9/10’s rally in extra innings, win District 1 championship

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There were more than few times during Saturday’s District 1 9/10-year-old finals where Cranston Western looked destined to hand Johnston its first loss of the summer.

Yet, every time, Johnston responded.

Its last response gave it a district championship.

Johnston battled back from a 4-1 deficit and held Western scoreless over the final two innings, sending the game into extra frames. In the seventh, Johnston exploded for eight runs to take a commanding lead, and it held Western scoreless again en route to the 14-6 victory.

“Every time we’ve played Cranston it goes down to 5-4, or 8-7, or 2-1,” said Johnston manager Bob Giudici. “I know they’re a good team. But we really are very strong defensively. We just had to get the pitching and get some key hits to get over that little hill.”

The game was certainly much closer than the score indicated, as evidenced by the fact that it went to extra innings at all. Johnston, however, wouldn’t be denied.

It had won its first game of the tournament, beaten Western 5-1 in the second game of the tournament and defeated Edgewood/South Elmwood 11-1 in the winner’s bracket final last Tuesday. Western battled back out of the loser’s bracket to set up the re-match, but it had to beat Johnston twice in order to win the title.

Johnston didn’t let it win once.

While Western took the early lead and had its chances to earn the victory, Johnston kept the game tight until the seventh, when it used the momentum gained off strong defensive plays by Derek Salvatore to break out.

“I think our forte is defense,” Giudici said. “We really work hard on defense. We put them through infield-outfield drills for at least an hour at practice, at a minimum.”

Facing Western pitcher Harrison Goldberg, Jake Martino singled to open the frame and Dimitri Iafrati – who had a standout game defensively at shortstop – bunted for a single. A single to center by Connor Kennedy loaded the bases with nobody out, and Mike Capraro took advantage with a two-run single to break the 6-6 deadlock and give Johnston an 8-6 lead.

A double by Thomas Zednick made it 9-6 and drove Goldberg from the game. Western brought in Mason Bissitt to stop the bleeding, but he didn’t fare much better. Isiah DiBrito greeted him with an infield single and Salvatore walked to bring in Johnston’s 10th run. After Bissitt got two straight outs, Martino laced a double to right-center to plate two more and Iafrati knocked in two with a single to make it 14-6.

“The bats finally woke up,” Giudici said. “I knew we could hit with them, but with Cranston sometimes you’ll go 0-for-12 and then you’ll get those three or four key hits with runners in scoring position. That’s what we did, and we broke it open.”

In the bottom half, Martino – who came on with one out in the fifth and wasn’t charged with a single run – walked a pair of batters but had little trouble setting down the side. Iafrati recorded the final out on a groundball to shortstop, and Johnston celebrated an emotional victory.

“I’ve gone to states with the seniors and the juniors, and now we’re finally going with the 9/10’s,” Giudici said. “This is the first time we’ve advanced this far since I’ve been coaching.”

Johnston took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single by Iafrati before Western went up 2-1 thanks to an infield error and a bases-loaded walk issued by Johnston’s starter Kennedy.

Western extended its lead to 4-1 in the second, as Brandon Mellor was hit with a Kennedy pitch with the bases loaded and a bases-loaded walk forced in another run.

Johnston responded, grabbing five runs in the third, with Zednick and DiBrito each picking up two-run hits.

In the fourth, Western tied the game on a two-out hit, and the game stayed knotted at six until Johnston broke it open in the seventh.

“I felt that we could play with anybody,” Giudici said. “As long as we didn’t make those mental mistakes we’d be fine.”

Johnston is scheduled to open play in the state tournament this weekend in Woonsocket, where it will test its luck against the District 2, 3 and 4 winners.

Its first game will be Saturday. The winner of the tournament advances to the 9/10 Eastern Region Invitational held each year at Cranston Western.

“Hopefully we’ll do well in the states and go on to the regionals, get a little lucky,” Guidici said.

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