The Andre Chiefs and the Wakefield Merchants took 1-0 leads in the their respective best of three first round series on Sunday afternoon. The Chiefs got a complete game outing from righty Zach Kirby to beat the Reading Bulldogs at Morton Field 6-3. Ben Waldrip led the Chiefs’ offense with a homer and two RBI’s while Kyle Dembrowski (single) and Andrew Caulfield (fielders’ choice) each had an RBI for the Chiefs. Tyler Cedneo had two hits, including an RBI double, for the Bulldogs. Kirby allowed five hits and struck out 11. Jack Wallace went three innings and was charged with the loss and Kyle Wollman worked the final four frames. The duo allowed just four hits but were victimized by three errors. Game two of the series will be played at Maplewood on Monday at 8:00 PM. The Merchants beat the Malden Maddogs 3-1 at Walsh Field. Joseph Maguire tossed a four-hitter to lead the Merchants to the win. The Merchants scored all of their runs in the bottom of the third inning as veterans Bobby Losanno and Mike Sorrentino drove home the runs. The Merchants erased a 1-0 Maddogs’ lead as a Derek Bauer RBI scored Jack Wharf in the top of the inning. Sorrentino ended up with two of the Merchants six hits and two RBI’s. Wharf and Kevin Alexy had a couple of hits each for the Bulldogs. Maguire, who was 6-3 in the regular season, struck out four and didn’t walk a batter. Blaine McLean went the distance for Malden and allowed just six hits. Game two of the Malden-Wakefield series will be played at Morelli Field in Melrose on Monday at 8:00 PM.

The Malden Maddogs and Somerville Royals have both finished the regular season at 10-16-2. As a result, a one game play-in game will be contested on Friday night at Morelli Field to determine who will be the sixth seed in the upcoming ICL playoffs. The Maddogs and Royals split their season series 2-2, Both teams have the same number of wins. Therefore, per ICL rules, the first two tiebreakers can’t break the deadlock and a one game playoff is required, The winner of Friday’s game will move on to meet the #3 seeded Wakefield Merchants in a best of three series. The other first round matchup is set with the #5 Andre Chiefs meeting the #4 Reading Bulldogs. Friday’s play-in game at Morelli will start at 8:00 PM. The #1Lexington Blue Sox and #2 Alibrandis have earned first round byes. The Royals earned their chance at a play-in game by virtue of a 0-0 nine inning tie with Lexington on Thursday night. Cal Carroll ( 7 innings) and Joe Saia (2 innings) combined on the shutout for Somerville. Dawy Lebron (4 innings), Kelvin Guzman (2 innings), Nick Harper in the 7th, and Junior Pena over the last three innings, teamed up on the whitewash for Lexington. Somerville’s Graham Smith threw out John Barry out at home in the fifth inning, the closest either team came to scoring. In other ICL action, the Chiefs ripped six homers to beat the Melrose Americans 22-7 in a slugfest at Morelli Field. Kyle Dembrowski hit two dingers, while Mike Gedman, R.J. Libby, Ben Waldrip and Andrew Caulfield hit one each. Josh Bohn got into the home run parade with a two run shot for the Americans. David Kerns (1-0) got the win.