In each of the first three innings of its New England Regional opener against Cranston West (R.I.), the Walpole American 12-year-old All-Star baseball team put runners in scoring position with less than two outs and failed to put up the type of big inning it became known for through the district, section and state tournaments.
Maybe the Americans were about to learn that the competition at the A. Bartlett Giamatti Little League Leadership Training Center's Breen Field was strong enough to prevent such outbursts.
Then again, maybe not.
Walpole American exploded for a double-digit scoring spree in the fourth to break out of a tie game as Matt Bender's grand slam ended the game by mercy rule, 11-1, in just four innings.
"Tell you what, we've been looking at these guys (Cranston West) for two days and they're definitely the biggest guys on campus," said Walpole American manager Brian Oberacker. "But we told them it doesn't matter how big you are in baseball, we're going to come out, play our game and good things happen when we can do that."
Now 15-0 on the summer, Walpole American next takes on Vermont's Essex Junction on Monday (2 p.m.) while Cranston West (9-2) meets up with New Hampshire's Portsmouth, last year's New England champion.
Although Walpole American eventually made Cranston West pay with big swings at the plate, much of the damage was due to wildness from the opposing pitching staff, as the Americans drew nine walks, including one intentional free pass, along with two hit batsmen.
"Our guys did a great job taking him to long counts and being picky at the plate, really waiting for that fastball and made him throw a lot of pitches," said Oberacker. "I think that helped us out from that second guy that came in. And from there we were just in the zone, everything seemed to roll after that."
"Our team was just patient up there today and we made the pitchers work hard, too," said Walpole's Tim Sullivan, who went 1-for-3 with an RBI (his 14th in the last four games) and a run scored.
With the score tied at 1 heading into the bottom of the fourth, Cranston West reliever Garret Demers (starter Joseph Nicolace came out due to a back injury after two scoreless innings) induced a groundout to shortstop for the first out before Walpole began to heat up at the plate. Sullivan drove a hard single to right center and Bender was hit by a pitch before Johnny Adams smacked one into the left-center gap for a double that plated Sullivan and moved Bender to third.
"Once Timmy and Matt got on I just knew I could do it," said Adams.
Cranston West then intentionally walked Johnny White to load the bases but Mike LaVita then drew another base on balls to score Bender and make it 3-1. Reliever Richard Reo then came on but Sam Falkson's squibber to the right of the mound was slow enough to allow Adams to score with still just one out. Kyle Donnelly followed with a sharp hit to left that scored White and pinch-runner P.J. Hayes.
After a strikeout and a walk to Brendan Donovan, Sullivan walked to plate Falkson, which set the stage for Bender, who took a strike before blasting the second pitch well over the fence in right center to end the game in resounding fashion. The grand slam was Walpole's third in as many games.
The game did not seem destined for that result early on, though, as Demers was hit by a pitch in the top of the first and after moving to third on a Joseph Manni single, scored on a well-executed double steal. Falkson struck out the side to avoid further damage.
It was center fielder Mike Rando who made the save with the most flair, though Cranston West had runners on first and second in the second inning when Sean Hayden had one ticketed for the right-center gap. However, Rando sprinted over and made a leaping grab just before the ball touched the grass to save extra bases and more runs.
"I just threw strikes and my defense made some great plays in the field, too. And Mike Rando made the best play I've ever seen," said Falkson.
"I honestly feel like he's the fastest kid in the state of Massachusetts and it's good to see," said Oberacker of Rando. "He gives pitchers just a little more confidence just being able to put it over. His nickname's 'Rabbit' for a reason; he got to that hole in a hurry and that was one of the best plays that I've ever seen. Hopefully that makes SportsCenter."
Walpole stranded pinch-runner Joey Guarino at third in the bottom half
after a Bender walk and two wild pitches, but the second inning was even more frustrating in that regard. A LaVita infield single, a Donnelly hit batsman and Mike Rando bunt single loaded the bases with one out but Nicolace struck out Hayes and induced a pop out to Sullivan to end the threat.
Walpole American tied it in the third when Demers walked four batters to plate Adams but struck out Rando to delay the damage.
Bristol, Conn. —
