Braintree is after third straight AABC Northeast World Series crown

The Albany A’s celebrate after scoring another run Saturday in the AABC Northeast World Series championship game in Torrington. (Liss Phillips photo courtesy Albany Athletics)

WATERBURY, August 10 – The Braintree White Sox will get an opportunity to defend their championship in the AABC Northeast World Series on Sunday.

The White Sox (27-5) won twice on Saturday to earn a spot in Sunday’s championship game against Fedell’s Mechanics out of Trumbull at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury beginning at 10 a.m. Game two, if Fedell’s (22-7-1) can win the opener, will follow immediately at 12:30 p.m.

The White Sox handed Fedell’s their first loss of the tournament with a dominating 10-1 victory in the morning. Braintree moved to the championship round with an 8-6 win over the Albany (N.Y.) Athletics, a victory that eliminated the A’s from the double-elimination tournament.

The last Tri-State League team in the tournament was the Terryville Black Sox, who began the day with a 10-3 victory over the New York Hawks. But the Black Sox (23-6) stumbled and were eliminated in a 6-3 loss to Fedell’s Mechanics.

Braintree led by seven runs before Albany (35-11) rallied to close the gap with seven runs in the final two innings but it wasn’t enough to catch the White Sox.

“We fought hard the final two games evident in the last inning against Braintree,” said A’s manager Joe Altieri, whose team was playing in their eighth AABC Northeast World Series. “We enjoyed another successful season with the (Albany) Twilight League Championship and 35 wins, despite falling short in the World Series. I’m pretty proud of these guys this year. It was a unified, close knit group from start to finish this season.”

Braintree raced out to an early 3-0 lead on RBI singles from Jordan Enos, Matt Foley and Jarrett Sharkey. The lead swelled to 5-0 when Sharkey hit a RBI triple and Matt Nicholson drove home Sharkey with a RBI single. The White Sox led by seven runs, 8-1 before the A’s rallied in the seventh inning.

Chris Salamida and R.J. Pingitore each singled in runs then Austin Lawrence hit a bases-loaded double to drive in three more runs making the score 8-6. The A’s loaded the bases again with two outs but Cam Overbaugh grounded out on a close play to end the game.

In the win over Danbury, the A’s built up a 5-0 lead. Albany’s Craig Mastroianni had a two-run double and had a RBI single in the third inning. However Danbury’s Ben Harrison doubled in three runs in the sixth inning to pull the Pirates within a run, 5-4. But that was as close as Danbury would get. Albany closer Nick Zuba pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning to earn the save.

American Amateur Baseball Congress (AABC)
2019 Northeast World Series
At Waterbury and Torrington
Thursday, August 8
Game 1: New York Hawks 13, Danbury Pirates 10
Game 2: Blasius Chevrolet-Waterbury (17-7) vs. Braintree (NY) White Sox, rained out
Game 3: Albany (NY) Athletics 6, Terryville 3
Game 4: Fedells Mechanics-Trumbull 2, Pelham (NY) Mets 1 (8)

Friday, August 9
Game 2: Braintree (NY) White Sox 7, Blaisus Chevrolet 1
Game 5: Terryville 1, Pelham, NY 0, Pelham eliminated
Game 6: Danbury Pirates 6, Blasisus Chevrolet 4, Blaisus eliminated
Game 7: Fedells Mechanics 10, Albany (NY) Athletics 1
Game 8: Braintree White Sox 11, New York Hawks 10

Saturday, August 10
Game 9: Terryville 10, New York Hawks 3, New York eliminated
Game 10: Albany A’s 6, Danbury Pirates 4, Danbury eliminated
Game 11:  Braintree White Sox 10, Fedells Mechanics 1
Game 12: Braintree White Sox 8, Albany A’s 6, Albany eliminated
Game 13: Fedells Mechanics 3, Terryville 1, Terryville eliminated

Sunday, August 11
Game 14: Final: Braintree vs. Fedells, 10 a.m., Municipal Stadium
Game 15: Final: Braintree vs. Fedells, 12:30 p.m., Municipal Stadium, if necessary