BARRE — Winning playoff games requires strict attention to detail.
No. 3 Chuck Stone Little League didn’t have that Wednesday night, losing 8-2 to No. 2 Quabbin in the opening round of the Jimmy Fund single-elimination playoff tournament.
Chuck Stone committed two costly errors with two outs, once at shortstop in the first inning and another at first base in the second. Meanwhile, Quabbin threw out one runner out at home on a relay from center field in the first inning and also turned a double play between first and second in the fourth inning.
“It’s hard to win when you make that many mistakes in the field,” said Chuck Stone head coach Tony Vitello. “We hung with them for a while, but eventually we are going to have to play a little more solid D in order to hang in this game. It’s a shame because the kids tried their hardest, they gritted it out, but you can’t win in the playoffs with that many errors.”
Quabbin advances to the championship game held on Sunday at 1 p.m. with the win. Quabbin will face the winner of No. 1 Winchendon and No. 4 North Leominster. Winchendon and North Leominster were originally scheduled to play Wednesday night, but were rained out until to tonight.
After Chuck Stone took a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first, the team gave up the lead for good in the bottom half of the inning. With two outs and one runner on third, Travis Wells hit a ball to shortstop, but the throw to first was high and wide, allowing one run to score. Wells, who moved to second on a passed ball, then scored on Adam Faulha single.
A dropped third strike to Quabbin’s Sean Corso-Smith in the bottom of the second inning allowed Kyle Clark to score from third, putting Quabbin up 3-1.
Nathan Morin then walked. He moved up to third on the play when Chuck Stone starter Branden Engelke-Aiken threw to first. The ball went off Trevor Bullock’s glove, which allowed Morin to move to third. He later scored on a single by Jaxon Warburton.
“Tip your cap to them because they have a good team,” Vitello said. “Fundamentally, they made the plays, threw a kid out at home, had a double play, so they’re a sound team. This is a good team and I think we can learn from Quabbin. They played fundamental ball.”
Warburton pitched all six innings for Quabbin, allowing only two runs on five hits. It was the second time faced Chuck Stone, pitching six shutout innings in his first start.
“(Warburton) isn’t overpowering, but he’s around the plate,” Vitello said. “He pitched the whole game against us and he finished (with 83 pitches). It’s pretty impressive. We hit the ball, couldn’t find the holes, he struck us out and he wasn’t overpowering, he’s just around the plate.”
Chuck Stone defeated Quabbin the first time the two teams met back on July 11.
Quabbin put up three runs in the fourth inning on four hits. They strung together three singles in a row before Clark brought in two runs on a single to center field to make it 8-2.
Engelke-Aiken pitched 3⅔ innings for Chuck Stone, striking out nine. Matthew Vitello pitched the final 1⅓ innings, allowing one run on one hit and four walks.