Kingsford Pulls way Late; Advances To Title Game
Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to hear post-game comments from Owen Pericolosi and Carson Hendricks.
QUINNESEC---For four innings of Monday night's district tournament game between the Kingsford and Norway Little League All-Stars (age 11-12), it was a pitcher's duel between Kingsford's Connor Chrisman and Norway's Jaxon Walker.
But then came the fifth inning.
Kingsford sent ten men to the plate and scored six runs in that fifth inning, pulling away for a 7-0 victory at the Quinnesec Field. The win moved Kingsford into Wednesday's district championship game. Norway dropped into the loser's bracket and will face Escanaba in an elimination game Tuesday evening.
Owen Pericolosi's solo home run gave Kingsford a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
“I just did what I did with it,” Pericolosi said. “The pitcher gave me a really nice pitch and I did what I'm supposed to do: get a real nice hit. I think it was his fastball. It just feels really nice when you get all the support from your teammates. It makes you feel even nicer than the hit.”
Chrisman, who shut down Escanaba earlier in the tournament, was able to keep the Norway hitters off-balance. He got out of a jam in the first inning when Jack Bourdage and Walker both got base hits, getting Eli Anderson to ground out.
In the second inning, Chrisman walked Miles Langin, but was helped by a 4-3 double play, keeping it a 1-0 Kingsford lead.
Chrisman allowed only two more baserunners after that, until he was pulled with one out in the fifth inning on a pitch count (51) consideration.
Kingsford got production from the bottom of its line-up, with “roster batting” meaning that all eleven guys bat in a row, rather than just the top nine.
And the two guys at the bottom of the line-up made a big impact, as #10 hitter Carson Hendricks slugged a two-run double to the left field fence to make it 3-0, and #11 hitter Cam Trepanier came through with an RBI single to right field, giving Kingsford a 4-0 lead.
Hendricks was initially up there to bunt, but the plan soon changed.
“I tried bunting because there was runners on first and second, it was outside and I went for it, I pulled back, and I guess he called it a strike,” Hendricks said. “I looked at him (coach) and he didn't give me any signs. So, I just swung away!"
"I thought it was going 'yard', but once I rounded first, I saw it went over his head, and once I went to second, my third base coach gave the runner in front of me the 'home' sign. But then he got the 'stop' sign and I got in kind of a pickle.”
Dylan Fortier added an RBI single to make it 5-0, and the Norway defense fell apart, ending the day for Walker on the mound. Anderson finished up the final 1 1/3 innings.
Chrisman threw a solid 4 1/3 innings, and Parker Pietrantonio threw the final 1 2/3 innings to secure the win for Kingsford.
Griffin Johnson and Will Rice both had two hits apiece for Kingsford.
Norway had two base hits, and none after the first inning.
Norway and Escanaba play at 6:30 ET/5:30 CT Tuesday night at Quinnesec Field. Kingsford will face the winner Wednesday evening at 5:30 CT/6:30 ET.
