Tag Archives: Jack Lucido

May 29, 2022 · 8:26 pm

Amesbury wins Spofford Tourney 6-2 over Georgetown

Amesbury wins the 2022 Spofford Tournament

(Georgetown) You can’t always tell the end from the beginning.

Amesbury starter Aiden Donovan hit the first two Georgetown batters, walked the next one, and gave up a two-run single to Jack Lucido in the first inning.

Georgetown scored two runs in the first inning.

I’m not sure you could have a worse beginning.

But at the end the final score was 6-2 in favor of Amesbury.

Amesbury won the two-day Spofford Tournament on Sunday afternoon at Georgetown.

After the shaky start, Aiden Donovan retired the next three batters he faced to limit the damage to two runs. Over the next five innings, he only allowed two baserunners (on walks). That first-inning single was the only hit he allowed. Talk about a recovery!

“Credit to (Aiden) Donovan,” said Georgetown coach Phil Desilets afterwards. “He settled down. He got in a groove, and we couldn’t get anything going against him.”

Trevor Kimball scored the third Amesbury run in the first inning

Georgetown found its own share of trouble in the first inning. A walk, a hit batsman, and two errors opened up opportunities for Amesbury.

Tourney MVP Shea Cucinotti delivered the first Amesbury run with a sacrifice fly and Aiden Donovan’s blooper to rightfield delivered two more.

Zach Gilmore took over pitching for the Royals in the second inning and quieted Amesbury for three straight innings.

The Amesbury fifth inning was a different story. Shea Cucinotta started things with a single and then Drew Scialdone homered over the 342 foot sign in left center.

Drew Scialdone hit a two-run homer in the 5th inning

“It was an outside pitch, but I pulled it,” said Drew afterwards. “I thought it was a popup, but I’ll take the home run.”

“If you have a lead, you always want to work to extend it and put more pressure on the other team,” he added. “We were able to do that today.”

“Drew’s homer put us in a nice position,” said Amesbury coach Joel Brierley post-game.

Amesbury increased its comfort zone with a run in the sixth inning. Cam Stanley beat out an infield hit and scored when Jake Harring found the gap in left center.

Coach Brierley brought in Trevor Kimball in the last inning and three straight strikeouts later Amesbury had the victory.

“I thought Aiden (Donovan) pitched awesome today,” said Coach Brierley. “We knew that he would settle down. Very proud of what he did today.”

Senior Shea Cucinotta was selected as the tourney MVP. “I think that this award is about our team, but it means a lot to me,” said Shea. “Everyone played very well. There were tons of hits and great plays in the field. I think we’re in for a heckuva playoff run.”

Amesbury finishes 16-4 in Division 4 and are currently at the top of the Power Rankings. The pairings for the tournament come out this week. If Amesbury lasts, they are assured of home games until the Final Four.

Georgetown finishes 10-10 in Division 5 and are currently fifth in the Power Rankings. That could change because of their win over Newburyport on Saturday.

“We have to turn the page from today’s loss,” said Coach Desilets, “have a great week of practice and get ready for the playoffs.”

“It’s one game at a time from here on out,” he added. “It’s the best time to be playing ball.”

One of the best defensive plays of this game was made by pitcher Zach Gilmore. A foul popup behind the plate looked likely to fall in but Zach raced off the mound to make the catch.

Amesbury pitching (Drew MacDonald, Aiden Donovan, Trevor Kimball) gave up only one hit in the tournament.

Georgetown 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 2

Amesbury 3 0 0 0 2 1 – = 6

Good shooting gets Georgetown past Triton 65-49

Griffin Dupuis and Matthew Torgerson (8 points)

(The pictures enlarge when you click on them.)

(Byfield MA) Georgetown can shoot and they’re not hesitant to give up a shot to get a better one for a teammate.

“It’s all about trusting your teammates,” said senior Matthew Torgerson afterwards. “They all can shoot.”

There were plenty of extra passes as Georgetown defeated Triton, 65-49, on Monday night.

The Vikings (3-6) hung with the Royals (7-2) for a quarter.

“In the beginning they were really hitting us on the glass,” said Georgetown coach Josh Keilty post-game. “In the second quarter our guys really committed to rebounding.”

The Royals limited the home team to just seven points in that decisive second quarter and gained permanent separation (35-21) at halftime.

Georgetown tortured Triton with three’s in the first half netting six. Junior Cory Walsh (15 points) drained three of them in the second quarter alone.

“Georgetown moves the ball really well,” said Triton coach Ted Schruender. “They made a lot of three’s, and that’s hard to stop.”

The Vikings were better in the second half, but the Royals never lost their double-digit lead.

Georgetown showed in the second half that they’re not all about long-range shots although they did have four more 3-pointers.

The Royals interior game was also strong because of their ability to pass into high percentage, around-the-basket, scoring opportunities.

