Winchester's Tournament Comes to an End

There was no doubt that this tournament would challenge the Winchester little league team.

Hosting the 11-year-old New England Cal Ripken Regional Tournament, Winchester automatically qualified for the event. But in doing so, the Sachems had to play the top teams and state champions from all across the region.

While the Sachems lost their second game of the double-elimination tournament, 5-4 in eight innings to Hudson (NH) Sunday night at Nutile Field, it was apparent that this Winchester team certainly belonged in the tournament.

"We're real proud of this team and how they played," said Assistant Coach Rich Toelke. "The kids worked real hard this summer to prepare. As the host team we knew we were going to be up against state champs, and the team did a wonderful job preparing for this. They practiced hard and got ready for the tournament."

After coming back from nine runs down the day before against pre-tournament favorite Raynham only to lose 16-8, this game Winchester was the team that got off to an early lead.

Preston Burbine put Winchester on the board first when he scored in the second inning off a throwing error from Hudson. The Sachems added two more in the third when Ramsey Sullivan scored off a Chrissy Redler bases loaded walk. Matt Fuccillo then extended the lead to three when he tagged up from third off a Patrick Lampert sacrifice fly.

Hudson got one of those runs back in the bottom of the third, but Winchester again added to its lead Zach Geddes singled home Devin Marrocco from third.

But that was the end of the scoring for Winchester, as Hudson was able to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth.

The Sachems were able to extend the game thanks to some nifty defense. With the winning run on third in the seventh inning, second baseman Harry Colvin fielded a groundball and fired it home where Marco Margoli perfectly blocked the plate and applied the tag, prolonging the game.

It was a disappointing loss for Winchester, but the Sachems certainly proved they belonged to compete against some of the top competition from across New England.

"In the first game we were down nine runs and scored eight in the one inning, not a lot of teams would be able to comeback from that far down," Toelke said. "And we certainly had a chance to win this game as well. These are all state champs, and we played well. We're real proud of the kids, they did a great job."