Portsmouth stays alive, holds off SK American

Posted 7/26/15

PORTSMOUTH — Nothing comes easy for the Portsmouth Little League 12-year-old Majors All-Star Team.

On July 19 players rallied to score five runs in their last at-bats against Barrington to win 11-10 and the District 2 title, which …

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Portsmouth stays alive, holds off SK American

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — Nothing comes easy for the Portsmouth Little League 12-year-old Majors All-Star Team.

On July 19 players rallied to score five runs in their last at-bats against Barrington to win 11-10 and the District 2 title, which qualified them for the state championship tournament at Warwick Continental.

In its opening game on Saturday, Portsmouth lost a 5-4 heartbreaker to District 4 champs Lincoln on a game-clinching home run in extra innings. That put the team in the losers’ bracket to face South Kingstown American, the District 3 champions, on Sunday.

When home runs by Simon Roy and Connor Freitas made it 7-1 Portsmouth in the top of the fourth inning against South Kingstown, it appeared the team might finally be headed toward a drama-free win.

Not so.

In the bottom of the fourth, South Kingstown’s Andrew Mosher drove in a run, making it 7-2 Portsmouth.

Then in the bottom of the fifth, Owen Caldwell singled to center off Portsmouth starter Robbie Yates. A pinch runner came in for Caldwell — he was South Kingstown’s starting pitcher — and Will Pierce came in to relieve Yates, who had just thrown his 65th pitch.

Pierce gave up consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs before South Kingstown’s Samuel Biafore blasted one over the right-field fence — a grand slam that shrunk Portsmouth’s lead to one run.

Pierce settled down, however, inducing three straight groundouts to end the inning and preserving Portsmouth’s 7-6 lead.

After he walked the leadoff batter in the bottom of the sixth, Pierce was replaced by Tim McGuire, who struck out the next batter and produced a ground-ball out. McGuire then gave up a single, putting men at first and second with two outs, but a ground-ball force-out at second ended the game.

Whew.

“We had a plan. We wanted to run Robbie to 65 (pitches),” head coach Bob Yates, noting the 85-pitch limit under league rules. “Long term, we wanted a shot at this title. If he went 85, he would not be available for the rest of the tournament. At 65, we could have him back on Thursday if we pull a couple more rabbits out of our hats. We want the whole ball of wax; we don’t want to stop here.”

On Tuesday, Portsmouth will play the loser of the Cranston West/Lincoln game, which immediately followed Portsmouth’s victory Sunday.

“We have to win Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to win this tournament,” said Mr. Yates.

How Portsmouth scored

Portsmouth had the bases loaded with no outs in the top of the first but could manage to score only one run, on a passed ball.

In the third inning, McGuire hit a lead-off homer to make it 2-0 Portsmouth. Roy’s home run in the fifth — it banged off the right field scoreboard — plated Danny Sullivan and Trevor Gittus, who had both singled, making it 5-1.

After McGuire reached on a ground-ball single to left, Freitas hit a bomb that scorched the trees over the left-field fence. A few minutes later, a spectator returned the ball to Mr. Yates.

“It’s a little dirty,” he said. “It was deep in the swamp.”

Portsmouth Little League