Harrison Lien (15 points) and Grant Lyon (17 points) scored almost all their points from close to the basket.

Triton’s Dylan Wilkinson led all scorers with twenty-two points. On at least four of his baskets, Dylan secured a rebound and maneuvered his way through the entire Georgetown defense for a successful layup.

Unfortunately for the Vikings, Dylan was the only one in double figures. The Royals had three players in that zone.

“We’ve been grinding at every practice,” said Matthew, “and it showed tonight. “We’ve been playing together all summer and in fall leagues. We play like a family.”

“I thought we shot it pretty well tonight,” said Coach Keilty. “Cory Walsh played great with those five three’s.”

“Anytime you can make shots like we did it gets your defense going,” added Coach Keilty.

The Royals have now won three straight. Last year they were 5-0 before ending their season.

Both Georgetown and Triton have lost to Amesbury.

Coach Schruender is still optimistic. “I know where we’re at, but I like the way my team competed. We need to reach another level and I think we’re going to get there.”

Jack Lucido was limited to three points tonight. He had five 3’s in the Royals’ 2-point win over Newburyport. Fewer points by Jack didn’t matter tonight because they have multiple scoring options and will share the ball to locate the hot hands.

Both schools were well represented in the stands.

Georgetown 16 19 15 15 = 65

Triton 14 7 17 11 = 49

(The pictures will enlarge if you click on them.)

Georgetown defeats Amesbury in surprising fashion

Iain Kantorski tagged out at home by catcher Tim Gilleo

(Amesbury MA) Georgetown certainly didn’t do it the easy way.

The Royals had two runners thrown out at home.

They had two others caught at third.

Didn’t matter, Georgetown still came away with a satisfying, 6-3, season-ending win over Amesbury on Tuesday afternoon.

The sunny skies at the start gave way to dark clouds, thunder, and then game-ending lightning as the Amesbury half of the sixth inning was about to start.

I usually talk to coaches and some players afterwards but not today. That lightning changed my plans and had me and my camera equipment beelining it immediately for the AHS parking lot.

Ayden Kent was one of six Royals pitchers

Not only did Georgetown (6-10) run into outs on the bases but they also used a different pitcher in each inning. Those frequent pitching changes would seem to have been a recipe for disaster sooner or later but not on this afternoon.

We’ll never know what the Indians (8-7) might have done with two more innings of batting, however. I’m betting though that we would have seen two more Georgetown pitchers.

The Royals had eleven hits, at least one in every inning, off Amesbury pitchers (Trevor Kimball & Josh Sorgini).

Georgetown got off to a great start with RBI doubles by Nick Gaeta (two hits) and Jack Lucido in the first inning.

That inning ended with Jack getting caught trying to steal third base.

Amesbury got a run back in their half of the first inning. Jeremy Lopez (three hits, two RBI) doubled home Shea Cucinotta.

Drew MacDonald was caught stealing in that inning.

Georgetown continued to hit during the next three innings but ran themselves into outs on the bases that kept them from scoring runs.

Great throws by LF Drew MacDonald (2^nd inning) and RF Drew Scialdone (3^rd inning) were key plays for the Indians in staying close on the scoreboard.

In the fourth inning, Garrett Sedgwick tried to go to third (from second) on an infield out but was thrown out at third on a good throw by 1B Tiernan Bentley.

I thought that the wasted opportunities might catch up to Georgetown, but it didn’t happen.

New pitchers came and went each inning for the Royals, yet the one-run lead stayed in place.

The Indians loaded the bases against Ayden Kent in the third inning but a two-out liner by Trevor Kimball was snagged by 1B Nick Gaeta to end the threat.

The Royals finally scored more runs in the fifth inning. RBI by Iain Kantorski & Carter Lucido finished starter Trevor Kimball’s afternoon.

Josh Sorgini came on in relief.

Twice Georgetown, with runners on first and third, sent the runner on first and were able to score the runner from third and add two more runs to their total.

Amesbury did not recover completely from those four additional runs. They did score two runs, however.

Jeremy Lopez doubled to the rightfield corner sending home Drew MacDonald. Later, Jeremy stole third and came across when the throw (from the pitcher) to third was wild.

That 6-3 score turned out to be the final as the threatening weather kicked in.

Everyone in Georgetown’s starting lineup had at least one hit. Rob Popielski and Nick Gaeta each had two hits for the Royals.

Jeremy Lopez had a perfect day going three-for-three with two RBI.

Drew MacDonald and Trevor Kimball each had two hits for the Indians.

The Georgetown season ends on an upswing as they finished winning three of their last five.

Amesbury will be in the post-season tournament. They suffered losses yesterday and today.

Amesbury defeated Georgetown, 5-4, in early May at Georgetown.

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)