Cranston Western represents R.I. at Little League World Series

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The remarkable run of the Cranston Western All-Stars came to an end against Bonita, Calif., on Monday night, as the talented group from Southern California eliminated the local youngsters from contention at the Little League World Series, 10-3.

However, Cranston Western did come away with a win in the double-elimination tournament.

Cranston Western split its first two games 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, as Cranston Western fought to see another day, with it being just one of six U.S. teams remaining after its win.

However, the trip to Williamsport didn’t exactly begin ideally for the Rhode Island and New England 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 dated 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 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 on Monday against California, which proved to be the end of the road for the Cranston Little Leaguers.

Everything was going Cranston Western’s way early against Bonita, with Demers quickly retiring the high-powered offense in the top half of the first, allowing his team to strike first in the bottom half – and it did.

Caleb Harris started things off the right way, crushing a pitch over the left-centerfield fence to give his team a 1-0 lead. The homer was Cranston Western’s first at the Little League World Series.

Later in the inning, Adamec chopped a ball over the head of the Bonita first baseman to plate Marchetti, stretching the advantage to 2-0.

The lead survived one more inning, but in the top of the third, California’s bats woke up.

With the score tied 2-2, Jacob Baptista deposited a pitch over the wall with the bases loaded for a grand slam, turning the momentum and the score in Bonita’s favor, 6-2.

Marchetti hit his first home run of the tournament in the bottom of the third – a solo shot – to cut Cranston’s deficit to 6-3.

However, that’s as close as it would get, as Bonita added four insurance runs in the top of the sixth on home runs by Dante Schmid and Walker Lannom to balloon the lead to 10-3.

Cranston Western’s summer comes to an end after earning District 1, State and Regional championships.

The players showed great resiliency to make it to the pinnacle of the sport for their age, battling through the state and regional tournaments out of the losers’ bracket.

Cranston Western was the third team from Rhode Island in the past five years to represent New England at the Little League World Series.

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