North End 12U Team Captures Boston City Baseball League Championship

A feisty and determine 12u team selected out of the NEAA Majors Program stared down and defeated rivals Charlestown, in the semi-finals, and South Boston, in the finals to capture the 2018 BCBL Championship. The North End Team coached by Jon Larson, John Pezzuto and managed by Juli McHugh had a complete effort throughout the regular season as the young men stepped in and covered for each other all summer to storm through the season and the playoffs to ultimately hoist the trophy that final game.

For six weeks these dedicated kids battled rush hour traffic and the MBTA a couple of nights a week to head to South Boston’s Moakley Field to challenge other neighborhood teams including Dorchester, Allston-Brighton, South Boston, Charlestown, and ADSL.  Veteran players including Sal DeAngelis, Jojo Brienze, and PJ McMahan consistently helped to lead the offensive batting during the summer.

Younger players including Max Mendoza, Ryan McHugh, Gunnar Larson, and Matthew Griffin joined their efforts to offer defensive fielding power.

The North End team never gave up even when they were trailing Charlestown 4-0 in the third inning of the semi-finals game.  The team rallied in the bottom of the third to tie the game and the go-ahead run was batting in by newcomer Oliver Barca in the fourth to ultimately progress the team to the Championship the following evening.

In the Championship game strong pitching by Richard Bova and Nik McHugh made the difference as the North End dominated the first place team from South Boston.