Warwick North baseball All Stars fall to losers’ bracket

Brenton Bauerle
Posted 7/14/15

In a whirlwind competition such as Little League All Stars, focus is paramount. Like a Kentucky Derby racehorse, every team has to keep its blinders up and simply focus on what is in front of them …

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Warwick North baseball All Stars fall to losers’ bracket

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In a whirlwind competition such as Little League All Stars, focus is paramount. Like a Kentucky Derby racehorse, every team has to keep its blinders up and simply focus on what is in front of them – the next game, the next pitch, the next play in the field. The problem with blinders, of course, is that sometimes you can’t see what is coming up right next to you – and such was the case for the Warwick North All Stars, as they were run off the proverbial racetrack in a 13-3 mercy rule shortened lost to the East Greenwich All Stars.

Having won its first two games to remain in the winners’ bracket, Warwick North was riding high heading into its matchup with the similarly undefeated East Greenwich squad. That momentum carried over into the first inning, where Warwick North held East Greenwich scoreless in the top of the first – a feat considering East Greenwich has scored in nearly every inning of the tournament so far – and grabbed a two-run lead on the back of a two-run home run by pitcher Jared Reminder. A second home run the very next inning by Mike Borges extended the lead to three runs, but it would be the last run Warwick North scored all day.

The lead would not last long, however, as the East Greenwich offense awoke in the top of the second and scored at a merciless rate throughout the rest of the contest. East Greenwich continuously barreled the ball, with line drive after line drive, finding holes with runner after runner crossing the plate. By the end of the fourth inning, East Greenwich had scored 12 runs, and the only question left to answer was whether the entire affair would be shortened by the ten-run rule, a question that was answered in ignominious fashion when East Greenwich hit a game-winning home run in the top of the fifth.

“We just didn’t have a very good night tonight,” said Warwick North head coach Frank Picozzi. “But we’ll be back. We’ve played very good baseball, and we’re confident that we will get back in it.”

With the loss, Warwick North moves into the losers’ bracket, and stands one loss away from elimination.

“I’m not thinking about losing,” said Picozzi. “I was sitting in the dugout trying to figure out my pitching for Wednesday, and we have a game [Monday]. We’re confident, and we definitely are not packing it in.”

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