The Peabody West Little League program is thriving not only at the Williamsport tournament level, but from top to bottom.
Peabody West captured not one but two District 15 Jimmy Fund Little League tournament titles, winning the 12-year-old and 10-year-old championships. In addition, both teams went undefeated.
The 12-year-old squad, managed by Frank Benea and coaches Ed Aiello, Rich Aiello and Steve Apostolides, went 5-0. Two years ago Benea and Ed Aiello teamed up to lead the Peabody West Williamsport team all the way to the New England Regional at Bristol, Conn.
Team members were Rick Aiello, C.J. Alimonti, David Apostolides, Chase Carriere, Danny Carroll, Matthew Crawford, Connor Daly, Josh Hilty, Mike Monigue, Matt O'Brien, Marc Pelletier and Scott Pearlman.
Peabody West beat Beverly East, 4-3, in their first meeting, but Beverly East fought its way back in the loser's bracket to face Peabody West in the championship game before once again falling, 15-10.
Peabody West also defeated Topsfield, 15-5, Danvers American, 6-4, and Gloucester, 2-0.
"The team really jelled," said Benea, who has been managing and coaching in Peabody West Little League for 19 years. "We had to put the kids in different positions than the ones they normally play because we had too many at some spots and not enough at others. (For instance), Crawford went from center field to take over behind the plate.
"The pitching was great the whole tournament led by Apostolides, Pearlman and Pelletier along with Carriere, who was our closer in one game. We also had power with home runs by Carriere, Crawford, Pelletier and O'Brien, who hit a grand slam in the first inning of the championship game. Everybody in the lineup contributed to the hitting. Alimonti bunted his way on base and had four hits in one game.
"We had pitching, power hitting, and solid defense. This was a fun group to manage," added Benea.
For the third year in a row, the Peabody West 10's won the Jimmy Fund championship plaque, posting a perfect 6-0 record.
In the finals Peabody West beat Hamilton-Wenham, 9-7. Frank Lowry was the team's manager with Pat Cappuccio, Steve Guttadauro and Bob Sullivan coaching. Team members were Troy Belleville, Traverse Briana, Marco Cappuccio, Bobby Caproni, Josh Freedman, Tyler Gilman, Stephen Guttadauro, Ben Irvine, Michael Lowry, Kyle Lynch, Bobby Sullivan, Matt Tracy and John Villani.
Peabody West beat Danvers American, 15-10, before facing Hamilton-Wenham later the same day to win it all. Earlier Peabody West knocked off Gloucester, Amesbury, Manchester and Peabody National.
"The kids all practiced hard and played hard," said Lowry. "They contributed with big hits, and we had a lot of spectacular defensive plays.
"In the last inning of the championship game, Hamilton-Wenham had the bases loaded with two outs when a ball was hit to center field to drive in two runs. But Lynch made a great throw to second base in time to get the the final out when the runner tried to stretch it into a double. That was it, game over."
Lowry relied on Briana, Lynch, Irvine and Sullivan on the mound while Caproni did a great job behind the plate. Irvine had six bunt singles, using his speed to get on base every time. Lowry (left field), Villani (third base), Sullivan (first base), Guttadauro (center field), Cappuccio (right field), and Briana at shortstop were all solid defensively for the 10s.
