14's split, hope to fight way back from loser's bracket

Posted 7/15/14

It’s been a mixed bag so far for the Warwick PAL 14-year-old all-star team, as it split its first two games in the state tournament.

Warwick opened up with a tough, 4-2 victory over North …

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14's split, hope to fight way back from loser's bracket

Posted

It’s been a mixed bag so far for the Warwick PAL 14-year-old all-star team, as it split its first two games in the state tournament.

Warwick opened up with a tough, 4-2 victory over North Providence Saturday before dropping into the loser’s bracket after an 8-2 loss to Coventry Sunday.

The loss means that Warwick will have to catch fire if it wants to put itself in position to capture the state title. It was scheduled to take on Providence Monday at 5 p.m. in an elimination game, with the winner moving on to a game Wednesday. Including the Providence game, Warwick will have to win five in a row to win the championship.

“We were just slow getting out,” said manager Bob Denis. “Kids were a little anxious. I think they’re a little nervous.”

In the first game, Warwick rode the complete-game performance of pitcher Dylan Palmiotti to the victory, as he took a no-hitter into the fifth inning. Behind him, the defense didn’t make a single error, while catcher Kyle Denis threw two runners out trying to steal at second base and the outfield trio of Evan O’Connor, Josh Morin and Ronny Minear stood out.

Palmiotti retired 12 of the first 14 batters he faced and needed just 87 pitches to earn the win.

“Dylan Palmiotti pitched well,” Bob Denis said. “He had a no-hitter going into the fifth.”

Despite the pitching performance, the game was scoreless entering the fifth inning, where Warwick finally took the lead.

O’Connor opened the frame by reaching on an error, and he stole second and then reached third on a single by Matt Woods. Minear came up next and laid down a squeeze bunt, putting Warwick up 1-0.

Denis followed that with a walk to load the bases, and Palmiotti gave himself some breathing room with an RBI single. Colin Csoszor singled in the team’s third run that inning, and Woods added an RBI double later in the game to round out Warwick’s scoring.

“I told the kids they needed to see more pitches and work the count into their favor,” Denis said. “It took them five innings to get the message.”

Following that win, Warwick knew it was in for a tough test with defending 13-year-old state champion Coventry up next. Sure enough, Coventry delivered, jumping out in front with two runs in the first, and then adding to its lead with two in the fourth, two in the fifth and two in the seventh.

Warwick scored its two runs in the fifth, but it couldn’t overcome a shaky defensive effort that let Coventry regularly extend innings.

Warwick was within 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning, yet never got closer the rest of the way.

“We gave them an average of four outs an inning, which you can’t do that with that team,” Denis said.

Matt Martinez pitched six innings for Warwick, and though the runs allowed didn’t look great, he pitched better than the score indicated.

“Our pitcher gave everything he had on the mound, but our defense didn’t held him out,” Denis said.

Devin O’Rourke came on in the seventh and pitched the final inning.

It was a disappointing loss, but at least it was one that featured correctable mistakes. The hope is that Warwick can fix those in time to make a deep run.

“If we make those plays in the field and execute offensively, that’s a whole different ball game,” Denis said.

If Warwick gets by Providence, it would play at 7 p.m. Wednesday against either Newport/Middletown or West Warwick.

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