Tie Tyngsboro in season opener
Published July 8, 2020
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
LYNNFIELD — Lynnfield has had a team in the Middlesex Senior Babe Ruth league the past several seasons. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the league will not be playing this summer.
Instead, Lynnfield will field a team in the Northeast Baseball League this season. Lynnfield used to have a team in the league many years ago.
The manager is Anthony Martinho who has coached district and Bay State League teams in town for many years.
“We have a bunch of kids who want to show what they have,” said Martinho.
There are just three leftover players who were on the Middlesex Senior Babe Ruth team last year, Luke Martinho (Anthony’s son), Jack Bird and Blake Peters.
Martinho plays center field and pitches while Bird is a second baseman. Peters also pitches and plays left field.
All three will be seniors at Lynnfield High this September.
The other three players who will be seniors this fall are Pat D’Amico, Hayden Bond and Joe Gizmunt. D’Amico (third base) and Gizmunt (pitcher and first base) both go to St. John’s Prep while Bond (pitcher and shortstop) attends Malden Catholic. Bond, however, injured his hand and could miss the entire season.
All of the other players on the roster go to Lynnfield High.
The five players who will be juniors this fall are Jake Mallett, Aiden Burke, Tim Pivero, Spence Riley and Tyler Scoppettuolo. Mallett and Scoppettuolo both play third base while Burke is a catcher. Pivero pitches while Riley is an outfielder.
The five Pioneers who will be heading into their sophomore year are Alex Gentile (utility), Henry Caulfield (shortstop), Nick Razzaboni (shortstop), Devon Bolger (outfielder), and Ben Mullin (second base).
The team started practicing a couple of weeks ago using social distancing protocols.
“There was not a lot of rust,” said Martinho, despite the fact there was no high school action this spring. “A lot of our kids were able to play AAU ball to stay ready.”
Martinho admitted that his team has not seen any live pitching and that could be an issue early on.
The team is slated to play a 12-game season with six games at home and six on the road.
There are two divisions, the North and South. While last year, the top two teams in the North and South qualified for the playoffs, only the two division champions will qualify this summer.
They will then play a best-of-three series to determine the champions.
Dracut is the defending champions.
There are nine teams in the league. Along with Lynnfield and Dracut, the other teams are Lowell, Newton, Tyngsboro, Westford, Billerica, North Reading and Wilmington.
Lynnfield, Tyngsboro and Newton are the new teams this summer.
On Monday night, Lynnfield tied host Tyngsboro in the season opener, 9-9, at Tyngsboro High.
“The pitching was a little rusty,” admitted Martino as his squad fell behind 7-2. “We did a good job of chipping away.”
D’Amico and Gizmunt led the offense with both hitters going 3-for-4 with two runs batted in. D’Amico also scored four times. Martinho also recorded multiple hits going 2-for-5.
Lynnfield tied the game in the top of the sixth with two runs.
Coach Martinho was also pleased with the relief effort of Pivero who went three innings as the two runs he gave up were unearned. Mullin also pitched two scoreless innings in the 6th and 7th.
“They kept us in the game,” Martinho said.
On July 8, the Pioneers’ home opener will take place at 6 p.m. as they face Tyngsboro at Lynnfield High. On July 12, at Lynnfield Middle School, the Pioneers will welcome Wilmington. That game also starts at 6 p.m.
