Western 12’s split first two at state tourney

Posted 7/23/14

On Saturday, the Cranston Western 12-year-old all-star team was flying high in the state tournament at Bristol’s King Philip Little League.

The next day, Western came back to down to Earth in a …

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Western 12’s split first two at state tourney

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On Saturday, the Cranston Western 12-year-old all-star team was flying high in the state tournament at Bristol’s King Philip Little League.

The next day, Western came back to down to Earth in a hurry.

Western opened the tournament with a 3-0 win over Portsmouth behind a complete-game effort on the mound from ace Anthony Eacuello.

That moved the team into the winner’s bracket final, where it ran into a Cumberland American team on a mission. Cumberland hit five total home runs and scored 10 runs in the first two innings en route to a 17-4, five-inning game that was shortened due to the mercy rule.

The loss sent Western into an elimination game against Coventry American, which was scheduled for Tuesday. The results of that game were unavailable at press time.

“They’re a very good team, similar to Lincoln last year,” said Western manager Gary Bucci. “I knew they were loaded.”

Western was expecting more of a battle against Cumberland than it got from Portsmouth, but Western’s hope was to keep the game close in the early innings and see if it could pull out a tight win.

That gameplan had to be scrapped immediately. Western’s Noah Cook started the game on the mound, and after surrendering a single and walk to open the top of the first, he allowed a long three-run home to center by Cumberland standout Jayden Struble. That made it 3-0 before Western had recorded an out.

Cumberland added a fourth run in the inning when Addison Kopack scored on an error.

In the bottom half of the first, Western went down one-two-three to Cumberland starter Nick Croteau.

It was a disastrous beginning.

“I wanted to get through the first inning,” Bucci said. “If we could have gotten through the first inning with a run, maybe two – I think they put four up – that sets the tone.”

It only got worse in the second. Mike DiCenso came on to pitch after Cook gave up a leadoff double, but DiCenso ran into similar trouble. He allowed a walk and an RBI single, and Cumberland’s sixth run scored on a wild pitch. An RBI groundout by Tyler Provost made it 7-0 and Kopack followed that with a two-run home run to make it 9-0.

Bucci went to the bullpen again and brought in Jared Olson to pitch, but Cumberland’s Sean Meers hit the first pitch Olson threw over the left field fence to make it 10-0.

“They’re good,” Bucci said. “There’s no question about that.”

Western did manage to grab three runs back in the bottom of the second inning on a three-run home run by Dylan Demers, but Cumberland came right back with two of its own in the top of the third on another long home run by Struble.

Down 12-3 in the third, Western did show some resilience. David Marchetti led off the inning with a home run to make it 12-4, and later in the inning Demers came up to the plate with two runners on. He launched a fly ball to left that died just in front of the fence, going for an out instead of what was nearly a game-altering three-run homer.

“If he hits it another 10 feet, you put a little pressure on them,” Bucci said.

But it wasn’t to be for Western. It used Demers and Ryan Perkins on the mound for the final 2.2 innings, with Cumberland adding five more funs off Perkins in the fifth on an RBI single by Tyler Provost and a grand slam by Meers.

In the bottom half of the inning, needing four runs to stay alive, Western hit into a game-ending double play with two runners on base.

“When they get in a hole like that, they get in a hole and it’s hard to get out,” Bucci said.

Croteau pitched two innings for Cumberland, while Brendan Wright pitched the next two and Meers pitched the fifth.

If Western were to win on Tuesday, it would play Cumberland again Thursday at 5:45 p.m. Western would then need to beat Cumberland twice to win the state championship.

“We’ll see what happens,” Bucci said.

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