EG stands between Lincoln, title
Lopez earns second start of tournament
LINCOLN — The East Greenwich 11-year-old All-Star team accomplished the easy part.
Now, the District 3 champions must do something no team in New England has done in the last two seasons – stop Lincoln friom winning a title.
After securing a 6-1 victory over Portsmouth Tuesday night in the losers’ bracket final, EG faces reigning New England champion Lincoln in tonight’s state final (5:45 p.m.) at Slater Park.
All coach Joe Conti’s team has done in the last three games is out score its opponents 39-4. Four is also the number of innings the District 4 champions have played in each of their last three games to advance to the state final.
“I don’t throw the word great around and I don’t know if we’re a great team,” Conti said as he drove back to Lincoln with hitting coach Dale O’Dell after watching EG beat Portsmouth. “I think we’re a very good team with the potential to be a great team. We have flaws and these kids are only 11-year-old boys. They don’t hear the word great associated with their names, at least not with the coaching staff.”
Lincoln may not be a great team yet, but they certainly played great when the two teams met in the winners’ bracket final Saturday morning. Donavon Lopez, who has been the player of the tournament, belted a pair of home runs and fired a four-inning three-hitter in a 10-0 mercy-rule win.
Conti said Lopez used his fastball to overpower the District 3 champions, but the righty also threw a number of breaking balls to keep hitters honest.
“We mixed in breaking balls here and there, but they were having a hard time catching up to Donavon’s fastball,” Conti said. “If we would’ve been all fastballs, they might’ve caught up because they would’ve been sitting dead red. Donavon throws well, so you’re going to have to earn it to beat that kid. If their coaches are smart, they’ll make some adjustments.”
While solving Lopez is one of EG’s concerns, the biggest concern is slowing down Lincoln’s bats. EG’s two pitchers in Saturday’s defeat, starter Christian Butera and reliever Mike Mita, allowed 10 runs and recorded a combined nine outs.
Along with Lopez’s two home runs, infielder Ryan Allen also connected for a homer. Lincoln also features talented hitters in Jayden Champagne, Carton Tillson, Noah Campanelli, Joey Conti and Will Denio.
“East Greenwich is very fundamentally sound defensively – we saw that in this game,” Conti said. “I don’t know who they’re going to throw against us, but I know their defense is sound. In Little League baseball, if they roll out a good pitcher against us, pitching and defense wins. That team can be dangerous if they pitch well.”
With a victory Wednesday night, Lincoln can join the team they beat in last season’s 10-year-old New England final, Massachusetts state champion Taunton East, in the New England regional tournament in Beverly, Mass. next month.
“Our boys are ready,” Conti said. “I don’t know what the outcome’s going to be, but these boys are ready to play.”