Burrillville eliminates CALL
Burrillville earns shot at Lincoln in 11-year-old title game Saturday
BURRILLVILLE – In its two previous tilts, a mercy-rule win over Cumberland National then a tight defeat to Lincoln in the District 4 11-year-old Tournament, the Burrillville All-Stars failed to swing the usual lively bats skipper Charley DiChairo had anticipated. That’s how they found themselves in a losers’ bracket final opposite Cumberland American at Richard Peck Field on Wednesday night. To be honest, the hosts’ offense stalled early on, but it managed to rack up three runs in its final two at-bats to snag a 4-3 triumph over CALL. The difference on this occasion: With the score tied at 3 entering the back half of the fifth, Dan Delmonaco smoked an opposite- field, leadoff double to right, and – with one down – righty reliever Jake Webster walked both Cam Laramee and Nate Njoes to load the bases. Jordan Furtado then whacked a single to right to plate Delmonaco with what proved to be the game clincher.
In the top of the sixth, righthanded reliever Laramee struck out the first two CALL batters, yet walked Matt Sanzi. That brought No. 3 hitter Aidan Ray to the plate, and he bashed a hard liner to deep center field. Furtado, however, made the over-the-shoulder grab to seal it. “In our previous two games, we just didn’t hit, and here, we only had five, but they were timely hits; that was the key,” the elder DiChairo stated. “We were patient at the plate, had quite a few walks, and those helped, too.” With the triumph, Burrillville earned a rematch with winners’ bracket champion Lincoln, though it has to beat it twice to reel in the district title. That tilt is slated for 4 p.m., Saturday at Whipple Field in Smithfield. The if-necessary game would be played sometime Sunday. “Furtado got the game ball for us,” Coach DiChairo stated. “He had the big RBI in a key situation in the fifth, and he also had that great catch out in center. Like I said, our team has struggled to put everything together in our two games, but we were better in this one, especially late in the game.” Laramee was the only one to finish with two hits (2-for-2, run scored), but Furtado finished 1-for-2 with two RBIs and a run; Delmonaco 1-for-3 with a run; the younger DiChairo 1-for-2 with a walk; and Adam Diallo 0-for-1 with a walk and an RBI. For CALL, which closed at 2-2 overall, Chase Austin went 2-for-3 with a stolen bag, an RBI and run; Webster and Teddy Bielecki 1-for-2 with a run; Matt Sanzi 1-for-2 with an RBI; Tyler Hurteau 1-for-2; Josh Lyon 1-for- 3; and Ray 1-for-4 with a run. Burrillville jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when starter Hurteau walked Colib Murray, took second on Laramee’s hit to right and third on an ensuing errant throw and scored on Furtado’s perfectly-executed safety-squeeze bunt. CALL nevertheless responded in kind in the third, as Bielecki opened with a bunt single, immediately took second on starting pitcher Logan Gelinas’ throwing miscue, and Sanzi beat out a scorched infield hit to second; that plated Bielecki. Ray reached on a fielder’s choice, took second on a wild pitch, third on Lyon’s infield hit and hustled in on Austin’s hit to right-center. Gelinas also issued a pass to Hurteau to load the bases, and Jake Iannucilli roped a grounder to second baseman Nate Njoes. It struck him in the knee after caroming over his glove, but – incredibly – it bounced to then-shortstop Furtado, who was standing on the bag and recorded the final out of the frame. The visitors tacked on another in the fourth after Webster floated a bloop two-bagger down the line in shallow left, grabbed third on Bielecki’s groundout to third and scored on Brody Enos’ sacrifice fly to center. The southpaw Hurteau had been cruising, but got himself into a jam in the back half. With one down, Laramee singled, Njoes was hit in the helmet by a pitch (and replaced with pinch-runner Furtado) and Riley Hebert walked to fill the bags. Diallo then notched another pass (off of reliever Iannucilli) to plate Laramee, and Potter’s walk knotted it at 3-3. Webster took over for his predecessor and forced two quick fielder’s-choice outs to keep it even. That merely set up Burrillville’s lategame heroics. “When we came in here before the game, we told the kids we had to win three straight games to achieve our goal, and that it started (Wednesday night),” DiChairo stated. “After the game, we praised the guys for not losing focus; we told them, ‘Ok, now we’re one-third of the way there.’” ** Cumberland American 002 100 – 3 – 8 – 1 Burrillville 010 21x – 4 – 5 – 3 Tyler Hurteau, Jake Iannucilli (4), Jake Webster (4) and Chase Austin. Logan Gelinas, Cam Laramee (5) and Jack DiChiaro. 2B – Webster, Dan Delmonaco.