Yankees Capture MBDL Senior Division Championship

A release from our friends at the North Reading Little League:

It’s not a chant North Reading residents would normally enjoy hearing, but in this case it was more melodic than the sounds of Sweet Caroline: The Yankees win, the Yankees win, the Yankees win.

The North Reading Yankees captured the 2018 Middlesex Big Diamond League (MBDL) Senior Division championship, defeating the Stoneham Braves, 4-0, on Sunday in a winner-take-all battle at Stoneham High School.

In the final, pitcher Nick Shea scattered seven singles on his way to a complete-game shutout of a strong Braves squad that was averaging better than 10 runs per game. In fact, the Braves finished the season with a 14-4 record (including playoffs), with all four of their losses coming at the hands of the Yankees.

The second-seeded Yankees finished the spring 13-3 and won four of five games in the double-elimination tournament, including a 1-0 decision over the Braves last Wednesday. In that game, Jimmy Currier hurled a two-hit shutout, dropping Stoneham to the loser's bracket. Chris Gwozdz hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly for the only run Currier would need in the Yankees' victory. Stoneham went on to defeat the Wakefield Mets in the consolation bracket to set up the showdown in the final, with the Braves needing to beat the Yankees twice to win the championship.

They did it once, in an exciting Saturday evening game at North Reading High School. The Yankees' Demitri Boulas pitched a gem, allowing one hit through 6.2 innings while striking out 11 and issuing just one free pass. He left the mound with the game scoreless, giving way to Michael Vittozzi. Vittozzi closed out the seventh, but the Braves pushed across a run in the bottom of the eighth for the walk-off victory to set up Sunday's decisive game.

In the final, the Yankees started off strong with Alex Vercolen doubling in Currier in the first with the only run Shea would need. This set the stage for the back end of the Yankees' batting order. Jonathan Patch led off the second with a walk and Connor MacIntyre then singled sharply to left. Ryan Caviasca moved both runners over with a ground out, before twin brother Joey Caviasca drove in Patch with a single to right. Ryan Good followed with another RBI single to right, and Derek Danis capped off the three-run rally by drilling a single that brough home the team's fourth run.

The Yankees' defense squashed the biggest Braves threat of the day in the fourth. With runners on first and second and no outs, the next Braves better slammed a single to right field. But Ryan Caviasca threw to Vittozzi, who fired home to Vercolen to cut down the runner trying to score. The ball then went back to Vittozzi to double off the trailing runner.

Shea kept throwing strikes, walking only one batter while using all of his pitches to keep Stoneham off balance. Currier was all over the field in center, catching six fly balls, and in the sixth inning, Brady Cunningham cut off a ball in the gap and hit the relay to keep the shutout intact. With two outs in the seventh, the batter hit a foul pop to the backstop, where catcher Vercolen made the game-ending grab to set off the celebration.

The Yankees' pitching and defense were the keys to victory. They held the Braves' explosive offense to one run in the final three meetings between the teams. The leadership of the team's four sophomores – Currier, Gwozdz, Vercolen and Boulas – made them exceptionally tough to beat. It was like having four assistant coaches on the field at all times. It was a true team effort, taking all 14 players contributing when called upon.

It marks the second time a North Reading team has won the MBDL Senior Division crown (for players ages 15-16) and the first since 2013. The league dates back to 2012 and includes several local towns – North Reading, Wilmington, Woburn, Wakefield, Stoneham, and Lynnfield.

2018 North Reading Yankees – MBDL Senior Division Champions
Front row: Ryan Caviasca, Nick Shea, Michael Vittozzi, Joey Caviasca, Blake Miller, Jimmy Currier, Derek Danis, Alex Vercolen. Back row: Coach Bob Caviasca, Coach Dave Gwozdz, Chris Gwozdz, Demtiri Boulas, Brady Cunningham, Coach Kevin MacIntyre, Connor MacIntyre, Jonathan Patch, Ryan Good, Coach Aldo Vittozzi