Of all the teams playing in the New England Regional, the Walpole American 12-year-old All-Star baseball team is probably the last one teams want to face in a home run derby.
And with the balls flying out of the A. Bartlett Giamatti Little League complex’s Breen Field with frequency yesterday, who do you think came out on top between the Americans and Portland North (Maine)?
In a game where five round-trippers were hit, Walpole American blasted three of them while its pitching staff combined for 11 strikeouts in an 8-2 win that assures it of a spot in tomorrow’s semifinals with a 3-0 record in pool play.
With the win, the Americans improve to 17-0 on the summer while Portland North falls to 13-2.
“Any time you can win 17 games in a row there’s something special with this team,” said Walpole American manager Brian Oberacker. “They continue to have a positive attitude, come out and show up every day ready to play.”
“It felt good,” said Walpole’s Brian Wolpe, who hit a home run in the third inning. “We’re one step closer to Williamsport. That’s our main goal.”
The Americans got it started with a two-out rally in the bottom of the first after starter Sam Falkson struck out the side in the top half. Johnny Adams laced a single up the middle to bring up cleanup hitter Johnny White. He took the first offering from Portland North’s Nathaniel Smart and drove it way over the fence in center for a 2-0 lead.
“I was waiting on a fastball,” said White. “I knew he was throwing a lot of first-pitch fastballs. He threw one to T-Sull (Tim Sullivan), (Matt) Bender and Johnny (Adams). I just saw it and put a good swing on it.”
After Portland North cut the lead in half in the top of the third when Mitchell Powers greeted reliever Mike LaVita with a home run to left center, Walpole American had more answers in the form of the long ball. Again with two outs, Wolpe came in to pinch hit and sent a 1-1 pitch out to center for another home run.
Then came Kyle Donnelly, who turned on one in the first inning that was deep enough but ruled just foul of the left field foul pole before he struck out. This time, he lifted a tall shot that dropped over the fence in center to make it 4-1.
“I was mad that they called it foul and I just wanted to hit another one,” he said.
Although LaVita allowed a second home run to Caleb Fraser in the fourth to cut the lead to 4-2, Walpole provided more than enough insurance in the bottom of the fifth. Adams hit one to right field that was dropped for a two-base error to lead off before Brendan Donovan walked and special pinch runner Mike Rando entered for him. LaVita singled to left to load the bases and Mike Cabral walked in Adams to make it 5-2.
Reliever Nicholas Volger then threw a wild pitch to score Rando and after a strikeout, Joey Guarino’s grounder to second was good for an infield hit to plate LaVita. P.J. Hayes’ grounder led to a forceout at third before a throwing error scored Guarino to complete the scoring.
Now Walpole faces last year’s New England champion, Portsmouth (N.H.), with the chance to lock up the No. 1 seed for tomorrow.
“We told them this was the biggest game of the summer coming in,” said Oberacker. “It’s been a long week thus far. We said if you come in and play your game, give us 100 percent, we have a good shot of going to the semis. It’s been an unbelievable ride.”
