State Champions

Continental 11’s defeat Cumberland for Rhode Island crown

Posted 7/29/14

On Thursday, the day finally came that the Warwick Continental 11-year-old all-star team had been talking about since the middle of June.

Continental seized the moment.

Playing in the state …

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State Champions

Continental 11’s defeat Cumberland for Rhode Island crown

Posted

On Thursday, the day finally came that the Warwick Continental 11-year-old all-star team had been talking about since the middle of June.

Continental seized the moment.

Playing in the state championship game against Cumberland National at Johnston Memorial Park, Continental ran out to a four-run lead in the first inning and got dominant pitching from Tyler Amore and Mason Provoyeur to close out a perfect summer and win the title 6-1.

“I kept telling these guys all throughout the all-star practices, ‘Give yourself a chance to be a state champion,’” said Continental manager Mike Gannon. “And that’s what they did tonight.”

Continental finished the summer 7-0, as it won all four games on its way to the District 3 crown and then won three consecutive games – including two over Cumberland – at the state tournament to win the crown.

After finishing third in the state as 10-year-olds last year, Continental expected to be back in the state tournament this year, and it expected to take steps forward as well.

Thursday was the culmination of those steps.

“You get a taste,” Gannon said. “We came in third at states last year. They understood what it took to get here abut they didn’t understand what it took to win it. Now they do.”

The game started off perfectly for Continental, as Amore struck out the side in the top of the first inning and his offense backed him up in the bottom half with four quick runs.

Against Cumberland pitcher Owen Zadrozny, Tyrell Bernal and Dylan Aunchman started off with singles, and they both scored on a double by Caden Haley. An error on a ball hit by A.J. Ucci made it 3-0, and a single by Jeremy Ashman made it 4-0.

“We had some timely hits in the first inning,” Gannon said. “We wanted to get up on them early. We thought that would be a little bit of a statement, to set the tone.”

With the way Continental was pitching, the game may as well have been over right then and there. Amore pitched the first four innings, striking out 11 batters – just one fewer than the 12 total outs he recorded. The only out that wasn’t a strikeout was a pop-up back to Amore on the mound.

Cumberland grabbed one run in the fourth on a double steal, but that was the only minor road bump for Amore, who surrendered just two hits and two walks.

“When Tyler is on, he’s a strikeout pitcher,” Gannon said.

Continental grabbed some more breathing room in the third inning. Will Cornicelli walked, and Cumberland brought in pitcher Joey DiSalvo. DiSalvo retired two men in a row, before Bernal stepped to the plate and launched a two-run home run to left field.

That pushed the four-run lead to six, and Continental could essentially put the game on cruise control.

“The way we were pitching, they didn’t get too many rallies,” Gannon said. “It was a comfortable six. It wasn’t like we were fighting and they had a man on second and third every inning.”

Provoyeur came on to pitch in the fifth inning, and he struck out two more batters – bringing the team total to 13 – and worked around a one-out single to keep Cumberland from narrowing the gap.

In the sixth, Provoyeur induced a groundout to first for the first out before Cumberland’s Jackson Walsh hit a ball sharply to third base. Greyson Pasquina dove for the ball to his right, then got up and made a strong throw for the second out.

After a two-out walk, Owen Molis lined out to centerfield for the final out of the game.

Continental players piled on each other on the pitcher’s mound, before receiving their state championship banner and taking a lap around the field.

“You start off June 15 and you hope,” Gannon said. “You circle July 24 on the calendar and you hope you’re one of the two teams playing for a state championship.”

Continental was one of those two teams. And, eventually, it was the last team standing.

Team members are Tyler Amore, Jeremy Ashman, Dylan Aunchman, Tyrell Bernal, Will Cornicelli, Jack Gannon, Caden Haley, Alex Maker, Greyson Pasquina, Mason Provoyeur, A.J. Ucci and Aidan Warrener. The team is managed by Mike Gannon with coaches John Amore and Armand Ucci.

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