Little League Tournament
By Jill D. Montgomery

The Central Vt. Little League baseball team won back-to-back games to put themselves in the final game before States. Central Vt. defeated Mid-Vt. 10-5 last Thursday and then put Randolph out of the tourney 6-2 on Friday. The team, mostly from South Royalton and Chelsea, then played their third game in a row, this time against Connecticut Valley South, but received their second loss of the tournament, 14-0.

Final Game

Connecticut Valley South scored three runs in the first inning of Saturday’s game and then added five in the second and six in the third, wrapping it up in just four innings due to the 10-run rule. Connecticut Valley South’s pitchers Dan Gorman and Sam Mellert had nine strike-outs out of 16 batters. However, C.V. South had also had three days off while Central Vt.’s team had been playing steadily.

Central Vt.’s pitchers were Derek Swanson, Leif Johnson and Darren Cilley. The catchers were Cole Harrington and Trenton Morrison.

Central Vt./Randolph

Central Vt. Beat the Randolph area team 6-2 last Friday after getting off to a good two–run start in the first inning.

Kit Norton started the scoring with a lead off single, followed by a single from Cole Harrington. Central Vt. added another run in the third for a 3-0 edge. Thomas Ingham had a double to right field and came in off a walk to Derek Swanson and a bunt by Trent Morrison and a stolen base. Randolph got on board in the fourth when Zack LaPerle hit a double and then came in for the run. Cody Thurston also hit a double but was left stranded.

Central Vt. got that run back in the bottom of the fourth with a single from Matt Diamond and a double by Darren Cilley. Randolph was held scoreless in the fifth while Central Vt. added another two runs for the 6-1 lead. Trenton Morrison and Ian Kinnarney both had singles.

Randolph added their final run in the sixth inning with Zack LaPerle hitting a double and coming in to score off Cody Thurston’s and Ross Caswell’s singles. Ben Jickling pitched most of the game with Aaron West finishing the game.

Thomas Ingham went the distance on the mound for Central Vt. with Cole Harrington catching.

Central Vt./Mid–Vt.

Central Vt. put an end to Mid-Vt.’s play-off run with a 10-5 victory July 5. Both teams started out slowly with Central Vt. breaking the ice first with a run in the third inning. Kit Norton, Darren Cilley and Thomas Ingham all hit singles with Norton scoring the run.

Central Vt. poured on the offense in the fourth inning as they put up seven runs for the 8-0 edge. Cilley had a double in the inning and Cole Harrington and Trenton Morrison both hit singles.

Mid-Vt. scored their first run in the bottom of the fourth, spoiling the shut-out. Daniel Scherding hit a single and then came in for the run off singles from Clay Walker, Griffin Thomas and Zack Cole.

In the fifth inning, Central Vt.’s Darren Cilley hit a two-run homer to put his team up, 10-1.

Mid Vt. had a home run hitter in the fifth inning as well. Clay Walker hit the homer and Mid Vt. scored four runs in that inning, putting themselves right back in the game. But that was the end of the scoring by both teams, giving Central Vt. the five-run win, 10-5.

Other Tourneys

Connecticut Valley South goes on to play North Shaft for the chance to go to the States which are in Barre beginning July 27.

The state tourney for the baseball 9 & 10-year olds will be in Randolph beginning July 27. The Randolph team played in Manchester versus Central Vt. Monday, July 9 and lost a close one, 6-5. Randolph now plays Manchester tonight, July 12 at 6 p.m., in Manchester.

The Little League softball team from the Upper Valley will begin their state tournament in Swanton on July 19.

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