CWLL cruises past Johnston 12s for District 1 title

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The Cranston Western 11/12-year-old all-star team captured the District 1 title last Wednesday night after rolling past Johnston 17-1.

Western belted out nine hits and drew 11 walks in the offensive outburst, as it scored eight runs in each of the second and third innings, en route to earning a state tournament berth.

“We felt that, if we played our best, we could play with them,” Johnston manager Bob Giudici said. “It just wasn’t our day. I don’t think we were focused and we started making some mental mistakes out there. We fell behind and the hole got too big to get out of.”

After Cranston Western starting pitcher Mason Bissitt retired Johnston in the top of the first, Western’s offense went to work thanks to some sloppy play from Johnston.

Colby Kuzman drew a leadoff walk off Johnston starter Connor Kennedy, before stealing second and advancing to third on an errant throw.

Jason Patalano then hit a hard ground ball to the right side that was mishandled by first baseman Mike Capraro, allowing Kuzman to score and give Western an early 1-0 lead.

Kennedy’s wildness continued when he proceeded to walk Jake SanAntonio and Bissitt to load the bases with no one out.

However, Kennedy would get David Mansour to ground out to Dimitri Iafrate at shortstop, who fired home for the force out.

Johnston was then able to escape the inning with minimal damage when it turned a 6-3 double play.

But in the bottom half of the second, Western would capitalize on its offensive chances, scoring eight runs to put the game away before Johnston even settled in.

Patalano continued his hot hitting to start the scoring in the second, ripping a single that plated Marcus Chung, and SanAntonio followed with a 2-RBI single a couple of pitches later to push the lead to 4-0.

Cranston Western cashed in on some more sloppy play from Johnston, when Patalano touched home on a wild pitch and SanAntonio jogged in on an error to make it 6-0.

Western wasn’t done there, though.

Mike Izzo stepped to the plate and hit a frozen rope to left field for an RBI single, before Harrison Goldberg brought Izzo home with a two-run home run to stretch the advantage to 9-0.

In the third inning, it was the same story for Western’s relentless offensive attack.

Johnston would use three different pitchers in the third, with Iafrate and Joe Domenico, in particular, encountering control issues.

SanAntonio and Bissitt registered consecutive RBI walks that brought home Chung and Kuzman, before Jared Gilmore made it 12-0 with an RBI single.

An RBI walk from Izzo furthered the damage, and Matt Lamarre and Gilmore both scored shortly after on wild pitches that found the backstop, pushing the lead to 15-0.

Kuzman’s game-high third hit of the day plated Izzo, and an RBI walk from SanAntonio capped the scoring in the inning, as the third frame ended with Western out in front, 17-0.

“I tell my guys that a walk is just like a kid getting a base hit to center field – we had to limit our walks and we didn’t,” Giudici said. “We ran into trouble early and we were chasing from there.”

Bissitt yielded Johnston’s lone run in the fourth on an RBI single from Dante Iafrate, before the game ended due to the mercy-rule.

Western will now advance to the four-team state tournament, which is set to begin on Saturday at Hien Field in Lincoln.

It will play host Lincoln at 10:30 a.m. to start the double-elimination tournament.

“Good,” Cranston Western manager Gary Bucci said when asked how it felt to be going back to states. “It never gets old. Every time you get here, it never gets old.”

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