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Canfield rallies past Boardman for crown
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[7.15.2008] Colleen Durkin (left) Taylor Martin (right), both 9 years-old and from Boardman, listen to the playing of the national anthem before the game against visiting Canfield, at Mccune Field Tuesday night.
Michael Kindinis’ 200-plus foot home run cleared the fence to snap a 4-4 tie .
CANFIELD — Canfield’s Michael Kindinis has hit a lot of home runs during his Little League career at McCune Park.
None however was bigger than the sixth-inning, two-run bomb he hit over the center-field fence Tuesday to power the 12-year-old Canfield All-Star team to a 6-4 victory over Boardman West to capture the Little League District 2 championship.
Kindinis’ blast with the score tied 4-4, cleared the 200-foot fence easily and landed in an adjacent ballfield to give Canfield the lead.
Canfield’s Edmond Pilolli then shut down three straight Boardman hitters in the bottom of the inning to earn the win and send Canfield to the Little League State tournament in South Point.
Canfield will play the winner from District 8 on Friday at 4 p.m.
“That was the biggest home run I ever hit,” Kindinis said as his team prepared to accept their championship medals. “I was thinking ‘just hit the ball.’ The ball was right down the middle and I got it good.”
Canfield had battled back from the loser’s bracket after losing early in the tournament to Poland and won five straight games, including two over Boardman West to earn the title.
Monday, Canfield defeated Boardman West 7-5 to force the championship game.
“These guys have had a tough road to get here,” Canfield coach Tony Kindinis said. “They worked their butts off and kept their composure for the entire tournament and throughout tonight’s game.”
Canfield started strong by scoring three runs in the first inning off of Boardman ace Doug Caputo.
Zach Kuchmaner led off with a double and scored on a single by Drew Beck for the first run of the game.
Pilolli hit a towering shot over the right field fence to give Canfield a 3-0 lead.
Alec Buchenic started on the mound for Canfield and pitched a strong game into the third inning.
Buchenic allowed a run in the first on a single by Gino DiVincenzo who later came around to score on two Canfield errors.
Canfield pushed the lead to 4-1 when Kindinis walked and pinch runner Nick Luchansky came around to score on another double by Kuchmaner.
Boardman threatened in the third after a leadoff single by Scott Lendak and a double by Joey Cunningham.
But both runners were stranded when Pilolli came into pitch and struck out three straight batters to end the threat.
“That was the key to the game right there,” Tony Kindinis said. “Edmond did a great job and it’s not like we’re not used to that out of him all year long.”
Boardman did get to Pilolli in the fifth inning to tie the game.
DiVencenzo led off with a double and scored on a single by Joey Cunningham to make the score 4-2.
Caputo singled and Kyle Gallagher followed with a two-RBI single to right to score both runners and tie the contest at 4-4.
“We made a nice comeback,” Boardman West coach Dan Gallagher said. “We had a chance but didn’t finish.
“I’m so proud of these guys and I wouldn’t have wanted to do this with any other group of players.”
Buchenic led off the top of the sixth with a single before Kindinis’ homerun gave Canfield an incredible comeback and a trip to the state tournament.
“It’s incredible,” Tony Kindinis said. “We’re looking forward to representing this area down at state and I know these guys will give it a good effort.”