Sr Babe Ruth Approaches Mid-Season

Entering the final week of the regular season , the Southie Sr Babe Ruth team currently finds itself as the 3 seed in the South Shore League standings. With a busy week ahead, the team is looking to round into form for a deep playoff run.

An abnormal wrinkle in the schedule saw Braintree coming to town for back to back games with the first one Tuesday July 11th. A shout out goes to all who came down early and got the field in playable condition after heavy rains the night before. This game was really all about the pitching as Southie ace Jerry O’Neil was back on the mound. O’Neil would go all 7 Innings striking out 13 Braintree batters to go along with the Braintree starting pitcher’s 14 punch outs for a combined total of 27 strikeouts in the game! The Southie defense would let their pitcher down in this one as several errors over the course of the game allowed Braintree to plate 3 runs in the top of the second and one more insurance run in the 5th inning to win this one by a score of 4-0. Joey Macomber (2), Steven Flynn, Tommy Flaherty, and Ben Fennelly all had hits in the game for Southie.

Game two the very next night had Southie looking for revenge back at King Field. The good guys got up 1-0 early thanks to a Tristin Pecevich RBI single in the top of the first inning. Braintree would come roaring back first tying the game and then taking a 5-1 leading after taking advantage of a costly two out error in the top of the third inning. Southie was able to chip into the lead in the bottom half of the inning as RBI singles by Tommy Flaherty and Geno Juliano (2 RBI’s) helped make it a 5-4 game. In the bottom of the 4th inning, heads up base running by Joey Macomber helped tie the game on a close play at the plate after a passed ball. Both teams would then trade runs in the 5th inning to leave the score at 7-7 and things would stay that way until the bottom of the 7th inning. After a Ben Fennelly single, the Braintree reliever proceeded to plunk the next two batters to give Southie a bases loaded situation with 1 out. Cleanup hitter Tristin Pecevich then came to plate and after working a full count on the pitcher, Pecevich roped a line drive to right field to drive in Fennelly with the game winning run in thrilling walk off fashion. Other hitters for Southie included Joe Greene, O’Neil, and Andy Nova with his first hit of the season. The trio of Greene, Juliano, and O’Neil got the job done on the mound.

The team next traveled down to Tukis Field in Brockton on July 17th for a meeting with the Boxers. Southie showed plenty of punch early as a Joe Greene double plated one runner and thanks to two Brockton errors, Flynn and Greene would also come around to score to make it 3-0 out of the gate. Brockton answered right back in bottom of the inning to make it a 3-2 ballgame after one. After Southie made it 4-2 in the third inning, Brockton again answered back in the fifth scoring two runs to tie things at 4-4 after 5 innings. Both teams would battle on into extra innings but after 8 full innings and darkness setting in, this one would end in a tie. Starter Geno Juliano was solid on the mound going 5 innings with 5 K’s and Jerry O’Neil pitch 3 innings of scoreless relief. Juliano, Nova, and Ronan Carlson all added a hit apiece to pace the offense.

The team will host Wollaston on 07/19 and travel to Norwood for a double header on 07/20 to close out the regular season. If the current standings hold, South Boston should be hosting a round one playoff series starting Monday July 24th at Moakley Park.