National Championship

Lightning Baseball vs. Central Florida Indians @ Myrtle Beach High School

Friday July 29, 2005

The final match-up for the Division I National Championship took place on Friday afternoon amongst a sizeable crowd that included players, parents, coaches, and general fans of the game. The Lightning faced off against the previously 8-1 Central Florida Indians that had rolled through the tournament into the finals.

Jason Federico (Wakefield, MA) toed the mound for the Lightning having pitched four innings on Thursday in the round of 16. Federico left everything he had on the hill as the Central Florida Indians came out swinging in the first inning scoring nine runs on seven hits, one walk, and two defensive errors by the Lightning. Evan Bunker (Topsfield, MA) relieved Federico in the first, as his rubber arm would keep his team in contention through the fifth inning, allowing only one run (fourth inning).

Facing what seemed to be an overwhelming deficit of 9-0 after the top of the first, the Lightning 13’s remained focused and “chipped away” each inning thereafter. The first three Lightning batters reached base in the bottom half of the inning and Connor Lyons (Bedford, NH) scored the first run as Greg Ladd (Danvers, MA) drove him in with a sacrifice fly to left field. As Bunker retired the next six Indian batters, the Lightning scored two runs in both the second and third innings, highlighted by four straight base hits in the second by Kyle Levesque (Manchester, NH), Gavin Mahoney (Winthrop, MA), Lyons, and Chris Splinter (Middleton, MA).

With the score now 9-5, Bunker faced his toughest task of the day as the Indians’ top of the lineup came to the plate in the fourth inning. Allowing one walk and two hits, Bunker managed to escape with only one run allowed in the inning to make it a 10-5 ballgame. “Winning the inning,” as they had done so often in the 81 team tournament, the Lightning answered with three runs in the bottom half of the fourth capped by Mahoney who delivered yet another clutch two out hit, driving in Michael Amaral (Tewksbury, MA) who had drawn a base on balls two batters previous.

As the Indians remained on top 10-8, Bunker showed poise in his last inning of work, shutting down the Indians’ bats in the fifth, giving up one hit and leaving the runner stranded. Needing two runs to tie the ballgame, the overpowering Lightning offense doubled that number as they put a four spot on the board in the bottom of the fifth to take their first lead of the game, 12-10. Leading off the inning with three straight walks followed by a pop out and a strikeout, Amaral stepped to the plate and drew yet another base on balls to drive home the first run of the inning. Following Amaral, Levesque and Mahoney came through for the Lightning with back-to-back RBI singles, giving their squad a two run cushion.

With the season on the line, the Lightning coaching staff called on Greg Ladd (Danvers, MA) to close out the last two innings. Ladd, who pitched five innings on Wednesday and a courageous complete game in the morning match up against the Tampa Heat on Friday, asked for the ball and gave his coaches and team one of the most memorable efforts they will ever come across. Facing the heart of the Indians’ lineup, Ladd retired the first two batters before a double, a fielding miscue by the Lightning defense, and another double allowed two runs to score making it a 12-12 ballgame heading into the bottom of the sixth.

With one out in the sixth, Bunker drew a walk, Ladd reached on a hard hit ground ball to the shortstop, and Geoff Lynch (Georgetown, MA), who struck out for the first time all season (over 100 at-bats) earlier in the game, singled to load the bases for Michael “Warren” Amaral. Amaral crushed a fastball to deep left field for a sacrifice fly, allowing Bunker to score what would be the winning run for the Lightning.

With a score of 13-12 in the top half of the seventh, Ladd wasted no time and attacked the Indians’ hitters. As the leadoff man grounded weakly to Ladd for the first out of the inning, the final two outs were recorded by way of two more groundballs to the reliable Splinter, playing second base. As the final out was recorded, the National Champs stormed the field as the 13U New England Lightning baseball team won the program’s second championship in as many years.