CNB starts off 2-1 at regionals

Posted 7/23/14

The Cranston National Budlong state champion 12-year-old all-star team is off and running at the Little League Softball East Regional, with wins in two of its first three games in pool …

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CNB starts off 2-1 at regionals

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The Cranston National Budlong state champion 12-year-old all-star team is off and running at the Little League Softball East Regional, with wins in two of its first three games in pool play.

Playing in Bristol, Conn. at Leon Breen Memorial Field, CNB lost its opener last Friday night 12-2 to Massachusetts’s Charlton Little League before rebounding on Sunday for a 10-0 win over New Hampshire’s Derry American. In that game, CNB standout pitcher Caitlin Lopez fired a no-hitter.

On Tuesday, CNB kept up its winning ways in a 15-3 victory over Maine’s Scarborough Little League.

CNB has one game left in pool play, as it was scheduled to take on Connecticut’s George J. Hummel Little League Wednesday. At 2-1, CNB can finish no worse than third in New England, meaning it will advance to the quarterfinals, which are set for Thursday.

It’s been a great experience thus far.

“It’s such a wonderful atmosphere here,” said CNB manager Chris Gentili. “There’s so much interaction with the other teams.”

In the first game of the tournament, Gentili thinks his team was just a little of out sorts, and its opponent was more than ready to go.

“We played a team you can’t make mistakes against,” Gentili said. “Couple that with the fact that with the fact that we weren’t up to task, we weren’t ready, and they got us pretty good.”

In the second game, however, CNB bounced back in a big way.

Lopez was on from the start, and she led the way in a mercy-rule, four-inning victory.

“Caitlin was outstanding,” Gentili said. “She was just brilliant.”

That gave CNB some momentum heading into Tuesday, and it didn’t waste it, as it opened up offensively and won in a five-inning, mercy-rule game.

“I thought the hitters up and down the lineup were the stars today,” Gentili said.

CNB’s opponent on Thursday will be a team from the Mid-Atlantic, and with a win in that game it would play on Friday morning in the semifinals. The tournament finals are scheduled for Friday night at 7 p.m.

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