Sports

Little League Tigers Grab Major League Title in Pitching Battle

The Tigers won Hamilton-Wenham Little League's Major League title with a win over the Dodges at Cheeseman Field.

The Tigers and Dodgers played the Hamilton-Wenham Little League Major League championship game on Saturday at Cheeseman Field in Wenham, with the Tigers becoming Champions with a score of 7 - 1.

The game was closer than the score indicates. Both teams featured their ace pitchers in what was a pitcher's duel for the first five innings. Nico Serpa pitched an outstanding game for the Tigers. He struggled in the first inning when Cam Peach led off with a double, and Aidan Robinson followed with a scorching line drive single that was nearly stabbed by Tiger first baseman Cam Grinnell.

Peach scored on a passed ball to put the Dodgers up 1-0. After Dan Tobin drew a walk, and Nick Fallon had an infield single, the bases were loaded with only one out. Serpa was able to work out of the jam with a strike out followed by a shallow pop up to the mound to end the inning.

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After walking John Farnham to start the second inning, Serpa then proceeded to retire the next 13 straight batters.

Meanwhile, Aidan Robinson was pitching a solid game for the Dodgers. He started the game by retiring the first 13 batters he faced.

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Serpa tied the game for the Tigers when he hit a solo home run off of Robinson in the top of the fourth to tie the game at 1-1.

The game stayed even until the top of the sixth. Tiger Henry Smith was able to draw a walk off of Robinson. After a pitching change, Josh Christian singled to left, and Elias Clark-Goldfeld drew a walk to load the bases. With two outs, Cam Grinnell drew a walk to push the go ahead run across the plate.

The Dodgers made another pitching change but Ben Danforth was able to reach on an error that plated two more runs for the Tigers. Serpa came to the plate with two runners on base, and hit a home run to dead center to add some needed insurance runs as the tough Dodgers would have their last at bats.

In the bottom of the sixth, Serpa struck out the first Dodger batter to start the inning, and then Jason Francis came on to pitch for the Tigers. Francis struck out the first batter he faced, leaving the Dodgers to their last out.

With the top of the order for the Dodgers coming up, no lead was guaranteed. Cam Peach hit a solid double to right field, but when he tried to stretch it to a triple, he was tagged out by Josh Christian for the final out of what was an exciting game.


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