MALDEN — Ever because the Massachusetts Baseball Coaches Association began internet hosting its annual All-Star Games, the group has been discovering methods to honor people who’ve modified the game regionally, coaches and officers alike.
This spring, the MBCA determined to honor the gamers themselves by including an extra All-Star showcase to the standard two, with junior selects taking over the sophomores in what was described because the ‘Best of the East Battle’ to start the day’s occasions.
Thanks to a whole staff effort, the juniors had been capable of earn bragging rights within the opener. Bishop Fenwick standout Nick Villano completed with a pair of hits and scored two runs, incomes Most Valuable Player honors for his staff because the juniors coasted to a 7-0 shutout of the sophomores at Rotondi Field.
“There’s a lot of good players here,” Villano mentioned. “It was an honor to be here in the first place, never mind just win MVP. Feels good to personally play well, but it’s also good to play alongside some of the best players in Massachusetts.”
The juniors wasted no time getting the bats heated up, as they shortly had just a few runners attain to begin the primary. Newburyport’s Connor Stick proceeded to bloop a two-run single to middle, and his staff had a 2-0 lead out of the gate.
Later on, within the high of the third, Malden standout Ryan Coggswell stepped to the dish with runners on first and second. He lifted a sac-fly to deep proper, plating one other run to make it 3-0, a rating that will maintain till the fifth inning.
Then, chaos ensued because the juniors batted round, tacking on 4 extra runs. The most crucial hit of all got here off the bat of Andover’s Ben Workman, who laced a two-run single to left to interrupt issues open.
Meanwhile, the juniors additionally acquired stellar pitching, with 5 gamers combining for the shutout. Milford’s Damien Carter was named the Most Valuable Pitcher of the sport for his group after firing a 1-2-3 third inning.
“I just tried to throw my fastball, get up in the count,” Carter mentioned. “Then threw a couple of curveballs when I was up in the count, and it worked well.”
A longtime member of the MBCA and present baseball coach at Swampscott High, Joe Caponigro was caught barely off-guard when requested to function skipper of the juniors for the afternoon. Given the distinctive, but enjoyable circumstances, he was greater than keen to step in for just a few hours.
“(I found out) when I walked in around quarter of three,” chuckled Caponigro. “I’m on the executive committee with Steve Freker, and he said they needed help. I didn’t anticipate coaching, but in these games, you don’t have to do a lot of coaching. Just let the kids play, and as you saw, they performed well.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com