 "Joe Erker")
 "Sam Anderson")
A season of continued improvement and great results ended in heartbreaking fashion for the Norwood Babe Ruth 14-year-old All-Star team, which fell victim to a great hitting Weymouth squad.
Weymouth pushed across six runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back, finishing with a 12-2 victory over Norwood in six innings last night in the losers bracket of the EMass Babe Ruth State Tournament at Peter Wall Field.
Weymouth moves on to face Plymouth in the losers bracket final tonight, and the winner will need to defeat unbeaten Saugus twice starting tomorrow. A Saugus win tomorrow would give them the crown while a loss would force a winner-take-all contest on Friday.
“This is our second year with these guys,” said Norwood manager Kevin Igoe. “We won the districts last year and went to the states and went out in the first two games. This year we finished fourth with a 2-2 record. Maybe next year these guys can keep the momentum up and go after a state title.”
Weymouth batted through the order in the top of the first inning, using five singles, a double and two walks to score six times. Weymouth was able to take advantage of good placement on soft hits, as a number of dribblers and bloop hits found holes in the Norwood defense.
“They had a couple of bleeders and a couple of bloopers, they couldn’t have placed them any better,” Igoe said. “Next thing you know it's 6-0.”
Norwood got one run back in the second when Rich Saad got aboard with a base hit. John Warner entered as a pinch-runner, and made it to third on an errant pickoff attempt. He scored on an infield grounder by Joe Erker.
Weymouth tacked on two more runs in the third inning, courtesy of three Norwood errors that increased the lead to 8-1.
Norwood had runners in scoring position in every inning, but managed just one more run in the fourth when pinch-runner Adam Noepel scored on a wild pitch. Unfortunately, the 14s left runners at first and third in the third and sixth innings, and had runners at second and third with one out in the fifth.
The killer for Norwood came in the bottom of the fourth, when they managed to load the bases with one out after Noepel’s run. A tapper back to the mound turned into a 1-2-3 double play to end Norwood’s best threat.
“We tried to battle, we made some changes in the order throughout the game,” Igoe said. “We had the bases loaded with one out and hit one back to the pitcher for a double play. In an 8-2 game, maybe we find a gap there and get some runs to get back in it. I felt like we were one big hit away from being in it, but it just didn't work out.”
Weymouth pitcher Sean McWade finished with a complete game, scattering 11 hits while stranding 10 Norwood base runners. Danny White smacked a pair of triples and knocked in two runs for Weymouth, while Drew Saltmarsh and Ian Sheridan each added two hits and two RBI.
“This was a big win. The guys were up and into it all game long, the fans in the stands were loud, and we were able to get up early and hang onto it,” said Weymouth manager Dan Mento. “I saw last night's game was 11-1 so I knew they could hit. We just had to stay on it and keep playing our game. “
Tyler Gover paced the Norwood offense with three hits and Aaron Drummey added a pair of singles. Sam Anderson pitched 4 1/3 innings of solid relief, allowing only on earned run while striking out five.
“Sam really battled. He showed some good leadership today trying to keep us in it,” Igoe said. “We tried to keep a positive attitude. There's no clock in baseball, so we tried to keep coming, but it just wasn't our night.”
