Warren Little League 14-year-olds won the the third annual Strikeout Cancer Tournament hosted by Rumford Little League this past weekend.

 The tournament was held over the past two weekends.  Age groups from 9 to 12 played August 19, 20 and 21. Warren Little League entered a team to play in the age group 13 to 16-year-old division, held on August 26, 27 and 28 on the full size major league baseball diamond. 

 Warren had to play two games on August 27. The first, against a tough Darlington (Pawtucket) team started at 10 a.m. Warren lost the coin flip and was the away team. The boys jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning.  London Camelo was on the mound and got into a little trouble with three walks to load the bases, but the defense stepped up. On a two ball, one strike pitch, the Darlington batter hit a ball back to the pitcher. London fielded the ball, threw it to the catcher Dominic DaSilva, got the force at home and Dominic threw it to JJ Jones at first base for the double play. The next batter was struck out on three pitches.  London pitched three more scoreless innings without surrendering a hit. JJ Jones came into finish the game, striking out the last three batters. With a two-hour time limit, Warren defeated Darlington 7 to 0 in 5 innings and the two pitchers didn't allow a single hit, combining for eight strikeouts. 

In the next game, a 4 p.m. start against Rumford, the Warren boys jumped out to an early 3-0 only to see it evaporate when Rumford put two runs on the board.

The third inning changed the tide of the game. Warren sent all 13 players to the plate, and Scott Castigliego lined a base hit into right center knocking in JJ Jones and Kodi Saotome, scoring seven runs and putting the game out of reach 10 to 2. JJ Jones and Dominic DaSilva combined to pitch an excellent game, each allowing only one hit. As in the morning, the game was called for the two-hour time limit. 

 Warren would have to wait and see who they would play for the championship game scheduled August 28, at 2 p.m.

The boys and coaches showed up at the field ready to play, but had to wait for the semifinal game to finish. Pineview (Pawtucket based) was playing the host team Rumford to go to the championship game.  In the last inning, Pineview was winning 8 to 2 but Rumford didn't give in. They scored four runs, cutting the lead to 8 to 6.  With the tying  runs on base, Pineview was able to get the final out winning 8 to 6, to earn a spot against Warren in the championship game. The Pineview team was allowed a 30-minute break between games and the championship game started at 3:15.  

Since the Warren team was undefeated, they were the home team. Once again, London Camelo was called upon to pitch. He struck out the first batter on three pitches but walked the next two. With runners on first and second base, the next batter hit a long fly ball to center field. But Kodi Saotmoe made a running catch, holding both runners on base. With two outs and runners still on first and second, the next batter hit a long fly ball to left field. Nick Calenda sprinted to deep left field making the catch for the final out.

In the fourth inning Pineview threatened again. With the bases loaded and no outs, a Pineview batter hit a ball directly back to London Camelo, who threw the ball to the catcher Jalen Kopecky for the force play at home. Then, Jalen threw the ball to first for the double play. The score remained 2-0 Warren until the fifth inning. Mike Cabral was pitching and doing a fine job, but the pesky Pineview team chipped away and started to score. JJ Jones was brought back to the mound to finish the fifth and got Warren out of the inning. However, Pineview had taken the lead and Warren trailed 5 to 2. The game was moving into the three hours of play, though the championship game did not have a two-hour time limit and the game would have to be played a full seven innings to determine the winner.

In the bottom of the fifth, Jaylen Kopecky led off the inning with a great at bat. Jaylen hit a hard line drive to the Pineview shortstop who made a great play getting Jaylen on a close play at first base.  The next batter was Jayce Dodge, who hit a hard line drive to left for a single. Jayce stole second base and with two outs Mike Cabral came to the plate. Mike singled on the first pitch he saw, and Jayce raced around third base to score the third run for Warren. JJ Jones was sent back out to pitch the sixth inning but was quickly approaching his pitch limit.

The first batter was a strike out, the second and third batter were each walked, with two runners on the base JJ Jones got the next batter to line out to the shortstop Antone Mello and the next batter popped out to Nick Calenda, who was now playing first base. The score going into the bottom of the sixth was Pineview 5, Warren 3. Antone Mello started off the inning with a hard hit ball caught by the shortstop.  With one out and the chances for Warren to score runs shrinking, the boys started to put the bat on the ball.  Jarred Koger hit a single into center field,  London Camelo followed with another single putting runners on first and third.  Kodi Saotome came up to bat and hit a long fly ball to left field. Jarred Koger tagged up on third base, coming in to make the score 5 to 4.  Jaden Siembab had a great at bat, fouling off pitch after pitch and eventually drew a walk to put the go ahead run on base.  With London Camelo getting to third base and Jaden moving up to second base, Jaylen Kopecky came to the plate. With two men on base and two outs, the first pitch Jaylen saw was a strike, and the next pitch he saw was smacked into left field. London scored and Jaden came around third, sliding into home for the go ahead run. 

Now onto the seventh, Warren was now leading Pineview 6 to 5.  JJ Jones had reached his pitch limit and Nick Calenda was called upon to close the game.  Pineview had the meat of their order due up in the seventh. The number 4, 5 and 6 batters had been giving the Warren pitchers trouble all day. The first batter took the first pitch for a ball. The second pitch was hit over the first baseman’s head for a single.  The tying run was now on base.

Jarred Koger had been doing a majority of the catching but with the heat and fatigue of playing three games, needed a rest.  Jaylen Kopekcy was sent to left field and Jayce Dodge was called upon to catch the sixth and seventh innings.

The number five hitter was up and he had been hitting the ball hard all day. On a 3-2 count, a line drive was hit down the left field line. Jaylen Kopecky raced to his right and made a running catch, holding the base runner at first base.  Next, the number six batter came to the plate and with a 2-2 count struck out looking at a hard slider.  With two outs, the next batter struck out on three pitches, giving Warren the win.

Note: Dominic DaSilva was injured in the 2nd inning of the game and was no longer available to play.