15’s finally get by Warwick to claim state championship

Posted 7/23/14

Coming into the Babe Ruth 15-year-old state tournament, no one in Rhode Island had beaten Warwick the past two summers. Last Thursday, Cranston did just that.

But that was only the first step, …

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15’s finally get by Warwick to claim state championship

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Coming into the Babe Ruth 15-year-old state tournament, no one in Rhode Island had beaten Warwick the past two summers. Last Thursday, Cranston did just that.

But that was only the first step, advancing Cranston to the finals. Once there, it squared off with Warwick again – and won again, 4-3 in eight innings.

After finishing behind Warwick the last two years as 13 and 14-year-olds, Cranston finally got over the hump and won the state championship.

It was an exciting moment for a group that has come close in the past but has always had a common nemesis.

“A lot of the guys got better,” said Cranston manager Joe Rodriques. “I think they got mentally tougher. We caught a couple of breaks that didn’t go our way the last couple of years.”

It all started with the winner’s bracket final game against Warwick last Thursday, which Cranston won 3-2. Justin Gist fired four innings of shutout ball to start the game, with Chris Manfredo pitching the final three to close out the game.

In the top of the third, Nik San Antonio led off with a double and he scored on a single by Mitch Carvalho. The next inning, Brendan Lanigan reached on an error, Justin Gist was hit with a pitch and Mike Rodriques hit a ball into the gap that scored Lanigan.

Warwick got one run back in the fifth on a passed ball, but Cranston matched that by scoring on a passed ball in the seventh to make it 3-1.

“That was big,” Joe Rodriques said.

It looked bigger in the bottom of the seventh, when Warwick loaded the bases with nobody out.

Manfredo got out of the jam only allowing one run, though, with Gist making the key play on a throw home from first base for the second out of the inning. A soft liner back to Manfredo ended the game.

“It was an exciting game,” Rodriques said. “Well played game.”

The two teams then met again two days later with Cranston in the driver’s seat, as it had to lose twice in order to be eliminated while needing only to beat Warwick once.

It took care of business in game one.

Cranston went with Mike Cuddemi on the mound and he pitched four innings, allowing only two unearned runs.

Still, Warwick led 2-0 at that point, and a winner-take-all game seemed like it was on the horizon.

“It kind of felt like the air was out of the balloon a bit,” Rodriques said.

In the top of the sixth, however, Cranston made a charge. Sam Hanley had a base hit and Sam Owens singled. With runners on first and second with two outs, Carvalho stepped to the plate and laced a triple over the right fielder’s head, tying the game at two.

“They seemed like they didn’t want to pitch to him,” Rodriques said. “I told him to sit fastball at 2-2 and he caught a fastball.”

The game stayed tied at two through the seventh, as Gist came on for the fifth, sixth and seventh and continued his dominant tournament on the mound, holding Warwick scoreless.

Manfedo came on to pitch in the eighth, and Warwick nearly took the lead. Jordan Huntoon – the eventual MVP of the tournament – hit a double into the gap and Warwick tried to score a runner from first base. San Antonio, the Cranston shortstop, made a perfect relay throw to home, though, nailing the runner at the plate and keeping the game tied.

“He played a superb game at shortstop that day,” Rodriques said.

Warwick did manage to push a run across in the top of the ninth, putting Cranston’s back against the wall in the bottom half of the inning.

But, the team responded like champions. Carvalho walked, took second on a passed ball and scored on a single by Lanigan to tie the game. After singles by Gist and Mike Rodriques, Sean Heart hit the first pitch he saw past third base for a walk-off single.

“I’m very proud of Sean,” Joe Rodriques said.

Cranston celebrated a title, and it will have a little time to bask in the glow of victory, as the New England Regional tournament in Manchester, N.H. doesn’t begin until Aug. 2

In the meantime, Cranston will try to schedule a scrimmage and it will keep practicing. It’s not prepared for its summer surge to come to an end yet.

“We’ve had a couple of good weeks of practice,” Rodriques said. “The chemistry is excellent.”

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