Continental bounced by East Greenwich

Kevin Pomeroy
Posted 7/8/14

The Warwick Continental 12-year-old all-star team ended up playing only three games in the District 3 tournament this summer, and it was the team’s offense that made the difference in every one of …

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Continental bounced by East Greenwich

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The Warwick Continental 12-year-old all-star team ended up playing only three games in the District 3 tournament this summer, and it was the team’s offense that made the difference in every one of them.

On Wednesday, in an elimination game with East Greenwich, the bats went quiet, and Continental saw its run come to an end. Facing East Greenwich pitcher Brad Lombardi, Continental had only four hits in a 6-0 loss.

The defeat was quite a contrast to Continental’s previous game, when it had 17 hits on its way to a mercy-rule victory over Warwick West Side.

For whatever reason, Continental was simply too hot and cold with the bats to keep advancing. East Greenwich went on to play Wickford on Sunday and lost 5-3, ending its tournament as well.

“You try to tell them in Little League that anything can happen,” said Continental manager Steve Lennon. “I’ve seen teams score 15 runs in an inning. Sometimes it’s tough to convince them of that. It starts with a hit here, a hit here, a run and then it goes. It just didn’t happen tonight.”

Continental hit the ball hard a few times, yet was rarely able to string much together. It left runners on second and third in both the second and fourth innings, but never truly threatened other than those moments.

Lombardi struck out five batters in four innings of work before Ryan Macaulay finished the final two innings, allowing just a hit and a walk.

“He’s one of the better pitchers we’ve seen,” Lennon said. “We’d seen him before. We did some interleague play with East Greenwich, but he was a little sharper tonight than I think I’d seen in the past. He pitched a great game.”

Continental pitched its ace, Cody Anter, but right from the start East Greenwich was locked in. It opened the bottom of the first with consecutive singles from Jack McMullen and Aidan Osborne, and Anter walked Lombardi to load the bases with nobody out. A single by Tyghe Healy made it 1-0, and though Continental was able to record the first out of the inning at home plate, East Greenwich made it 3-0 on a two-run double by Macaulay.

That was more than enough for Lombardi. He surrendered a leadoff single in the first to Anter – giving Anter eight hits in as many at-bats for the tournament – before retiring the next three batters in order.

In the second, he retired the first batter he faced before Continental put two on with one out thanks to an error and a double by Will Niles. With the men in scoring position, though, Lombardi struck out two batters in a row and needed just eight pitches to do so, ending the threat.

“The pitching was pretty good,” Lennon said. “We hit balls, we just hit them at people. We hit balls hard early. We left second and third with one out, twice. We just couldn’t push runs across.”

East Greenwich pushed another run across in the second on a two-out, RBI double by Osborne, it made it 6-0 in the third on a two-run home run by Lombardi.

Continental went down one-two-three in the third, and then, trailing 6-0, it had a golden opportunity in the fourth when Christian Rapoza walked with one out and Cam Gothberg doubled. Once again, however, Lombardi buckled down, striking out two men in a row to retire the side.

“If you put a zero on the board, it doesn’t matter how well you pitch,” Lennon said.

Ryan Lennon pitched a scoreless final two innings for Continental, but the offense never threatened again, as it put the leadoff runner on in the fifth and sixth against Macaulay yet did nothing else.

It was a disappointing end for Continental, which was the district runner-up in the 11-year-old tournament last year. It had a difficult draw this time, as it played a strong Wickford team in game one, rival West Side in game two and then a high-level East Greenwich team in game three.

That said, the team was proud of its efforts, even if the tournament came to a close a little bit sooner than everyone had hoped.

“Twelve’s, Little League is behind them now,” Steve Lennon said. “That’s always a sad day. I know a lot of kids from last year, this year and I wished them well as they go forward. They’re a good group of kids. It’s unfortunate that it has to end this way, but it ends this way for somebody.”

The only four teams remaining in the District 3 bracket are Coventry American, Coventry National, Wickford and South Kingstown National.

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