Danvers National rolls past Amesbury in District 15 opener
Jun. 30—DANVERS — The Danvers National Little League team benefited from both strong pitching and timely hitting in their District 15 opener Wednesday evening.
The result was a convincing 11-1 drubbing of Amesbury in a five inning, mercy rule outing at Tapley Field.
The Nats took a 3-0 lead in the top of first inning and never looked back. Amesbury starter Kai Turner had control trouble, issuing four walks, including two with the bases loaded before giving way to Jacob Noyes who got Anthony Sheehan to hit a sacrifice fly to left field that Mikey Olbrot made a nice running catch on, and then struck out the next hitter to get out of the inning.
Braydon Lawrence pitched three strong innings for the Nats, striking out eight of the 13 batters he faced. Andy Bolth reached on an error in the first inning and hit the first of two doubles in the third. Noyes beat out a bunt single, and Turner walked, but they were the only ones to reach base against Lawrence, who gave way to Wes Maylor in the fourth. He worked one scoreless inning, punching out three and giving up hits to Andy Parsons and Noyes, but working his way out of a bases loaded jam.
Danvers broke the game open in the fourth with five runs on five hits. The big blows were a bases loaded, RBI single by Chace Hanlon (2 hits), a two-run hit by Oliver Roy, and a two-run dinger over the right field fence by Leland Pagan.
"We got off to a very good start, and our pitching was dominant," said Nats manager Mike Hanlon. "Lawrence, Maylor and Pagan all did a great job, and we were able to keep their pitch counts low so they'll all be eligible for our next game (Friday night at 7:30 at Tapley). "It's really important to stay in the winner's bracket and keep your pitchers able to go the next time."
Danvers tacked on two more runs in the fifth off reliever Jack Kusler, capitalizing on Chase Oteri's one out walk. Chase McGuiness was hit by a pitch, and after Nick Ferraro walked to load the bases, a run scored on Hanlon's ground out. Lawrence delivered an RBI single to increase the cushion to 11-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth.
"Our guys were disciplined at the plate," said Hanlon. "They weren't swinging at bad pitches. Pagan has hit five or six homers during the season so I wasn't surprised to see him get hold of one. He's really a big help both on the mound and at bat. We had a lot of base hits and walks tonight. Everybody got on base including our subs."
Amesbury didn't get on the board until the bottom of the fifth when Bolth led off with a double and pinch runner Jack Puorro scored on a ground out.
"We have to reset and come back like we know we can," said Amesbury manager Leigh Noyes. His team returns to Tapley on Friday to play Middleton in the first game of the double header.
"We had to make a pitching change very early, but everybody except my son (Jacob) can go next time. Danvers hit the ball well. I was pleased with the infield play and the way our outfielders hustled though."
Contact Jean DePlacido @JeanDePlacidoSN
Contact Jean DePlacido @JeanDePlacidoSN
