MARLBORO — Three years to the day that Leominster’s fabled baseball team last appeared in a championship game — albeit on the short side against now-defunct St. Peter-Marian — the Blue Devils claimed another championship.
This time, it was a tournament result that was the first of its kind.
Top-seeded Leominster, which hadn’t allowed a run in the Central Mass. Athletic Director’s Division 1 Tournament, kept that streak going Wednesday as the Devils posted yet another shutout on the diamond, a 8-0 win over Shrewsbury at Marlboro High School.
This one, of course, gave LHS the CMADA title, its seventh local-level title since 1981, after the Blue Devils had registered shutout wins over Wachusett Regional and Westboro last week.
Leominster (15-1) will now go for the first-ever Central Mass. baseball double after it drew the No. 1 seed in Wednesday’s sectional tournament, and will now wait a week for its next game against the winner of No. 8 Tantasqua Regional or No. 9 St. John’s.
That’s OK with longtime LHS skipper Rich Barnaby, who registered his 100th win Wednesday after taking over for the legendary Emile Johnson ahead of the 2014 season.
“We had a week off before this tournament, as well,” Barnaby said after receiving the championship plaque. “We’re still going to meet every day; these kids love coming to practice and being with each other. But we’ll take care of our bodies; (Thursday) we’ll get stretch and be with each other and celebrate. But a week off does not hurt at all.
“This is a team that was robbed from baseball for an entire season last year. They made a decision to go to the weight room every day, to wake up every day and hit BP. They got better, and we didn’t make any COVID-related excuses. I’m the luckiest coach in America to coach these guys. I’m unbelievably blessed.”
Evan McCarthy, who threw 102 pitches and fanned 10 against Wachusett last Wednesday afternoon at Doyle, went the distance against and stymied the Colonials. He struck out 12 Shrewsbury hitters while scattering four hits and leaving five on the bases.
“He’s the best pitcher in Central Mass., and he may be the best player in the state right now,” Barnaby praised. “That’s why he’ll be a Hall of Famer.”
Both teams posted zeroes through the first three and a half innings before Leominster (11 hits) broke through in the fourth.
Brandon Arsenault tucked a base hit just inside the right-field line before he advanced to second on Eamon Durkan’s one-out grounder to first.
But on Nico Martinez’s grounder to short, the throw to first was not caught clean, and Arsenault scampered all the way around from second to give Leominster a 1-0 lead.
LHS then broke it open in the fifth against Shrewsbury starter David Siciliano, who went 4 1/3 and yielded six hits before Colonials skipper Lee Diamantopoulus came out and lifted him in favor of Ryan Sande with the bases loaded and LHS ahead, 2-0.
Sean Dutton, who had singled, went all the way to third on McCarthy’s base hit to left before Nick Garcia plated him with a base hit. And after Siciliano, who has an explosive fastball, plunked Arsenault to load ‘em up, that spelled the end of the way for him — but didn’t close the book on him just yet.
With Sande on, Leominster kept piling on the pressure, as Tony Salvatelli hit a sacrifice fly to right to deliver courtesy runner Tyler Godin, giving LHS a 3-0 lead.
An error then delivered Garcia, wrapping up the frame.
That was plenty for McCarthy, who had struck out the side in the fifth and retired the last 10 Colonials in a row to wrap up the contest.
“We love the fifth inning, we love the sixth inning, we love the seventh inning,” Barnaby said. “We’ve been saying that all year; we love when the opposition’s pitching staff gets tired. Our lineup one through nine is tough to get through, and credit to our pitching staff, our catcher, and pitching coach Ed Vowels; they are throwing masterpiece after masterpiece.
“If we score one run, we know we’re going to win.”
LHS added four runs in the home half the sixth inning as it batted around for the second consecutive frame.
Dutton, Godin, Garcia, and Salvatelli all scored, with Salvatelli and Martinez coming up with two-run hits.
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June 17, 2021 at 09:02AM
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Blue Devils blank Shrewsbury for CMADA title - Sentinel & Enterprise
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