Watertown Baseball got a walk-off 5-4 win in extra innings over Stoneham Thursday night at Victory Field. The 8-inning classic matched up two teams desperately looking for their first league win of the 2025 season, and in Stoneham’s case, their first win period.
Both teams sent a good pitcher to the mound to try and make it happen. Stoneham’s right-hander had a decent fastball, a very good changeup and a pretty darn good slow curve. The Raiders sent their early-season ace Lucas Pizzuto to the mound. The senior right hander already had a win and a no-decision, that coming during an excellent outing against Burlington last Friday night where he pitched 6 innings and left with the game tied 4-4. (Watertown lost the game 5-4 in heartbreaking fashion, giving up an unearned run in the top of the 7th, and then getting runners on base in the bottom of the inning but not being able to push them across the plate.)
It was a beautiful April night for baseball, cool but not cold, clear skies, and most importantly no wind! Stoneham struck first with two runs in the second, courtesy of an RBI-single by the their nine-hitter in the lineup, followed by a bomb of a triple hit by the leadoff hitter to drive in the second run. Watertown answered back in the bottom of the second with a run by playing small ball. Jayden Pineda walked to lead off the inning, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kingston Omalade, and then Adam Wainwright (remember that name) singled over the second basemen’s head to drive in Omalade.
Watertown tied it at 2-2 in the third inning. A leadoff walk once again hurt Stoneham, this time to leadoff hitter Jack Brennan. He moved to second base on a fielder’s choice, and then exhibited some great baseball acumen on the base paths! Cleanup hitter Lucas Pizzuto hit a ground ball to shortstop. Brennan did a great job of screening the shortstop, moving out of the way just at the right time as to not get hit by the ball and be called out, and the shortstop then bobbled the ball, rushed a throw to first that went in the dirt and by the first baseman. Brennan scored and the game was tied at 2.
It wasn’t until the bottom of the fifth when Watertown went ahead for the first time. The inning started innocently enough- a strikeout and a ground out. With two outs number two hitter Domenic Moynihan singled. Then shortstop Emilio Berndt jumped all over a fastball and drove it in the left-center gap. By the time Stoneham retrieved the ball at the DPW fence, Moynihan had scored and Berndt was standing on third with a triple. Pizzuto then jumped on the first pitch and lined a single to left scoring Berndt. After 5 innings, 4-2 Watertown.
Give Stoneham credit though. They started the sixth this way: single, stolen base, walk, sacrifice bunt. With second and third and one out, the nine hitter, a lefty, went clutch and delivered his third hit of the night slapping a ball down the left field line. And like that, the game was tied at 4. Pizzuto put an end to the damage striking out the 1 and 2 hitters to end the inning.
Watertown went down 1,2, 3 in the sixth. In the seventh Stoneham got a leadoff single and stole second. The cleanup hitter came up and smoked a liner right to Berndt at shortstop. Emilio calmly caught it and threw to second to double up the runner. Threat ended. Watertown got a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh, but couldn’t turn it into the winning run. Pizzuto stayed on the mound to pitch the 8th, and he quickly retired the side in order
Pizzuto then led off the home half of the 8th (still facing Stoneham’s starter) with an infield single. Trying to get the game-winner in scoring position, Pineda laid down a successful sacrifice bunt moving Pizzuto to second. Omolade came up and hit what should have been a ground out, short to first, but a throwing error allowed Omolade to get to second. Because the grounder was right in front of Pizzuto leading off second, he had to wait for the throw and was only able to advance to third on the error.
With one out and runners at second and third, Stoneham’s coach pulled his starter, who must have reached a pitch limit because bringing in a kid cold in this situation was a tough ask. The Stoneham reliever did his job though. With the infield in, Adam Wainwright came to the plate and did his job, swinging the bat (at an inside fastball) and putting the ball in play (a grounder to the shortstop). The Stoneham infielder looked back Pizzuto at third, but not long enough. When he threw to first to get Wainwright out, Pizzuto was already too far down the line, and too fast. By the time the first baseman received the throw from short and then tried to throw out Pizzuto , Lucas had already crossed the plate and started sprinting to first to celebrate with Wainwright who had driven in the game winning run. Final score in 8 innings, Watertown 5, Stoneham 4.
Watertown goes to 3-4, and 1-4 in the league. Pizzuto gets his second win of the season as a pitcher — he struck out seven on the night, and drove in a run with his bat and scored the game winner. Brennan had two hits and scored one, Berndt had a triple, an RBI and scored one, and, Domenic Moynihan caught his first game of the season and did a solid job, and he scored a run. A really good high school baseball game, and a really satisfying win for the Raiders!
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E
Stoneham 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 4 8 2
Watertown 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 1 5 7 1