Tuesday, July 20, 2010
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
BOARDMAN
The Canfield 9-10 baseball team has been chanting “I-R-O-N” since the start of all-star practice three weeks ago.
IRON is for Ironton, where the Canfield team will play in the Little League state tournament after defeating Austintown, 11-5, Monday in the District 2 championship game at the Fields of Dreams complex.
“That’s been our goal since day one,” said Canfield manager John Petracci.
“We didn’t want these kids to consider any other option other than making it to Ironton since we started practicing together for this tournament.”
Canfield got the job done with outstanding defense, solid pitching and a strong offensive arsenal against a good Austintown team.
Both teams had advanced to the title game by winning their divisions in a pool-play format and then winning semifinal games.
“It’s been a great run,” Petracci said. “It’s been like a family with everyone contributing including our great parents and fans.”
Canfield’s leading contributor was leadoff batter Jack Rofoth who set the tone for the game early when he blasted a triple to right to start off the first inning.
Rafoth came around to score on a double by Nick O’Hara.
Rafoth, who contributed another triple and two singles along with a pair of RBIs, said he couldn’t be more excited about moving on to state.
“Oh yeah, this is fun,” said the 10-year-old center fielder. “We have a good team and everyone does so much to contribute.”
Canfield had 12 hits, including five for extra bases, in the six-inning contest.
Both teams played great defense and had timely hits early on as Canfield clung to a 4-2 lead before mandated pitching changes played havoc in the sixth inning.
Austintown’s Nick Bush and Canfield’s Ian McGraw pitched well but both were on pitch counts (a regulation of Little League baseball) that didn’t allow them to finish the contest.
Canfield added three more runs in the second on a run-scoring infield hit by Anthony Pacifico and a two-run triple by Rafoth.
Austintown got back in the game with a pair of runs on a triple by Colin Griffin that scored Robby Russo and Nick Bianco.
“The defenses were terrific tonight,” said Petracci. “Both teams played beyond their ages. It was a fun game to watch.”
Canfield put the game away by tallying seven runs in the sixth inning. Triples by O’Hara and Angelo Petracci and RBI singles by Dom Gelonese and Will Dawson keyed the rally.
“They are a great team,” said Austintown coach Joe Chepke about Canfield.
“We were hoping to get one more good inning out of our starting pitcher but it didn’t work out.
“I give my kids credit though. They battled the whole game and never gave up.”