The 12U Ripken team had their season come to an end this past weekend after going 1-2 in the regional pool play tournament. The tournament highlighted great baseball among the four teams, all of whom played highly competitive games at Simonds Park.
The tournament opened with Central Vermont facing Weymouth, MA. Pitching and defense dominated the game. Central Vermont held Weymouth to just five hits in the game, while striking out 11 batters along the way. Weymouth would load the bases in the 4th inning on a walk, hit, and an error, but would fail to score.
The Weymouth pitching staff gave up just three base runners (two walks and an error), taking a no hitter into the 6th inning. That’s when Delaney of Central Vermont would hit a towering home run to give VT the 1-0 lead. Weymouth went down in order in the bottom of the 6th
The second game of the day was a matchup between Burlington and Lebanon, NH. Burlington was powered by strong pitching from Matty Sicari who went four innings, giving up no runs and striking out seven. He also contributed to the offense with a long home run to the opposite field in right. Mikey Kelley came in for relief and Burlington would go on to win 6-1.
The Sunday morning matchup would see new rivals Burlington and Weymouth square off in what was another instant classic. Burlington threatened with the bases loaded but was unable to push any runs across. This was another matchup that would go to extra innings, with Weymouth coming out on top 1-0.
Burlington’s final game was against Central Vermont. The Devils needed a win for themselves and a loss by Weymouth to advance out of pool play. Lebanon, NH was able to defeat Weymouth 7-2, but Central Vermont was too much for Burlington to handle as the hometown team went down 10-4.
Overall it was a great few weeks of baseball for the 12u team and surely one they will remember for a long time. Select Board member Mike Espejo commented during Monday’s Select Board meeting “I’ve never seen Simonds Park that electric…it was a great atmosphere.” I couldn’t agree more with Mike as I had the opportunity to volunteer and help score/announce some of the games. It was great to see our community come together and hold a great event that our players and community members will remember for years to come.
