CSP moves on in minors tourney
Stays alive by rallying to take down Imperial
And then there were two.
The Leominster Little League Minor Division City Championship is down to just two teams after secondseeded Classic Sports Photography kept its season alive on Sunday morning with an exciting 6-5 come-frombehind victory over third-seeded Imperial at Leominster American’s Ronnie Bachand Memorial Field.
With the victory, Classic Sports advances to play top-seeded Hebert Homes on Monday evening back at Leominster American.
“That was a fun one. It wasn’t looking good for a while but the kids were focused and hungry for a big win,” said Classic Sports Photography head coach Shaun Digeronimo. “This is a big win. Now we give ourselves a chance to play for the championship against the other Leominster American team.”
Trailing 5-1 entering the bottom of the fifth, Classic rallied for three runs to cut the deficit to one before striking for two more runs in the sixth to walk off with the win.
“This group is resilient. They know they can hit and they know they can battle back,” said Digeronimo. “They’ve been in those situations before and they knew that they could come back when they are behind.”
Both starting pitchers, Imperial’s James Wyman and Classic Sports’ Mason Burke, put up zeros on the scoreboard through the first two innings, but Imperial broke through with the first three runs of the game in the top half of the third inning.
Three straight walks loaded the bases before Isaiah Tourigny plated the first run of the game on an RBI fielder’s choice. Sean Normandin delivered an RBI infield hit and Wyman was awarded a bases loaded walk to account for Imperial’s three runs in the frame.
Classic Sports got a run back in the home half. With one out, Nik Nee smashed a double to left field and Cash Hastings followed with a walk. Back-to-back walks with two plated a run as Ty Lyons was credited with the
RBI base on balls as Classics cut the Imperial lead to 3-1 after three innings.
Imperial had a chance to break things wide open in the fourth inning. Three straight walks to open the frame loaded the bases. DiGeronimo went to his bullpen and brought in Grayson Benner to try and put out the fire. Benner proceeded to strike out the next three hitters to get out of the inning unscathed and keep his team in the game.
“Grayson came into a big spot and he saved us by striking out the side and kept is in the game,” said DiGeronimo. “We don’t play tomorrow if we don’t win today so that was a big moment.”
Imperial did add to its lead in the next inning when it scored a pair to make it a 5-1 contest. A two-run RBI single by Normandin highlighted the frame.
“That spot in the fourth inning definitely hurt but we did come back and score two runs on them in the fifth. Another tough spot for us today was pitching. If we had won this game we would have had to play again tomorrow and it’s a tough because you must try to make sure you have a couple available arms and that makes pitch counts really important,” said Imperial skipper Aaron Gilmour. “I’m proud of this team and how hard they worked. To get to this point, they’ve shown a lot of heart.”
With its backs against the wall in an elimination game, Classics responded in the fifth. With two outs, Nee reached on an error by the first baseman before four straight walks plated two runs. Luke Owens and Lyons were credited with RBI walks in the inning. Burke followed with an RBI single to center field to make it 5-4.
It remained a 5- 4 score entering the bottom of the sixth. Against Imperial relief pitcher Ian Johnston, Vinny Digeronimo opened with a walk. Benner then smashed another double to left center field, moving Vinny Digeronimo to third. Johnston got the next hitter to strike out as the tying run remained 60 feet away.
Brody Ekelund hit a ground ball to second base. The fielder elected to make the throw home to try to cut down the tying run but was unsuccessful as Digeronimo scored to knot the score at 5-5. On the play Benner went to third.
The next hitter, Gannon Brine, brought an end to Imperial’s season when he beat out an infield hit as Benner raced home with the gamewinning run.