It happens quite often, but every time the Cranston Western 12-year-old all-star team wins a District 1 title, it’s special.

This year’s was more special than most.

After being pushed to a final game by Johnston, Western dug deep on Sunday and captured its fourth straight district championship with a 9-4 victory.

The win, which came on the heels of an 8-3 loss to Johnston just two days earlier, was important enough, but winning the district not long after longtime CWLL president Mike Varrato passed away made 2014’s victory a little bit different.

“With Mike’s death, this one was special,” said Western manager Gary Bucci. “We came together.”

With the victory, Western advanced to the state tournament, and is slated to begin play on Saturday at 10 a.m. against District 2 champion Portsmouth. The tournament is being held at Bristol’s King Philip Little League.

Johnston gave Western everything it could handle just to get there.

After Western knocked off Johnston 5-4 in the district opener thanks to a walk-off home run by David Marchetti, Johnston fought ball the way back to a re-match by winning four consecutive games.

On Friday, Johnston earned its fifth straight win when it beat Western 8-3 to force Sunday’s winner-take-all game.

Yet, Bucci didn’t see any panic in his team.

“They were loose,” he said. “They were under control loose, which was nice.”

Bucci didn’t quite feel the same way, as he had trouble deciding who to pitch before eventually settling on Anthony Eacullo, the team’s ace, who took the mound against Johnston for the third time in the tournament.

It was the right choice. Eacuello gave up a first-inning two-run home run to Johnston’s Anthony Scivola, but he allowed only one more run to the potent Johnston offense over 4.2 innings of work.

“Anthony was ready,” Bucci said. “I was leaning towards him, but I wasn’t sure about starting him a third time. It worked out. He pitched well.”

The game certainly didn’t start off well for Western, however, as Scivola launched the two-run home run in the top of the first and Western had Mike DiCenso thrown out at home to end a scoreless bottom half.

Especially after winning on Friday, Johnston looked like it was in the driver’s seat.

“We were confident, especially the way the game opened up,” said Johnston manager Robert Civetti.

The next inning, Eacuello got out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam, and his offense came to life.

Chris Verdi led off the frame with a walk, and after Scivola – Johnston’s starter – retired the next batter, Dillon Demers reached on an infield single. A walk to Noah Cook loaded the bases, and DiCenso then drew a walk to bring home Western’s first run.

Scivola couldn’t seem to find the strike zone, walking his fourth batter of the inning, Eaucello, to tie the score at two.

Up next was Marchetti, and he lined a hard single to right-centerfield, plating two more runs to make the score 4-2. Scivola retired the next batter, but he gave up a two-run single to Jared Olson, ending his day after just 1.2 innings, trailing 6-2.

“They hit,” Civetti said of Western. “They came ready to swing and they hit the ball.”

Matt Fortier came on to pitch for Johnston and he retired the next batter, but the damage was done.

And after Eacuello got through the third and fourth innings with no damage, stranding three runners, Western opened up its advantage in the fourth.

Leading 6-2 thanks to solo home run by Ryan Perkins in the third, Marchetti hit a one-out triple the next inning and Andrew Dionizio followed that with a home run to left.

Western later got a solo home run from Demers in the fifth inning, rounding out its scoring.

“They’re busting their hump every day,” Bucci said.

Johnston was able to scratch a run across against Eacuello in the fifth on a one-out RBI double by Alex Rodriguez, but Olson came on and retired the side with no further trouble.

In the sixth, Johnston loaded the bases with one out and scored a fourth run on an RBI groundout by Luke Vincent, but Olson struck out the last batter of the game to clinch the title for Western.

“Johnston is a tough team,” Bucci said. “Every year they’re there.”

The win was a relief, especially given how Friday’s game had gone.

Western seemed poised to dominate in the early innings. After two free passes, Marchetti doubled deep to left, plating a run and setting up what looked to be a big inning.

But Western was unable to capitalize, a phrase that encapsulated their offensive performance for the remainder of the game.

"They had a ton of guys on base today, " said Civetti. "Our games with them are always close, and today they were one or two hits away from breaking the game open."

And while Western was struggling to execute on the offensive side, its pitching did little to help its cause. In the third inning, two Western pitchers combined to give up four consecutive walks, and two key two-out RBI hits by Johnston's Fortier and Vincent gave Johnston what were the first of a plethora of runs they would score on the day.

"We just need to execute," Bucci said. "We had eight walks and some sloppy fielding, and you just can’t make those mistakes at this point.”

Johnston scored multiple runs again in the fourth and tacked on a run in the fifth, eventually cruising to a win in which its pitching staff retired the final six men in order.

But it was Western that got the last laugh. If it beats Portsmouth, it will play again Sunday at 6:15 p.m. in the winner’s bracket final. A loss to Portsmouth would send Western to the loser’s bracket, where it would play at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

The other district winners are Portsmouth, Coventry American from District 3 and either Lincoln or Cumberland American from District 4.