Little Leaguers’ magical summer ends at NE regionals
By Jay Turner
Canton’s 12U all-stars came within one hit of advancing to Williamsport. (Canton Little League Facebook photo)
On an unforgettable summer night in Bristol, Connecticut, in front of a national audience and with the whole town cheering them on, Canton’s star-studded Little League 12U team cemented their status as local legends.
In the end, just 60 feet separated the Canton boys from their ultimate goal of reaching the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA, as their sixth-inning rally fell agonizingly short in a 2-1 loss to the Maine state champs in Thursday’s New England Regional title game.
Having previously dropped a 7-1 decision to the same squad just three days earlier and eager for a shot at redemption, the Mass. champions gave the Gray/New Gloucester Little Leaguers all they could handle in the rematch and were in it right up until the last pitch, with the game ending on a tag-out after a dropped third strike with runners on second and third.
“I think the hardest part was the finality of it all,” noted Canton head coach Ryan Archibald after the season-ending defeat. “You practice and play at such an intense level for 60 straight days, and then all of a sudden it just ends.”
As painful as it was to have it end in that fashion, Archibald said what should not be overlooked is the historic nature of what this group was able to accomplish, from its undefeated run to Canton’s first-ever 12U state title to its two shutout victories at the regional level over the Vermont and New Hampshire state champions.
“We reached a stage where we were one of the last 20 teams left in the country,” he said. “Only 10 teams in the entire United States get to go to Williamsport, and even in that last inning against Maine we were pressuring them and had a chance to win.”
While Archibald felt his team was right there with Maine in terms of overall talent, he gave the players and coaches of Gray/New Gloucester all the credit for getting the job done when it counted.
“We play them 10 times in that circumstance and we may win five,” he said, “but at the end of the day they were the only team to have beaten us in this entire tournament run and they beat us twice, so they’re very well deserving to represent New England at the World Series.”
Archibald thought the biggest difference between Maine and all the other teams they faced this summer was in the quality of their starting pitching, which held a potent Canton lineup to just …
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Posted by Jay Turner
on Aug 17 2023. Filed under Sports, Youth Sports.
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