Cranston Western in familiar spot at LLWS

Matt Metcalf
Posted 8/25/15

Cranston Western split its first two games at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., over the weekend, falling to Taylors, S.C., 7-1, on Friday before using a five-run first inning en …

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Cranston Western in familiar spot at LLWS

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Cranston Western split its first two games at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., over the weekend, falling to Taylors, S.C., 7-1, on Friday before using a five-run first inning en route to edging Webb City, Mo., 6-3, on Saturday night.

The latter was an elimination game in the double-elimination tournament, as Cranston Western fought to see another game.

It was set to face Bonita, Calif., on Monday night in another elimination game, but results were unavailable at press time.

Entering Monday, Cranston Western was one of six U.S. teams remaining in the tournament.

However, the trip to Williamsport didn’t exactly begin ideally for the Rhode Island representative.

Unfortunately, Cranston Western ran into the hardest thrower in the tournament, Alex Edmondson, who hovered around 80 mph for six innings on Friday.

Edmondson walked David Marchetti and allowed him to score in the first inning when a pitch that struck out Jared Olson eluded the catcher, who had to make the throw to first to secure the out, leaving Marchetti to sprint home safely from third.

That would be Cranston’s lone run in the game.

Edmondson and Terrance Gist provided mammoth home runs in South Carolina’s 7-1 win.

Edmondson overpowered Cranston Western, tossing a no-hitter and striking out 15 en route to picking up the opening-round victory.

The loss dropped Cranston into the losers’ bracket, but that’s a territory that it knows all too well, as the team went that route both in the state and regional tournaments.

It would bounce back on Saturday for its eighth-straight elimination-game win, which dates back to the state tournament.

Cranston Western built a five-run lead in the top of the first thanks to RBI hits from Jason Patalano, Jake Bender and Thomas Harper. Patalano’s single was the biggest of the inning, plating Jared Olson and Cam Adamec. Dylan Demers would also draw a bases-loaded walk in the frame.

A two-run homer from Devrin Weathers off of Adamec would give Missouri some hope in the bottom of the first, as the blast cut its deficit to 5-2.

But Adamec would get one of those runs back in the top of the fourth, when he roped a single that scored Ryan Demers to make it 6-2.

Cale McCallister homered for Missouri in the bottom of the fifth off of Nick Mason to cut Cranston Western’s lead to 3 once again, but Olson came on to close it out in the sixth to secure his squad’s first win in Williamsport.

The save didn’t come easy for Olson, though.

Missouri loaded the bases with just one out, bringing the winning run to the plate.

But Olson got Jaxson Cartright to roll over to third. Mason calmly fielded and threw home to Marchetti, who then fired to Adamec at first, ending the game with a 5-2-3 double play.

Cranston Western was set to face its toughest test against an impressive California team on Monday night.

But I doubt that any team in the tournament has encountered as much losers’ bracket success as Cranston Western has.

It’s truly in a familiar spot. Let’s see if Cranston Western can pull off the remarkable once again.

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