Advertisement

Manchester U-12 marches on to state final four

adam betz, journal inquirer, manchester, conn.
·5 min read

Jul. 23—WINDHAM — Manchester U-12 Little League All-Star Ben Stokes stepped to the plate in the fifth inning Friday looking to turn things around.

The third basemen had struck out in his first two at-bats of the evening.

"I think it was more of a mental adjustment than physical," Stokes said. "My swing is always going to be on. But I just felt like in that moment I thrive. I was just excited to be there."

Stokes made the most of the opportunity.

He hit an RBI double to tie the game before coming around to score what proved to be the winning run as Manchester came back to beat Coventry 6-4 in the Section 4 tournament championship game at Mooney Haddad Field.

The win gives Manchester (3-0) its second consecutive berth in the double-elimination state final four tournament in Waterford.

"I think we're just getting started, honestly," Stokes said. "I want to be in the Little League World Series. So, this isn't a celebration like at states yet."

Manchester opens play in the state final four against Section 3 champ East Lyme Wednesday. First pitch is set for 5:30 p.m.

East Lyme topped Madison 4-3 in nine innings Friday to win its sectional.

Section 1 champ Fairfield American and Section 2 champ Shelton will meet in the nightcap Wednesday.

"I think we've got a lot of work to do," Manchester manager Ryan Barry said. "There's going to be four teams that can execute plays on defense, that can hit the heck out of the ball and can pitch lights out. I think we're one of them. I think we'll be able to put the kids in position to have the opportunity to be very successful."

Manchester trailed 4-1 entering the top of the fifth when its offense awoke. Jackson AmEnde and Julian Olivier kick started the inning with one-out walks, and EJ Perez followed with an RBI single to make it 4-2.

Olivier, who moved to third on Perez's hit, made it 4-3 when he scored on a pitch in the dirt to Stokes.

"I like to delay and steal a lot," Olivier said. "So I was just waiting for a passed ball. Then if I got the passed ball, I was scoring automatically."

Stokes continued his at-bat and hit his RBI double to left to tie the game. He moved to third on the throw back in.

"I was really just trying to get the job done," Stokes said. "It's a team effort obviously. I wouldn't be in that position if the kids before me didn't get those hits."

In the next at-bat, Henry Barry hit a grounder to third basemen Jack Siena. Siena made a nice backhanded play to knock the ball down, but Barry beat his throw to first and Stokes scored.

"I just wanted to hit it hard like normal to third base, or that part of the infield," Barry said. "So I could either get on or score the run because he has to make that throw to first."

Manchester brought nine batters to the plate in the inning.

"The bottom line is we wanted to get their number one pitcher out of the game, so we wanted to have really good discipline at the plate tonight," Ryan Barry said. "It's kind of a defensive offense for a few innings, then you wait until the next guy and pounce. That's baseball. But in that fifth inning, we're helped out by a couple of huge guys getting on, and then it gets contagious."

Josh Cline led off the bottom of the inning with a hard hit grounder to second. AmEnde made a nice defensive play to get the out at first.

"That's the biggest play I've ever seen," Barry said. "I knew it was going to be a bullet somewhere, but the last thing I thought was it was going to be hit to Jackson. He hits it to Jackson. He could barely see it and somehow he fielded it. It wasn't even a snare. Unbelievable."

Manchester tacked on an insurance run in the top of the sixth when Stiles Schofield scored on Olivier's goundout to second.

In the bottom of the inning, Olivier sent Coventry down in order to give Manchester the win.

Coventry (1-2) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead thanks to Josh Cline's solo homer over the center field fence in the first and Kyle Dennler's two-run double in the third.

Manchester got a run back in the fourth when Barry scored on Gavin Morris' groundout, but Wyatt Harrigan pushed Coventry's lead back to three when he scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-1.

"I'm very proud of how they showed up. They competed," Coventry manager Mark Jeamel said. "We gave Manchester everything they could handle. We held a 4-1 lead into the fifth, I don't think anybody has done that against them in two years. My kids battled, they showed the heart of a champion. We came up just a few hits short."

AmEnde, Perez and Barry each had two hits for Manchester. Perez also got the win. He struck out seven and walked three in four innings. Olivier pitched two innings of hitless relief. He struck out four.

Cline was intentionally walked in the third and scored two runs to go with his homer.

Dennler finished with two hits. He also took the loss on the mound. Noah Napolitano started for Coventry. He struck out nine and walked one in four innings.

For coverage of the Connecticut Sun and professional women's basketball, Hartford Athletic pro soccer team, as well as area high school and local youth sports, follow Adam Betz on Twitter: @AdBetz1, Facebook: Adam Betz — Sports Writer, and Instagram: @AdBetzJI.