Swampscott 11's Squeeze by Wyoma in Extra Innings

It took extra innings, but coach and his boys knocked off Wyoma, 9-8 Wednesday evening at Forest River Park in Salem. It was the first game for both teams in the District 16 All-Star tournament for 11-year-olds.

Liam Faulkner hit a high fly ball into short right field in the top of the eighth with the score tied at eight and Maxx Cooper tagged and beat the throw home for the winning run.

It was Faulkner’s third RBI of the game; the catcher had homered to right leading off the second and the fourth for two of Swampscott’s first three runs.

Faulkner’s first blast off Wyoma’s Christian Burt tied the game 1-1 in the top of the second. The ball crashed through the windshield of a car parked too close to the outfield fence.

Faulkner’s second blast off Burt wasn’t as deep as the first one, but it gave Swampscott its first lead at 3-2 in the top of the fourth. Spencer Perkins came around to tie the score at 2 in the top of the third on a Sean Lahrizi double.

Swampscott gave starting pitcher Colin Frary a 5-2 lead in the top of the fifth, on a single, two walks and a couple of infield errors by Wyoma. Ishaan George and Lahrizi scored the fourth and fifth Swampscott runs.

Wyoma battled back with one score in the bottom of the fifth and two in the bottom of the sixth sending the game into some wild action in extra innings.

Maxx Cooper walked to start the top of the seventh and went to third on a double by Frary.  Faulkner was intentionally walked, and Brett Benoit got four balls to send Cooper home. Jordan Cox walked sending Frary in and Cam Thompson drove home Faulkner with a ground out to first, and Swampscott was up by three heading into the bottom of the seventh.

Jordan Cox was on the mound for Swampscott, and he had two out after a nifty double play by Lahrizi and Benoit. Wyoma hung tough, Cox hit Dave Barnard and Mike Clougherty doubled to keep Wyoma alive.  Wyoma’s Max Billingsley tied it at 8-8 when he smashed a fastball over the fence in right-center. Dave Furtado grounded out and we were on to the eighth.

Sean Lahrizi walked to start the inning, Cooper attempted to bunt him over to second, but Lahrizi was forced out at second.  Frary singled to right, putting runners on first and third with one out. Wyoma elected to pitch to Faulkner this time and he hit one high in the air between first base and right field.  Cooper tagged and scored to put Swampscott back on top.

Cox was on target in the bottom of the eighth, retiring the side in order, and picking up the win on the mound.

Swampscott will play next week on July 6, against the winner of the Saugus American-Peabody West game, Wyoma takes on Saugus National on July 5.

This year’s team includes:  Sean Lahrizi, Maxx Cooper, Colin Frary, Liam Faulkner, Brett Benoit, Jordan Cox, Cam Thompson, Harry Wales, Luke Marshall, Spencer Perkins, Ishaan George and Steven Santanello.

The coaching staff is made up of manager Dan Santanello and coaches Joe Marshall and Ken Perkins.

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