Gloucester breaks into Williamsport Tourney win column with win over H-W

Nick Curcuru, Gloucester Daily Times, Mass.
·3 min read

Jul. 2—WENHAM — The Gloucester Williamsport Tournament All-Star team set the tone for Friday's game against Hamilton-Wenham in the very first inning.

After a 1-2-3 top of the first inning, Gloucester went right to work at the plate with four runs in the bottom of the frame. Gloucester would lead from wire-to-wire in a 12-2 win at Cheeseman Park that finished via mercy rule in the bottom of the fifth.

With the win, Gloucester moves to 1-1 in pool play with two games to go. Hamilton-Wenham, on the other hand, falls to 1-2 with one pool play game remaining.

"We jumped out of the gates quick and were hitting right off the bat," Gloucester manager Brian Salah said. "Can't ask for a better start than that."

Six of the first seven Gloucester batters reached base on four hits, a walk and a catcher's interference to bring in the four runs. Bryce Albano got things started with a leadoff single and later came around on a Luke Salah base knock for the first run of the game. Salah then came home on a Pip Emerson single, who then scored on a Chase Albano double. Chase Albano later came on on a bases loaded walk drawn by starting pitcher Luca Aberle, who took the mound in the second with a 4-0 lead.

Hamilton-Wenham got one back in the second when Ollie Blatz scored on a Henry Waddell single to make it 4-1 but Gloucester answered with Jack Higgins scoring on a Chase Albano single. In the third Hamilton-Wenham added another in the third with John Cavilla scoring on an Owen Belliveau grounder to cut the deficit to 5-2.

"We had flashes tonight but it wasn't consistent enough," Hamilton-Wenham manager Steve Kranz said. "We didn't really wake up until the second inning and by that point we were down by a bunch of runs."

Hamilton-Wenham looked to have some momentum in the third with the run scored followed by a scoreless inning, Gloucester's only scoreless inning of the night. But Gloucester responded in the fourth with a 1-2-3 inning of their own followed by three more runs to put the game away. Luke Salah scored the first run on a fielding error then Emerson came in on a Chase Albano single, his third RBI of the game and he later scored on a Giuseppe Ferrara double to deep right for an 8-2 Gloucester lead.

Four more runs in the bottom of the fifth triggered the mercy rule and a 12-2 Gloucester win.

Emerson and Chase Albano led the Gloucester bats as each went 4-for-4 and scored three runs. Salah went 2-for-3 with three runs and the only out he made was when he was robbed of a home run in the second inning by H-W center fielder Callum Hawkins, who reached over the center field fence to catch the high fly ball. Bryce Albano, Ferrrara and Connor Lambert, who drove in the final run, all had a hit.

Cavilla, Blatz, Waddell and Walter Tripp had the hits for Hamilton-Wenham.

Gloucester also had a big game defensively. Second baseman Milo Aberle made the defensive play of the day, a diving stab on a looper in short right field. He then threw to first for the double play. The double play came just before Gloucester's second baseman made a diving stab on a ground ball, but Tripp hustled down the line to beat the throw for a base knock.

Luca Aberle got the start and pitched well in three innings when Brady Ciaramitaro came in and pitched the final two, allowing no runs.

"Defense is the strength of this team," Salah said. "We did everything well tonight, it was good to break into the win column."

Gloucester returns to action on Tuesday at Boudreau Field in Gloucester against Beverly (7:30 p.m.). Hamilton-Wenham, on the other hand, takes on Manchester Essex on Tuesday, also at Boudreau Field in Gloucester (5:30 p.m.).