By RYAN D. MURRAY

The Warwick Continental American Little League 12U All-stars fell 10-9 to Westerly on Monday during the District 3 Semifinal at D’Abrosca Field.

Kenny George, started on the mound for Warwick, and the right-hander tossed two innings and struck out one batter, while yielding six runs (two earned).

“Kenny, as a pitcher, he battles,” manager Mario Cerullo said. “He doesn’t take any pitches off and he leaves it all out on the field. He wears his heart on his chest out there and you can’t take anything away from him. He gave me his best effort.”

At the plate, George had a single and a double, with two runs batted in.

WCA catcher Jackson Field added three hits and two RBI.

“Jackson caught for us the whole tournament and he didn’t come out, not one inning,” Cerullo said. “He saved multiple runs and took away a lot of bases from a lot of kids. Jackson, in my opinion, is probably the best little league catcher in the state. And I’ve seen through AAU, through 10s, 11s, 12s, and I’ve never seen a catcher better than him. He does a good job.”

Field felt the team as a whole was very strong, and that had they played better in the first two innings, they’d be moving on in the tournament.

“We’re just a good group of kids,” Field said. “And we have great pitching, great all-around on the diamond, and 1-9’s our greatest. And then, our subs are the best in the tournament. I think we should have won this if we had a better first inning and second inning.”

Kellan Barnes, the second baseman, added two singles and three RBI.

Barnes had a couple of miscues on defense in the first frame, but he more than made up for them.

“He had two errors in the first inning, but came up with a good ground ball and made the play to second,” Cerullo said. “And he was aggressive with the bat. He made up for the two runs he allowed on errors, with two hits and drove in three runs.”

Cerullo tells his players to take it inning by inning.

“Just win every inning,” Cerullo said. “It’s little league baseball, it’s the name of the game. You’re not always going to get the bounces, they’re not always going to go your way.”

Grady Auth took the ball for Westerly and the southpaw pitched one inning and gave up four unearned runs.

Holden Reed topped the Westerly offense with two singles and two RBI.

Jackson Mankoff added two walks and an RBI single, while Jack Parker had two singles and was hit by a pitch.

WCA took a 4-0 lead in the top of the first, but Westerly evened the game at 4 runs apiece in the bottom of the inning.

Westerly’s Kevin Saglio broke a 6-6 tie in the fourth when he sent a solo home run over the centerfield wall and gave Westerly a 7-6 buffer.

Saglio finished the day with two RBI.

Westerly tacked on two more runs in that inning, and drew a 9-6 advantage, but WCA answered with three runs of its own, in the top of the fifth, and deadlocked the score at 9.

However, in the bottom of the fifth, Westerly’s Tim Pont reached base via an infield single and he eventually scored the game-winning run, after an error at third base.

“They’re (Westerly) a good team,” Cerullo said. “They stayed in it. They battled. And you have to tip your cap to them.”