9 Year Olds Win District Championship
BURLINGTON, MA -- The Winchester 9 year-old district baseball team clinched a place in the State tournament with an 8-7 win over Burlington at Page Field in Bedford on July 9. The starting 9 of Joey Christopher, Mario Andreozzi, Patrick Foley, Zachary Bladd, Adam Johnston, Kevin Irish, Paul McGeehan, Michael Conley, and Graeme Davis held Burlington scoreless for the first three innings.
Joey Christopher scored Winchester 's first run after advancing to third base on Zach Bladd's single and taking home on a pass ball. Winchester scored 2 more in the second on another Christopher hit scoring Michael Conley and Graeme Davis. Burlington answered with 5 runs in the 4th inning, but defensive replacements Robbie Cipro, Chris Girouard, Cameron Balboni, Patrick Prinner, and Andrew McCarthy helped stopped the bleeding. Winchester closed the gap in the bottom of the fourth when Joey Christopher's triple to center field scored Andrew McCarthy.
But Burlington answered again in the top of the fifth with 2 more runs, extending their lead to 7-4. Winchester again responded in their half of the inning with 3 runs powered by Zach Bladd's RBI double and Robbie Cipro's RBI single.
With the game tied 7-7 in the top of the 6th, Burlington continued its pressure on Winchester, putting each of its first three batters on base. However their attempts at producing a run were quickly thwarted by Patrick Foley, who gunned down each of Burlington's runners trying to steal.
Mario Andreozzi pitched 3 scoreless innings and came back in the 5th and 6th to close out the game. The late-inning heroics beagan when Joey Christoper walked to lead off the sixth and advanced to third on 2 passed balls. Andreozzi hanged tough with 2 strikes to lace a single past the shortstop, scoring Christopher for the walk-off win.
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