It was fun while it lasted
District 4 champions drop 5-2 decision
Luke Ducharme and the Lincoln Little League 11-yearold all-star team saw their summer come to an end with a 5-2 defeat to District 3 champion Coventry Tuesday in a state tournament losers’ bracket contest played at Cranston Western.
CRANSTON — With the season on the line, Coventry Little League 11-year-old all-star coach Jack Ellison handed the ball to Ben Brown Monday night in a state tournament losers’ bracket game with Lincoln.
Brown didn’t disappoint. Boosted by early run support, including his battery mate Brady Shaw (2-for-3 with a pair of doubles, two RBIs and a run scored), the Coventry starting pitcher delivered, recording 17 outs in 66 pitches in a 5-2 win at Cranston Western.
Travis Howman came in from center field to record the final out after Lincoln managed to push a pair of runs across the plate in their final at-bat.
“We live for another day,” Ellison said of his club, as the Division 3 champs will next face the loser between Cranston Western and Bristol.
“They did an excellent job today. They never gave up,” Lincoln coach Rob Sharkey said of his club.
His starter, Luke Ducharme, wound up going the distance on the night, throwing a total of 86 pitches over five frames, helping keep the offense within striking distance.
“Luke Ducharme kept them off balance, threw strikes, hung in there when it got tough. He’s been pitching great all year and today he did tremendous. I look forward to seeing what he can do for us in the future,” Sharkey said of his outing and future ones as well, before reflecting on the summer as a whole.
“I want to thank the coaching staff that I was able to have, Steve Rianna, Kevin Greene, tremendous assistant coaches,” he said.
“I want to thank the president of the league, John Sharkey and I want to thank the parents for all of their support and the kids for all of their hard work.”
Coventry’s bats, which were largely silent two days earlier in a loss to Cranston Western, plated four runs over the first two innings to grab an early lead.
Catcher Brady Shaw made it 2-0 on a two-run double in the first, while a sacrifice fly off the bat of Caeden Joyce, coupled with a wild pitch that plated Alex Donehower, made it 4-0 after two.
From there, Ducharme allowed just one more run to score against him, with his second wild pitch of the game allowing Shaw to cross home plate in the fifth, making it 5-0.
Despite not trailing for the duration of the game, Ellison has noted a shift in approach between this year’s club and last year’s one when it comes to run production.
“We just said to the boys, ‘You know what, maybe we’re a different team than we were last year.’ Last year, we mashed the ball. We were probably the best hitting team out there. We struggled a little with our defense, but it’s the opposite this year. Our pitching and defense, we’re just not making any mistakes,” he said.
Lincoln, which had stranded a pair of base runners in the third, showed little signs of life offensively until the top of the sixth when they were able to finally get to Brown.
“That team never gave up. All the way through, they hung in there,” Ellison said in admiration for Lincoln’s effort.
A leadoff walk by Jack Armstrong followed by an Isaac Cabral single set the stage for Jon-Luca Feole, who ripped a double to left center that saw Armstrong score easily, but Cabral get thrown out at the plate on an assist by Howman.
Nick Rianna made it 5-2 with a one-out RBI single, but Brown retired the next hitter for the second out before Howman took over and got Ducharme to pop out to short to end the game.