WCA falls to SKA in District 3 title game

Jacob Marrocco
Posted 7/23/15

It was just a matter of which Warwick Continental/American team was going to show up.

On Sunday, July 12, South Kingstown American’s 12-year-olds knocked WCA down to the losers’ bracket of …

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WCA falls to SKA in District 3 title game

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It was just a matter of which Warwick Continental/American team was going to show up.

On Sunday, July 12, South Kingstown American’s 12-year-olds knocked WCA down to the losers’ bracket of the District 3 tournament with a 7-2 victory. However, in a do-or-die rematch on Sunday in South Kingstown in the finals, WCA’s bats came alive and it mercied SKA 13-3.

The WCA win set up a winner-take-all Game Two at Warwick Continental Field on Monday. SKA’s Jack Wentworth, who was chased after less than an inning in Sunday’s defeat, was eligible to start Monday. SKA’s ace had thrown under the one-inning, 20-pitch limit that would have required him to sit a day, allowing him to take the mound again.

Unfortunately for WCA, the offense could not repeat its feat from the day before. Instead, Wentworth shut down WCA’s bats over 4 2/3 innings, earning the win in the 12-2 mercy ruling.

“Well, basically I told them that this is just the end of chapter one of their baseball lives, little league,” WCA manager Mike Gannon said about what he told his team after the loss. “Every team ends losing their last game but one. Today was our day. Today was our game. They had won the Districts as 10’s and 11’s so we were definitely in the conversation, just didn’t work out today.”

WCA starter Jack Gannon had a tough time from the start. Wentworth helped his own cause tremendously, starting with a leadoff home run deep to left field to put SKA up 1-0. Zac Zyons followed up with a walk and got to third on Owen Caldwell’s single down the right field line. Zyons would later score on a fielder’s choice to make it 2-0.

Gannon would escape a second-and-third, one-out threat later in the inning, but he wouldn’t last much longer. WCA cut the deficit to 1 when Tyrell Bernal scored on a fielder’s choice, but SKA’s offense could not be quieted early. Gannon’s control began to waver in the second inning, walking the first two batters he faced and forcing a pitching change.

Bernal came in for relief, but had the tall task of facing Wentworth with two runners on and no outs. Wentworth would win that battle, lining a three-run home run over the centerfield fence to put his team up 5-0.

SKA kept rolling, too. After Zyons walked, Caldwell notched a home run of his own to balloon the lead to 7-0. Trey Young would score SKA’s eighth run in two innings when he came across on Cam Hassell’s RBI double to the warning track.

Bernal would settle down after that extra-base hit. Outside of Wentworth’s third home run of the day in the third inning, he kept SKA’s bats relatively silent until the fifth.

The only issue for Bernal was that his team’s bats were equally as silent. In the final four innings, WCA only managed to push across one run. Dylan Aunchmann scored on an error by the shortstop in the third inning, but that would be the same inning WCA left the bases loaded.

“Every game is different,” Mike Gannon said. “Every game takes a life of its own. Yesterday we got off quick, [our] first three batters homered. Tonight their first batter homered. It’s a game of momentum and we just never could grab it back.”

Up 9-2 in the fifth, SKA looked to jump ahead by 10 and end the game sooner than later. Bernal was getting up in his pitch count and started the frame by walking Zyons. He would come around to score on Caldwell’s RBI single, after which point Bernal was removed when he reached his 85-pitch limit.

“Tyrell’s been our best relief pitcher all year long,” Mike Gannon said. “Today we asked him to throw 85 pitches, which is unusual. He tried to just hold them down.”

Aiden Warrener came in to try to keep WCA within 10 and forced a fly out from the first batter he faced, Ben Brutti. Control became an issue, though, as Sean Gardner walked and Young lined a single up the middle to load the bases with one out.

Andrew Mosher grabbed an effortless RBI when he drew a free pass that scored Caldwell to make it 11-2. A fielder’s choice later plated Gardner, putting SKA up 12-2 and putting WCA within mercy range.

WCA had runners at first and third with one out in the fifth, trying to extend the game, but it would come up just short. Connor Fallon struck out swinging and Mason Provoyeur grounded out to shortstop to end the game.

“South Kingstown is a great group,” Mike Gannon said. “They’re the team we had to beat to win our Districts in the last two years. Today’s their turn. I always say to the kids if you’re going to lose the game, make sure someone beats them, and that you don’t give it away. South Kingstown beat us tonight.”

Despite the loss, Mike Gannon said the team had their heads up as they quickly got back to smiling and joking around after the game.

“As you can see right now they have quick memories,” Mike Gannon said with a laugh, pointing to the group talking and laughing together after the ceremonies. “I think they made a lot of good friends. That [camaraderie] says more than a win or a loss right there for me.”

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