Why six teams?
Why six teams?
I’ve been asking myself that for how many years now. Why six teams in the Lawrence Invitational Baseball Tournament?
Sorry, it’s now laughable, beyond laughable. Nobody, but nobody, seems to care. I do.
This Memorial Day baseball tournament never promised to be the spring version of the Christmas Tournament, but at least it’s something.
Why does it seem like nobody cares to make it better?
Ask the Lawrence High folks about making it an 8-team tournament and you get no answer.
You have to make it 8 teams … I know.
You have to make it 8 teams … we’re trying.
After, what is it now, 4 or 5 years now, with just six teams, I’m wondering if anybody is trying.
Are Brendan Neilon and Tim Finn hunting down teams actively? Has every avenue been exhausted, every stone turned over?
If nobody will play here, do the right thing and make it a run-of-the-mill four-team tournament.
It won’t be as special. It won’t generate as much interest, but it will at least be fair.
How can you take a tournament seriously when Andover and Tewksbury draw byes into the semis every year?
Take this year. Andover might be the third or fourth best team in the tournament, but I’ll take them to win it with John Farrell on the hill Saturday night and Shawn Carlson Sunday, against what might likely be somebody else’s No. 2 or 3.
I’ve been this tournament’s top supporter, partly out of respect for what Frank Brucato started here, partly because of my love for high school baseball and partly because of the energy I’ve felt at the event over the years.
I remember so many great games and great names, Jim Hanning, Justin Hesenius, Max Nunez, Noel Santiago, Derek Heald, those Eric Cyr-coached Methuen teams fighting for their tourney lives, all the spectacular performances.
I hate to see such little caring for the tournament that used to be a reunion spot on the holiday weekend.
This tournament could still be special. It needs 8 teams, though.
It wouldn’t hurt to try and spark some interest from the rest of the students at the participating schools.
Why not invite them to a pre-game mixer, with food and drink, maybe even live music before all the games there teams play?
Time is running out on the school year, especially for the seniors. They want to spend time with their friends. Why not make this a positive event for that via promotion?
There are plenty of two-day, four-team tournaments out there. They are all well and good.
But there was nothing better than a real 3-round, pre-state tourney test to promote the local baseball scene.
Again, I’ll be there all weekend at the new Mark Devlin Field. I’ll enjoy it. But this tournament could be so much more.
If only someone really cared and tried to make it right.
Sorry, had to vent. I won’t say another word on that.
Hey congrats go out to the Merrimack Valley Conference Most Valuable Players, Tim Wheeler of Central Catholic in the large school and Michael Calzetta in the small school.
The coaches made the right choices on each account.
Wheeler, by ET stats, is now hitting .509 with 18 RBIs, helping CC to the MVC large title outright.
Calzetta is 5-1 with a 1.93 ERA in 40 innings against the brass this spring. Oh yeah, he also leads the MVC small champs with a .468 average and 15 RBIs.
That said, shame on you guys for naming a thoroughly bloated 18-player all-conference team (2 MVPs plus 16). That number will never be as embarrassing as what the football coaches in your league do … Hell, I think they had 16 MVPs last fall. But it’s still a joke.
Last time I looked you put 9 men on the field at once.
Add a DH, two more pitchers and a utility guy and 13 is fine. 18 is diluted, almost 40 percent bigger than it should be.
Notes from around the region:
Andover, at 9-8, still needs a win - today vs. Cambridge or over the weekend in the Lawrence tourney to punch its tourney ticket and claim its spot as the middle of the pack team you’d least like to see in a Division 1 North opener.
Pentucket, at 8-9, needs a 2-1 final week to earn a spot in the D2 North field. The Sachems have Triton, Greater Lowell Tech and Melrose left on the slate.
Central, Georgetown, Haverhill, Lawrence, North Andover, North Reading and Whittier have all qualified already.
Up in the Granite State, two weeks remain in the Class L regular season.
Londonderry and Salem have locked down playoff spots. Timberlane, 7-7, is all but a formality to land in the 16-team field.
And then there are the Pinkerton Astros, at 4-10, in a logjam for the last couple spots. If the playoffs started today, Pinkerton is in. But 2 wins in the final four games would go a long way in solidifying a spot for the Astros, who continue to get strong mound work out of Brandon Bell and Bryce Calvetti but just aren’t hitting the baseball.
You should root hard for these guys, who lost their top returning arm Steve DeBonis to offseason shoulder surgery.
Sanborn Regional, at 6-7, has a nice little two-game cushion to play with. Still, it would serve the Indians greatly if they won a couple more and avoided the monster clubs in Class M, Winnisquam, Franklin and Campbell.
At 3-11 with at least 4 other teams to climb over, things don’t look good right now for Pelham, as far as a postseason berth goes.
