Elmwood Sports defeated Wein-O-Rama in a 5-4 comeback to win the Cranston Western Little League Majors Championship last week at Varrato Field.

Wein-O-Rama led 4-2 heading into the third inning, but Elmwood would get back-to-back home runs from Kameron Monahan and Nazlin Benzan to tie things up. Elmwood got the game-winning run in the fourth when Thomas Glasgow stole home.

Elmwood took an early 2-0 lead when Monahan drove in Glasgow and later scored on a wild pitch in the first inning. Glasgow pitched 3 1/3 innings and picked up six strikeouts. Jaxson Pineda pitched 2 2/3 innings and allowed no runs and just one hit.

After dropping four straight games midway in the regular season, Elmwood would hit its stride down the stretch and catch fire in time for the playoffs. 

“We came a long way. We battled back, won a lot of close games, the team came together,” said manager Mike Casali. “They just kept working, they bought into what the coaches were saying and came together. We were down in the first playoff game but turned it on and won the game. We were down in the championship game and hit two home runs to tie it. That’s the kind of team they were,” said Casali.

Elmwood and Wein-O-Rama formed one of the league’s best rivalries this spring. Elmwood won two of three regular season meetings, then took the win in the final. The team’s combined scores across four games were 14-14.

“(Wein-O-Rama was) a great team, it was a nice friendly battle,” said Casali. 

A handful of Elmwood players will represent CWLL in the upcoming All-Star tournament with hopes of making a run to the World Series in Williamsport, PA. The championship run will help the players gear up for the statewide tournament, according to Casali.

“It gets them used to it. We had a lot of big games in the regular season as one of the top teams in the league, so every time you played a certain team, it would be all eyes on that game,” said Casali. “They’re used to the spotlight, they’re used to the big moments, those are things they’ve all seen.”

Members of the champion Elmwood Sports team included: Andrew Tavarez, Anthony Hernandez, Brycen Patterson, Dylan Tavarez, Jake Zuromski, Jaxson Pineda, Kameron Monahan, Kenneth Hopkins, Luca Pullano, Malik Molloy, Mason Berwick, Nazlin Benzan and Thomas Glasgow. Coaches were manager Mike Casali, assistants Edward Tavarez and Tom Casali.