Warwick PAL 14’s in familiar territory after loss

Matt Metcalf
Posted 7/14/15

The Warwick PAL 14-year-old all stars are in a familiar spot.

As 13-year-olds last summer, Warwick fell to the losers’ bracket, having to beat Cranston in the finals twice.

It did just …

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Warwick PAL 14’s in familiar territory after loss

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The Warwick PAL 14-year-old all stars are in a familiar spot.

As 13-year-olds last summer, Warwick fell to the losers’ bracket, having to beat Cranston in the finals twice.

It did just that.

Now, it’s looking for a repeat performance this week after dropping the opening game of the tournament, 5-1, against Cranston at Cranston Stadium on Friday night.

But it took a step forward towards its goal on Sunday with a 7-1 win over Coventry, staving off elimination, to set up another elimination game against Aquidneck Island on Monday night.

“This team is certainly capable of competing in this tournament,” Warwick manager Billy Piccirillo said. “We are in the losers’ bracket, but we were there last year and we will have to go the long route.”

On Friday night, the rematch from last year’s championship bout went to Cranston.

After Cranston starter Jordan Marot quickly retired the side in the top of the first, Cranston’s lineup wasted no time getting on the board in the bottom half of the inning.

Anthony Cardi led off the inning with a single and, after Tyler Noonan got Quinn Lanigan to groundout to second, Jamie Pacheco followed with a walk to put runners at first and second.

Nick Santurri then laced an RBI single to score Cardi and make it a 1-0 game.

L.J. Felicio made it 2-0 when he hit a fly ball to centerfield that was misplayed, plating Pacheco.

Cranston would go on to score one in the second on an RBI single by Cardi, before some control issues for Noonan in the third led to two more Cranston runs.

Noonan hit Matt Poulos with a pitch with the bases loaded to force in a run and Marot drew a bases-loaded walk to force in another.

Suddenly, it was 5-0, and the lead seemed much larger with Marot on the mound.

“It was a good start for us,” Cranston manager Rick Lanigan said. “A lot of that had to do with our pitching – Jordan did an excellent job on the mound.”

Marot picked up the win, working six-plus innings, yielding six hits and one run while striking out 12.

Warwick’s lone run of the game came in the sixth inning when pinch-hitter Josiah Johnson singled to start the inning and came around to score on a wild pitch to make it 5-1.

Warwick would put its first two hitters on in the seventh, but a double play would help Cranston escape the threat.

“Cranston is too good of a team to hand them a big lead,” Piccirillo said. “We had runners on base in the sixth and seventh innings and we didn’t get the big hits.”

Cranston saw some nice offensive production, as nine out of the 10 hitters in its lineup reached base.

“One through 10, we have a strong hitting club,” Lanigan said. “I expect a lot from these guys, and they’re coming through. I’d like to see a little bit more timely hitting with guys on base, but other than that, they did a great job.”

Warwick would bounce back on Sunday, however, as it rolled to a 7-1 win over Coventry behind six shutout innings from Will Martino.

Mike Hampson led the offensive charge with two hits and two runs scored. Jacob Resendes also added two hits in a winning effort.

“We played a much better all-around game,” Piccirillo said of his squad’s win against Coventry.

Results from Warwick’s game against Aquidneck Island on Monday were unavailable at press time.

If Warwick won, it will play tonight at 7 p.m. at Cranston Stadium against the loser of the Cranston and Providence winners’ bracket final.

Warwick didn’t exactly make it easy on itself with the loss in the first game, but it’s still confident, as it’s been here before.

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