Burrillville boys win division
Local Little Leaguers earn championship banner
BURRILLVILLE – The Burrillville Little League 10-year-old all-star team began the District 4 tournament simply hoping to have fun and win a few games.
But, as the wins started to pile up, a District 4 title was looking more and more attainable.
For the first time since the Burrillville Major Division all-star squad won the 2012 District 4 title, a Burrillville squad is headed to the state tournament. Winning pitcher Rodney Frenette delivered three RBIs – all in the first inning – and 8-year-old catcher Adam DeCesare and Ian Oliver chipped in with two runs scored and an RBI to lead Burrillville to a 10-5 victory over Smithfield in Saturday’s District 4 title game at Whipple Field.
“I don’t know the last time Burrillville won a banner like that, but we’re psyched – really psyched,” Burrillville coach Frank Castellone said. “This is a great group of kids that plays hard and really likes each other. I couldn’t be more proud. We knew we had two strong pitchers at the top and we were going to ride both of them. As long as they pitched well, we were going to have a shot. We just wanted to win every inning.”
“This is very good, it’s fun to be here and win this with the team,” Frenette said after allowing just two earned runs in 4.1 innings to earn the victory. “This means a lot to us. This is good,”
Burrillville won’t have to travel too far for the state tournament because Lincoln’s Randy Hien Field is the site of the four-team tournament. Burrillville faces the District 2 champion next Sunday at 3 p.m.
For Smithfield, Saturday’s loss on home soil ends a superb tournament where the squad battled back from a mercy-rule defeat to Burrillville to make the district final. Smithfield held off Woonsocket before earning comeback victories over Cumberland National and Lincoln. Saturday, Ryan Cavanagh led the offensive attack with two hits two RBIs and a run scored. Cameron Caprio scored two runs to go along with a hit.
“With these kids, you can never count them out,” Smithfield coach Mike Guilfoyle said. “They have a passion for the game and I think you saw that in Lincoln where it was the top of the sixth with two outs and a 2-2 count and they battled [back from a three-run deficit]. Not only are these kids tenacious, but they fight hard until the final strike.”
Smithfield took its only lead of the game in the first inning without the benefit of a hit. Leadoff hitter CJ Blakely walked, stole second on a delayed steal and came all the way around to score on a groundout to second by Caprio.
Burrillville scored all the runs it would need in the first against starter Everett Matteson. Frenette and Tim Casterly both delivered fielder’s choice RBIs before Dylan LaFleur and Ian Oliver hit singles. Matteson then walked the next four batters to increase Burrillville’s lead to 5-1.
After walking DeCesare, Matteson was pulled in favor Blakely, who only allowed two runs in 4.1 innings of work. He did, however, allow all three inherited runners to score. Shortstop Kyle Castellone walked in Chace Gavis and then Frenette ripped a single up the middle to score Logan Gomez and DeCesare.
“That hit felt good because it opened up a bigger lead,” Frenette said. “I was looking for a fastball or a slider I could hit.”
Frenette cruised through the second inning, but then Burrillville committed a pair of infield errors in the third inning to hand Smithfield three unearned runs. The only hit of the inning was a Ryan Cavanagh RBI single to score Caprio.
Casterly singled in Castellone in the fourth inning and Gavis knocked in Oliver in the fifth to keep Smithfield at bay before Castellone did the rest on the mound. The righty struck out three batters in 1.2 innings of work to secure the title.
“Our gameplan was to ride Rodney and Kyle because we weren’t playing for Sunday,” Castellone said. “Offensively, we talked about getting up in the count and being aggressive and swinging at strikeouts. That was our gameplan. We’re very familiar with that team because we coach together in AAU. They’re a good team.”
Guilfoyle wanted to win and setup a winner-take-all showdown back at Whipple today, but he’s happy for his friends in Burrillville.
“We all play together, so I’m happy for Burrillville and those kids because they played a great game,” Guilfoyle said. “Their bats were a little stronger today and they had a great pitching. We’ll see what happens next year. No doubt these kids will be back.”
Burrillville will be back to work next week, which means Castellone gets to spend more time with his son on the diamond this summer.
“That’s what this is all about,” Castellone said.