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BRENDAN GRANT FOUNDATION This invitational event featured high school varsity teams from Bedford, Belmont, Lynnfield and Winchester at the newly renovated Brendan Grant Memorial Field in Belmont. The tournament began at 2:00 pm on Friday, 27 May 2005 with Belmont falling to Winchester by a score of 6 to 4 in a league game that lasted a grueling 10 innings, well beyond the normal 7 innings for high school baseball. This game counted in the Middlesex League standings, and both teams wanted the win to help lock-in a post-season playoff berth, and this certainly contributed to the intense competition that ensued. At 5:00 pm
the second game was equally competitive which featured Lynnfield beating
Bedford 4 to 3 in a very close game. Bedford came into this
game as the underdog, facing a Lynnfield team that had established itself
among the top 15 in the The following day on Saturday the consolation game began at 10:00 am and featured Belmont beating Bedford by a score of 9 to 6, in a game that Belmont needed in their drive to make the Middlesex League playoffs. This game had lots of hits and balls put into play, with the defense on each side put to the test. In the end Belmont ultimately came out on top, snuffing a Bedford rally in the last inning with a double-play that cleared the bases of what would have been the tying runs. The championship
game followed at 2:00 pm, with Lynnfield being crowned Tournament Champion
over Winchester with a score of 4 to 3. The drama lasted until the
very end with Winchester falling short in a rally in the last inning due
to a well executed double play that kept the tying run from scoring.
Junior Rick Vail of Lynnfield hit the only home run of the game, which was
a solo shot over the right-center field fence to lead off the fourth
inning. All four games count towards overall standings and going toward the state post-season tournaments. This year's event was sponsored by Coca Cola, the Hogan Family of Belmont, and Reebok, whose generous donations allowed for complimentary food and drinks for all attendees, as well as t-shirts and hats for all participants along with trophies. Based on the success of this inaugural tournament, plans are already being discussed for next year. We hope to see you then for some great high school baseball! |
2005. The combination of warm sunshine, highly competitive high
school baseball, and good crowds helped make this inaugural tournament a
great success.
state. The go-ahead runs came in the sixth
inning with the game locked at 2 runs apiece when Junior Jay Banos of
Lynnfield hit a towering homerun over the right-center field fence (Banos
came into the game with the highest batting average in the state).
Bedford rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning, but came up short and
left the tying run at third and the winning run at second to end the game.
The tournament Most Valuable Player Trophy went to Senior
Captain Mike Roberts who pitched the entire game for Lynnfield and was the
winning pitcher.