American Legion Northeast Regionals: Shrewsbury outlasts Lawrence, will play for championship

WORCESTER — Christian Siciliano delivered the go-ahead two-run single in extra innings, as Shrewsbury Post 397 slipped past Lawrence, 6-4, in the winners' bracket final of the American Legion Northeast Regional Tournament on Friday evening at Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field.

Shrewsbury (28-6) has earned an automatic berth into Sunday’s championship game, no matter the result of its 2:30 p.m. matchup with Cumberland, Rhode Island, here on Saturday.

Shrewsbury coach Frank Vaccaro said Lawrence gave his team everything it could handle.

“We are emotionally drained,” Vaccaro said. “We knew we were going to be in for a battle, and to be the visiting team, and come out victorious is huge. I said we would have to play a flawless game, and we almost did.”

Shrewsbury is seeking its second trip to the American Legion World Series in Shelby, North Carolina, with its first trip coming in 2017. Shrewsbury is 3-0 in this year’s regional tournament, after also beating Maine champion Hampden, 15-2, and Vermont champ Brattleboro, 9-0, earlier in the week.

“We still got to finish, we got to compete, and it’s not even close to over,” Vaccaro said. “But we are in the final game now, and that makes me feel good.”

With the game tied at 3-3 after seven innings, Post 397 went ahead in the top of the eighth.

Matt Livingston sparked the rally, reaching first after being hit by a pitch. After a wild pitch and intentional walk to John West, Mike Bonollo’s bunt single loaded the bases. After a Post 397 strikeout, Siciliano went the other way, delivering a two-run single to right to put Shrewsbury on top to stay, 5-3.

“I was looking for the perfect pitch at first, specifically a fastball and the two fastballs I got I didn’t really like,” Siciliano said. “(Their pitcher) is throwing fast so you choke up on the bat, think right side, and that’s what did.”

Added Vaccaro of Siciliano's clutch hit: “I couldn’t be happier for him. He has been trying like nobody else. He’s caught a of games throughout the year, high school and here. But the good news is that he was man enough to get up there and take a hack and what can I say. You got to want it and he wanted it there.”

Later in the inning, Bonollo scored on a wild pitch to extend Shrewsbury's lead to 6-3.

Lawrence scored once in the bottom of the eighth, before loading the bases with just one out. Mike Bean came on to get a flyout and groundout to secure the win.

“Bean came in and did the job,” Vaccaro said.

Shrewsbury pitchers stranded 16 Lawrence runners.

“My pitchers did outstanding under a heck of lot of pressure,” Vaccaro said. “Hand it to our defense, too, they didn’t make any mistakes. Our pitchers got strikeouts when they needed them.”

Nick McDonald and Carson Hauben limited Lawrence, the Massachusetts state champion, to just three runs.

Post 397 struck first with a single run in the second inning when Chris Wright tripled to right before coming home on Siciliano’s sacrifice fly a batter later. Wright’s triple was a liner to right that went all the way into the right field corner, allowing Wright to easily reach third base and set up the first run of the game.

Shrewsbury doubled its lead in the second. T.J. Morgera did most of the work, drawing a one-out walk, stealing second and stealing third. Livingston made Morgera’s work pay off, lining a single to right to score Morgera and put Post 397 ahead, 2-0.

Lawrence threatened in the third inning, loading the bases with two outs. McDonald wiggled out of the jam unscathed though, getting a strikeout to end the threat and preserve Shrewsbury’s 2-0 lead.

Lawrence got their bats going in the third, scoring two runs to tie the game at 2-2. Ivinson Batista and Luis Mejia had RBI singles in the inning. Lawrence had a chance for more in the inning, loading the bases with only one out.

McDonald minimized the damage though, getting a strikeout and a great catch in right from Bonollo to end the inning. Bonollo made that catch on the run in the right field gap to keep the game tied.

Shrewsbury promptly regained its lead in the fifth when Sean Bunton reached on an error, stole second and went to third on Morgera’s bunt single. Bunton scored on a Livingston groundout later in the inning to make it 3-2 Shrewsbury.

Lawrence threatened again in the fifth, loading the bases for the third inning in a row. But for the second time in three innings, Lawrence came up empty as Post 397 reliever Carson Hauben induced a 6-4-3 double play to keep Shrewsbury on top, 3-2.

Lawrence did tie the game in the sixth when Luis Mejia reached via a hit by pitch, got to third courtesy of a Post 397 two-base error, and scored on a Kebler Peralta sacrifice fly.

—Contact Chris Kyne at sports@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @tgsports.