DEE-FENSE, DEE-FENSE
Danvers Little League teams looking to tighten up in Williamsport all-star tourneySClB By Mike Grenier staff writer

Danvers American Little League all-star manager Manny Costa is encouraged when he yells "grab a spot" at an afternoon practice and his players make a mad dash to different positions.

Since he's coaching an all-star team that will be playing in the District 15 Williamsport tournament, his roster is overflowing with infielders, pitchers and catchers. But he's interested in seeing how many of his players will make their way to the outfield.

Fortunately, he doesn't have to coax anybody.

"They just want to see the field," Costa said of his players. "There are only nine positions, and every kid wants one of those spots. It's good to see them sprint to the outfield (when it may not be their normal position in the regular season)."

Costa has yet to settle on his defensive alignment for the tournament, but it's high on his priority list. It's also not taken lightly by Dave Gotts, who is the manager of the Danvers National all-stars in the Williamsport tourney for the 14th straight year.

Danvers American will play its District 15 tourney opener against Gloucester American Saturday at MacArthur Park in Peabody (5 p.m.). Meanwhile, Danvers National will play Beverly East, also on Saturday, at Cheeseman Park in Wenham (3 p.m.).

Experience is an advantage

Both men would probably agree that power pitching and home runs are the spectacular aspects of the tourney, which kicks off this Friday. However, developing a steady defense is as important to a team's success as anything else.

"You don't get by on just good pitching alone," said Gotts. "In a tournament situation like this, one error can turn into a run very quickly — and a lot of games are decided by a run.

"Because I've been around, I can tell our kids stories of how we've been knocked out. Defensively, you need to be prepared for every situation. One year we were playing in the Sectional (as one of the final eight teams in the state) in Tewksbury and we lost a game on bunt coverage. Third base was open, we threw the ball into left field and lost the game. That was tough."

Based on the first week of practice, Gotts knows he has some excellent infielders, including Rafael Tylus, John Buccheri, Kyle Geanoulis, Kevin Hodgkins, Tyler King, Sean Lundergan and Peter Merry. "But nothing has been defined yet," said Gotts.

Meanwhile, Costa already has a pretty good handle on his team's defensive potential because he has four players who made last year's Williamsport all-star team as 11-year-olds. Chris Butler was a catcher, Ryan Kelleher was a pitcher/outfielder, Brendan Mackey was a pitcher/center fielder and Nick Andreas played right field. They won't necessarily play the same positions in this year's tourney, but their versatility gives Costa some options.

"It's an advantage for us — absolutely," said Costa. "Those kids got to play in the Williamsport tourney and two of them, Butler and Mackey, also played in the Gallant Memorial Tournament at the end of the season. They played at a high level and know what it's like to represent their town in front of big crowds. Their eyes won't get as big in this year's tournament."

Defensive values

Costa said his team's defense starts with "the triangle." That means he wants to place some of his best athletes at catcher, shortstop, second base and centerfield. Those are the high volume areas for balls that are hit against contact pitchers.

Generally speaking, Costa favors speedy players in the outfield.

"You usually get strong pitching at this level," said Costa. "If they're not getting strikeouts, they're keeping the ball on the ground, so you need kids who can make plays up the middle. You want to be able to knock the ball down and make plays at first. And in the outfield, you want kids who can chase the ball in the gap and hold hitters to singles."

Overall, the value of defense goes way up in the Williamsport tourney. The talent is dispersed so evenly from team to team that the edge often goes to the superior defensive unit.

"It's huge," said Costa. "We'll spend a lot of times on fundamentals and fielding grounders. We want it to become muscle memory for the kids instead of going through the thinking process.

"Teams will hurt you big time if you don't make plays. In my opinion, defense is the most important part of this tournament after pitching."

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