Hartford’s Cal Ripken All-Stars won the state championship in baseball for players age 12 and under at Barton Sunday, according to an account from Coach Jethro Hayman of the Lake Region All-Stars.
Mr. Hayman said the Lake Region team gave the Hartford team a great challenge, but it was an uphill battle as the Hartford team was big and intimidating and had a pitcher who could pitch 70 miles an hour. He said the Hartford team has a good chance to win at the New England level.
“We earned their respect,” Coach Hayman said. He said the other team’s coaches told the local team they were extremely impressed with the level of play from the challengers.
The final score of the championship game was 9-2. Mr. Hayman said some of the other teams were not able to score against the Hartford team. Some games were called off after the stronger team got ten runs ahead, through what is known as a mercy rule. Not so with Lake Region’s team, which Mr. Hayman said never gave up.
The runs were earned by Parker Perron and Asom Hayman-Jones, on a bunt by Josh Royer. Mr. Hayman said the other team was not expecting a bunt, and it was well executed and it worked.
He also was proud of his team for throwing against the Hartford runners each time they tried to steal. He said they did not let them get away with anything without an effort, catching them twice in attempted steals.
“They never quit,” he said.
Mr. Hayman said the game on Saturday night between Lake Region and North Country was the best game of the series, in his opinion. There were eight lead changes in the game, and Lake Region won it finally, eight to seven. The game didn’t end until after 10 p.m., which means the Lake Region players were up late both nights before their state championship game on Sunday.
“It was a great event.”
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