Chariho Prevails As Gansett's Rally Falls Short

NARRAGANSETT - After being as far behind as 11-2, the 10-year old Narragansett All-Star baseball team put together an exciting comeback but fell to the Chariho All-Stars, 12-9, at Sprague Park.

“We’ll take it, absolutely,” Chariho manager Steve Parente said. “All the teams at this point are strong teams so you’ve got to play six innings all the way through because they can certainly come back on you.”

Narragansett had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the sixth with two outs, but they grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the game.

“We came back, we just had things go wrong in the first couple of innings and it was hard to recover from it,” Narragansett manager Matt Blessing said. “I told them I was very proud of the way they chipped their way back into the game. And to be there with the tying run at the plate speaks a lot to their character.”

Narragansett fell behind early as it struggled on the mound. Chariho batters stayed away from poor pitches and put pitches that were in the strike zone in play. In all, Chariho walked ten times and had 12 hits.

“They (Chariho) were disciplined,” Blessing said. “In this game we had a little trouble throwing strikes and they were smart. It’s All-Stars. You’ve got to get out there and force them to hit you and make the plays in the field.”

Parente agrees that staying patient at the plate was a dominant factor in the win.

“Our kids do a great job of being patient and finding their pitch and they understand if they are up (in the count) 2-0 they’re looking for something dead down the middle, and that’s why we put the bat on the ball so much,” Parente said.

Narragansett got its longest pitching outing of the game from Eddie Blessing, who threw 2.2 innings, allowed three earned runs, eight hits and two strikeouts. Chariho starter Dylan LaBelle tossed 2.1 innings, allowed one earned run, four hits and struck out five.

Every Chariho starter reached base at least once. They were led in batting by Jordan Kelvington (4-for-5, 3 RBIs), Ethan Blanchard (2-for-2, RBI) and Cam Anderson (1-for-2, 2 RBIs). Narragansett was led in batting by Eddie Blessing (2-for-4, 2 RBIs), Jordan Riendeau (2-for-4, 2 doubles, 3 RBIs), and Nick Gauvin (2-for-2, 2 RBIs). 

“We’ve got a lot of aggressive swingers, and when they’re seeing the ball well they hit it,” Parente said.

The tournament run for Narragansett comes to an end, but Blessing sees a strong future ahead for his team and thinks that playing in the tournament benefited everyone greatly.

“The more you play the better you get,” Blessing said. “For us to get out here and get four games I think we’re heading in the right direction and we’ll take that into next year.” 

Want to be notified when there are more Little League articles published? Click the follow-up link below!