ATHOL — After the Chuck Stone Little League All-Stars took a lead in the top of the first inning, Leominster National quickly took over and made sure Chuck Stone couldn’t catch up, winning 10-6 on Thursday during District 3 group play at James H. Salevan Field.
The win improves Leominster National to 4-0 in group play and clinched the top spot in the single elimination tournament to decide District 3’s representative in pursuit of the Little League World Series with the win. Chuck Stone falls to 1-3 with the loss and into a three-game losing streak. They will need to defeat Leominster American on Saturday to secure the fourth seed in the tournament.
“That’s a must win game (against Leominster American) for us to clinch the fourth seed,” said Chuck Stone assistant coach Tony Vitello. “We’re going to practice (Friday) and focus on some fundamentals. We’re pretty proud of the kids, how they played tonight in hitting the ball and defensively and we’re focused on that game Saturday. It’s a big one.”
Leominster National had outscored its opponents 22-0 entering the game. Chuck Stone scored the first runs off Leominster National on a pair of singles from Jeremy Vezina (2-for-3, three RBIs, one double) and Jenna Bonenfant (1-for-3) to go up 2-0 in the first inning.
“I knew that (Chuck Stone) could play and hit,” said Leominster National coach Jared Forgues. “They can also play defense and they’re very well coached, so I knew that we were in for a battle today. I”ve seen the runs that they put up earlier in the tournament, so I knew they could hit. That’s a big team and they can really hit.”
Down 8-2 in the fifth inning, Chuck Stone pounded three hits and took advantage of one Leominster National fielding error to pull themselves within three at 8-5.
Chuck Stone then went to Colby Goodwin in the bottom of the inning after starter Stephen Mack had reached the little league maximum 85 pitches. Goodwin was shaky, walking four batters and the bases full before Robert LaFosse relieved Goodwin. With two outs and down 9-5, a wild pitch by LaFosse allowed Leominster National to take a 10-5 lead. LaFosse then forced Evan Frick to ground out back to the mound as catcher Jeremy Vezina got Reid Richard on the tag at the plate.
Chuck Stone threatened in the sixth inning, scoring on a wild pitch that also moved Branden Engelke-Aiken up to second, but Leominster National reliever Thomas Gosson got LaFosse to line out and Hayden Barrieau to strike out swinging to end the game.
“We came right out in the first inning and showed them we could hit the ball and we jumped right out on them,” said Vitello. “Tonight, for us, proved that we can hang with any of these teams. We’re feeling pretty confident even though this was a loss. We played well defensively, hit the ball solid.”
Gosson pitched four innings in relief, allowing four hits and one walk while striking out five. Richard, the team’s starting pitcher, and Gosson combined to hold Chuck Stone to seven hits despite giving up six runs.
“Those guys have been throwing strikes for us all year,” said Forgues. “That’s the key, in Little League but also all of baseball. They were throwing strikes, putting the ball in play and our defense was making plays.”
Leominster National eliminated Chuck Stone’s early lead with two runs in the bottom of the first to tie the game. The team took the lead for good in the bottom of the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Jack Forgues to go up 3-2.
Leominster National then scored two runs in the third inning and three in the fourth to go on to 8-2.
District 3 group play will wrap up on Saturday and for Chuck Stone at 4 p.m. at Leominster American.