Lanesborough Bulldogs Win State Tournament
PEPPERELL, Mass. — After falling behind to a team that attacked with small ball, the Lanesborough Bulldogs used a big base-running play to regain the lead on the way to a 7-3 win in Monday's Cal Ripken 11-and-under State Championship Game.
Roberto Barron went 2-for-3 with a home run and a double and pitched five innings to earn the win as Lanesborough defeated host Pepperell to claim Massachusetts' berth in the regional championship later this month in Rhode Island.
The Bulldogs used a five-run rally in the bottom of the third to erase a 3-1 deficit.
The key play came with the game tied and runners at the corners.
Derek Paris and Josh Polumbo, who each reached on an RBI single to tie the game, were the runners in question.
On the first pitch to cleanup man Panayoitis Constantopoulos, Polumbo broke for first base.
Pepperell threw through, and Polumbo briefly got hung up between first and second, allowing Paris to break for home. He beat the throw to the plate, and the Bulldogs had a 4-3 lead.
Two batters later, Barron drilled a 1-0 offering over the fence in right field to give his team a three-run cushion, and the Bulldogs never looked back.
"We do that all the time," Lanesborough coach Rick Paris said of the delayed double steal. "Nine times out of 10, they don't even throw it. They don't go after the guy, so we say, if they're going to give us a base, we'll take it.
"But we always have our guy [at third] ready to go, and if the second baseman turns his head and starts looking that way, we send that guy."
Derek Paris scored again in the bottom of the fifth. This time, he dropped a leadoff single down the first base line in right and moved up on a passed ball and a pair of wild pitches to provide some insurance.
Jack Cangelosi pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning to close out the game as Lanesborough was forced to play the full six for the first time in five outings at the state tourney, where they won five straight to run their record to 10-4 this summer.
Things looked dicey early on against Pepperell, which advanced to the semi-finals with a 2-1 record in pool play and knocked off 3-0 Greenfield in Sunday's semi-finals.
The tournament hosts -- and designated visitors for the final -- scored the game's first run in the top of the second thanks to a pair of sacrifice bunts after leadoff man Riley McManus doubled.
Lanesborough came back in the bottom of the second with a double by Barron and an RBI single from Caleb Greene.
But Pepperell regained the lead with a two-run third that featured another sac bunt.
As they did in Sunday's semi-final, the Bulldogs turned the momentum with defense.
With two out and a man on second, Pepperell's Michael Archambault singled to right field. Cangelosi fired all the the way to the plate, surprising the baserunner who had rounded third. Catcher Paris and third baseman Greene got the runner in a pickle and made the out to end rally.
Lanesborough answered with its own rally in the bottom of the frame. It started when Jake Gitterman reached on an error and No. 10 hitter Tristan Gardner singled to left.
"He's come up big," Rick Paris said of Gardner. "We just got some clutch hits, you know.
"Eventually our bats usually come alive at some point and get us some runs. And we get contributions from right down the lineup - from the No. 10 hitter to the No. 1 hitter."
And the Bulldogs also get good defense.
After Lanesborough regained the lead in the third, it closed the door in the fourth thanks to a diving catch by Gardner in center and a strong throw by Paris to catch a runner trying to take second.
In the fifth, Lanesborough left a runner at second base when third baseman Thomas Martin made a stab on a line drive.
And in the sixth, Cangelosi punctuated the win by getting the last batter to strike out on three pitches.
This weekend, the Bulldogs will tune up with a tournament at the Baseball Heaven sports complex on Long Island before going to the Cal Ripken New England Regional on July 31.
Tags: Cal Ripken, championship,
