, including a 6-1 defeat of the top
seeded team.
He also played third base.
The championship
game win ended a grueling day in which the
Legends Navy won four games to bring home
the title.
Middleton
righthander Will Twiss went the distance in
the final, giving up just four hits and
never facing more than four batters in an
inning.
After a scoreless
first inning, Beverly first baseman Alex
Toomey singled in the second, advanced on a
walk and a single, then scored on an infield
hit by Medford second baseman Paul Campbell.
Meanwhile, Twiss kept the LI Braves
at bay, allowing just two hits in the first
three innings and getting seven outs on fly
balls.
The Legends Navy
offense erupted in the fourth.
Boucher led off the inning with a
single, scoring on a Toomey triple.
Five of the next
seven Legends Navy hitters reached base.
Rockport catcher Jordan Pallazola capped off
the rally with a single that scored two
runs, and when the inning was over the LI
Braves trailed 7-0.
Meanwhile, the LI
Braves could not get to Twiss.
Solo baserunners in the fourth and
fifth innings were stranded, the last erased
by a 5-4-3 double play started by Driscoll.
Pallazola, who was behind the plate
for all six games, knocked in the final run
in the sixth and the Legends Navy brought
home the tournament trophy.
The Legends Navy
pitching staff yielded just 16 runs over the
six tournament games.
Twiss, Campbell, Toomey, Swampscott’s
Trevor Massey and Driscoll each went deep in
their starts. Worcester first baseman Joe
Evangelista was solid in relief.
Outfielders Pat
Burkett of Swampscott
and Peabody’s Rob Crovo shared
centerfield duties, while Rockport’s
Devon Hemeon and Luke Gray of North Hampton,
NH played left and right field for the
Legends Navy.
Dylan Dodge of
Danvers returned to the outfield and DH’d,
continuing his comeback from a shoulder
separation earlier this season.
The Legends Navy 14U
squad, coached by Mike Costantino, is one of
12 AAU teams fielded by Legends Baseball of
Middleton.
The five-year-old program utilizes
its new state-of-the-art indoor training
facility, offering individual and group
baseball training and conditioning to youths
of all ages.
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