Peabody West 9's Top Swampscott in Wyoma Tournament

LYNN — The Peabody West 9-Year-Old Wyoma Tournament Team topped Swampscott, 15-6, on Thursday night to pick up their first win of the tournament.

PWLL starting pitcher Steve Saggese was electric on the hill, throwing 4-2/3 innings, allowing just one run and striking out 11 batters, including seven in a row stretching from the second to the fourth inning.

Peabody West's offense got going from their very first at-bat. Ryan Skerry led off the game with a single and Damian Gregory doubled to score him on the next play. Gregory then took third on a steal and scored on a passed ball.

PWLL plated two more runs in the second inning. C.J. Olimpio and Thad Broughton walked to start the inning before Skerry singled to score them both.

In the fourth inning, Alex Armata led off with a walk and Skerry doubled, scoring Armata from second. Skerry scored on a passed ball. Saggese singled and advanced two bases on steals before he scored when Tyler McMahon singled up the middle.

The PWLL offense broke the game open in the fifth inning, batting around. The first three batters of the inning — Courtland Hughes, Olimpio and Broughton — all walked to load the bases and Skerry singled to score two more runs. After a Gregory walk, Saggese doubled to left, sending more runners across the plate. Anthony Modugno and McMahon both walked and stole two bases and a walk by Hayden Woodson — who battled back after falling behind 1-2 in the count — loaded the bases again. That brought Hughes back to the plate and he singled to score two more runs.

Skerry is leading the team's offense, batting .643 (9 for 14) for the tournament with an on-base percentage of .667 (reached base in 10 of 15 plate appearances). McMahon has the next-best average and OBP with a .333 average (3 for 9) with a a .429 OBP ( on base in 6 out of 14 plate appearances). Olimpio has worked seven walks in the tournament, which leads the team, and PWLL has stolen 44 bases in four games.

After starting the tournament facing the aces from Peabody and Lynnfield and totaling just two baserunners in two games (with one run scored), Peabody West has scored 22 runs in their last three games, registering 15 hits and 45 baserunners.

On the mound, Skerry has 22 strikeouts in 11-1/3 innings and has walked just four batters to go with a team-best 3.09 ERA. Saggese has the best strikeout rate on the team, punching out 19 batters in eight innings of work. Modungo, Patrick Woods and Olimpio have also pitched well for PWLL.

Ty Lomasney has played a solid first base for Peabody West and Jared Devereaux had a key putout against Lynnfield, throwing out a runner at second base from center field. Hayden Woodson has been solid at second base the last two games, stopping a sharp grounder from going to the outfield, which prevented a run from scoring against Wyoma on Saturday.

Peabody West plays next on Tuesday against Marblehead. They'll finish up the round-robin portion of the tournament against Swampscott (Thursday), Winthrop (Saturday) and Reading (7/30).