Riverside Stars fall in Major Baseball state tourney opener

Cranston Western scores early and often in 10-0 victory

By Nick Friend
Posted 7/23/17

JOHNSTON — After just one inning and a grand slam, the Riverside Little League 11-12 Major Division Baseball side pretty much saw its chances of winning the opening game of the Rhode Island …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


Riverside Stars fall in Major Baseball state tourney opener

Cranston Western scores early and often in 10-0 victory

Posted

JOHNSTON — After just one inning and a grand slam, the Riverside Little League 11-12 Major Division Baseball side pretty much saw its chances of winning the opening game of the Rhode Island All-Star Tournament disappear as they were defeated by Cranston Western Saturday afternoon, July 22, 10-0, at Johnston War Memorial Park.

“I though the first inning we got squeezed a couple of times on pitches that were strikes,” Riverside manager Vincent Enright said. “I am not going to bellyache over that.”

After going down in order at the plate to start the game, Riverside found themselves in the field with their best pitcher, CJ Hess, on the mound.

However, right from the start Riverside found themselves in trouble as the bases were loaded with no outs before a grand slam was drilled to right center to put Cranston Western up 4-0.

After just two outs were recorded for Riverside, Hess was forced off the mound with an upper arm injury which brought Ethan Martins to the mound to get the final out of the inning. Hess would continue to play in the field, however.

“In a tournament like this you need all your players to be healthy and it was tough to comeback from seeing your best player go out in the first inning,” manager Enright said.

Riverside would try to respond in the second inning as Ethan Martins and Dylan Palombo both got on base, but back-to-back strikeouts would end any threat.

Martins responded nicely with a 1-2-3 inning for Riverside that prevented the potent Cranston Western’s offense from doing more damage.

Riverside saw two more batters reach base as Kyle Lorenz and Johnny Anderson both threatened with no outs in the third, but failed to be moved by their teammates.

The uphill battle for the locals only got tougher when a successful bunt followed by an error allowed Cranston Western to increase their lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the third.

The fourth moved along quickly was both teams had a baserunner or two, but did not capitalize as Riverside saw their opportunities continue to dwindle.

In the top of the fifth, Riverside’s bats continued to struggle as Vincent Enright reached base, but his teammates yet again failed to move him over.

Cranston Western then opened up the flood gates with their powerful offense in the bottom of the fifth as a home run was just the beginning of a five-run fifth inning that put

Riverside’s deficit at 10-0. This concluded the game due to the ten-run automatic forfeit rule.

“They didn’t play well today and that happens, they are 12-year-old kids,” manager Enright said.

Riverside will now focus its attention on staying alive in the double-elimination event, July 23, as the locals face South Kingstown in the loser’s bracket at Johnson War Memorial Park with first pitch set for 3 p.m. S.K. lost to Cumberland American, 2-0, in Saturday’s nightcap.

“We know both teams well. Our third pitcher (Tyler Jordon) is very good so he will get the ball and has been a good pitcher all year long,” manager Enright said. “I don’t see why we shouldn't be able to comeback with a win and stay in this.”

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.