Little Leagues in Full Swing

The Mariners were the 2018 Majors Champions in Rocky Hill Little League / Newington's U12 Softball All-Stars defeated Rocky Hill 15-0 in the finals in Glastonbury to win the All Star District 7 Championship

The summertime is prime time for little leagues and this past month the local fields have been swarming with future baseball and softball stars. Champions have been crowned and memories have been made, including in Wethersfield where the town championship went into extra innings. Details of the event have been provided by Steve Kelly. 

Wethersfield: The Century 21-Clemens Realty baseball team won the 2018 Wethersfield Town Championship in an exciting 9-8 extra inning game over Gravers at Mill Woods Stadium. The Realtors arrived at the title game riding the arm of ace pitcher Jack Lagosh to wins over McMahon Law and DicCioccio Brothers.

Led by manager Mike Lemos and assisted by Coaches Mike Ehrlich and Steve Yanosy, Century 21 jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on three straight hits by pitcher, with Ethan Lemos, shortstop Jackson Kelly and 1st baseman Jack Lagosh all scoring. Lemos would score again in the third while holding the Lumberjacks scoreless until the fourth inning when Ben Caulfield and Louie Montalvo both scored to make it 5-2 after speedy Joey Bellabuono scored for the Realtors.

Gravers came alive in the fifth inning with five more runs, with Lemos giving way to Kelly on the mound, to take a 7-5 lead as Century 21 failed to score. Gravers went scoreless in the top of the sixth but Topher Sifnakis was driven in by a booming triple by Joe Samse, who in turn was driven in by Joe Camilleri to tie the score.

Eric Velez and Caulfield led off for Gravers with walks. With one out, Montalvo hit a double to left driving in Velez. The speedy Caulfield was waved in but a tremendous throw by left fielder Joey Bellabuono cut off by Kelly and thrown to catcher Owen Thulien resulted in the second out. The next batter hit a Texas Leaguer pop fly corralled by 2nd baseman Jacob Yanosy with a great over the shoulder catch to hold Gravers to a one-run lead.

The bottom of the seventh saw Kelly lead off with his third hit of the game followed by Lagosh's second hit moving Kelly to third where he scored the tying run on a Michael Ehrlich sac fly to center field with Lagosh moving to second base. Yanosy then hit a line drive down the left field line to score Lagosh with the winning run.

It was a total team effort by Century 21 whose hitters only struck out twice in the game, managing to move runners into scoring position. Lemos recorded eight strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings while Kelly recorded 4 strikeouts in 2 1/3. The outfield of Charley Bellabuono, his brother Joey, Samse, Camilleri and Sifnakis played errorless ball.

Visit your local little league website by typing your town’s name followed by littleleague.com for a complete list of results, upcoming schedules, and photos. The websites also include links to register for upcoming baseball and softball camps and volunteer opportunities. 

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