ADAMS, Mass. – With a District 1 Championship and a pair of close games in the Section 1 tournament, the Adams-Cheshire Little League All-Stars have had a great run.
Unfortunately for them, that run will not include a trip to the state finals.
Rutland Wednesday overcame a stellar pitching performance from Carson Kelly-Phillips to beat Adams-Cheshire, 3-0, in an elimination game at Willard “Beaver” Bard Field.
“I’m proud of them,” Adams-Cheshire manager Steve Albareda said. “I love every single one of them. … You come out here, you make history winning districts.
“You don’t feel great right now at the moment. But you dominated last night, and you lose. You lose three nothing tonight and have an amazing pitching performance. So right now, you feel like you had a shot at this thing.
“But as a whole I couldn’t be more proud to be their coach. And it’s been fun.”
Kelly-Phillips allowed just one run through the first five innings to keep his team in the game on a night when its offense was not producing.
In the third inning, Rutland got a run on three hits.
Declan O’Connor and Mason Ramos got the inning started with back-to-back singles. O’Connor eventually was erased on a groundout to third baseman Zack Mazzeo.
But Ramos came home on a single to left by No. 12 hitter Ryan Frederick.
Kelly-Phillips eventually ended the inning by inducing a groundout to shortstop Brayden Durant.
He then pitched a 1-2-3 fourth that saw Brogan Larabee get a fly ball in right and Jaden Wells-Vidal field a pair of ground balls at second.
Between them, Durant and Wells-Vidal finished with seven assists in the game.
“That’s why whenever Julius [Valentine] or Carson [Kelly-Phillps] or Zach [Mazzeo] throws, whoever we have on the mound, you get those two up the middle, and we’re almost flawless up there,” Albareda said. “The defense is just as good.”
To start the bottom of the fifth, a one-out single turned into three bases due to an outfield error, and Rutland got back-to-back hits from O’Connor and Ramos in the middle of its lineup to propel a two-run rally.
That was more than enough cushion for Petey Sinclair, Rutland’s second pitcher of the night, who worked a 1-2-3 top of the sixth to end the game.
Rutland’s starter, Nathan Ferguson, struck out nine in four innings of work to pitch around hits from Jaden Wells-Vidal (2-for-2) in the first and fourth innings.
On the other side, Kelley-Phillips did not pick up any strikeouts but allowed just two walks and held the designated home team at bay most of the night.
“I do expect that from Carson,” Albareda said. “He throws strikes. I know what I get from him. He’s absolutely not going to blow you away. But he gets soft ground balls and soft pop-ups everywhere all over the field. And we play defense.
“He’s been doing it all year. He’s great.”
