Colchester Little League bashes Rhode Island in elimination game at New England tournament

The 10-to-12 Little League softball all-stars from Colchester faced elimination at the New England regionals on Monday afternoon.

Quite loudly, they refused to see their summer end just yet.

The Vermont state champions plated a dozen runs in the second inning, bashing their way to a 20-1, mercy-rule rout of Tiverton, Rhode Island, to extend their stay at the double-elimination tournament at A. Bartlett Giamatti Little League Leadership Training Center in Bristol, Connecticut.

Colchester next plays Wednesday at 4 p.m., and will face Maine, which fell 6-2 to Connecticut on Tuesday night. If Colchester wins, it will advance to Thursday's New England Region championship contest. All games are streamed on ESPN+.

"We barreled balls up. It was one thing to just get hits up the middle, but we were hitting hard line drives," Colchester coach Mat Robinson said in a phone interview. "It was awesome to see. I think we sent a message.

"For the girls, they are going to remember this forever."

In Monday's three-inning victory, six Colchester players had multi-hit games, and the team strung together seven straight hits during the decisive frame and finished with 16 hits in all against Rhode Island pitching. Taylor Davidson (3-for-4, two doubles, three RBIs), Eliza Fischer (2-for-4, three RBIs), Destiny Hendy (2-for-3, three RBIs) and Harlow Hier (3-for-3, double, two RBIs) paced Colchester's red-hot attack.

Athalie Fane-Cushing (2-for-3, RBI), Makenna Pratt (2-for-3, RBI), Persephone Tirrito (1-for-4, RBI), Elle Robinson (RBI, two walks) and Liv O'Dell (1-for-1, RBI) also contributed for Colchester.

Hendy, the starter, picked up the win, tossing two scoreless frames, yielding one hit and no walks while fanning a pair of Rhode Island batters.

Robinson walked to lead off the game, and then came around to score on Davidson's double to center. Colchester added four more runs in the frame for the early 5-0 lead.

Then came Colchester's 12-run outburst in the second. The Vermont state champions sent 17 batters to the plate and totaled 12 hits in the frame. Davidson started the rally with a leadoff single and later uncorked a two-run double to the gap in left to make it 12-0.

"It was just our day today," Robinson said. "You could tell from (Davidson's) first hit."

After receiving a first-round bye, Colchester fell to Connecticut, 4-1, on Sunday in its tournament opener. Milford, Connecticut's state champion, scored three times in the first inning and relied on Maddy Bonanno's five-hitter to hold off Colchester.

In the loss, Hendy went five innings in the circle and Davidson went 3-for-3 with a run at the plate.

Colchester reached New Englands with a dramatic, 14-13 win over Champlain in the Vermont state championship earlier this month. Robinson believes they are good enough to reach the World Series.

"We are battled-tested, thanks to Champlain. The girls know they have to remain focused," Robinson said. "I was telling some of our friends back home that I really do feel like we are the second-best team in this bracket. I told the girls that I think we can win this thing. We’ll take our shot and keep fight."

Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Little League softball: How Colchester fared at New England regionals