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Canfield features several aces
CANFIELD
Pitching wins championships.
Canfield’s 9-10-year-old Little League baseball team is banking on it.
Armed with a five-man rotation, Kevin Burette’s club will make Canfield’s first Little League state tournament appearance this weekend in Bryan.
“With this group of boys, there’s only two newcomers,” Burette said. “Ten of the 12 boys have been together for three years now.
“This is a program we started back in November and have worked out through the spring time,” Burette said. “They were on a travel team together where they had success and this time of year is why we schedule very stiff competition for the boys to face.”
Canfield is riding a 13-game win streak that includes an unbeaten run through the District 2 tournament at Fields of Dreams in Boardman.
Canfield’s experience, and pitching, will be put to the test in its opening game on Sunday against Saturday’s winner of District 5 and District 11 (Ironton).
“We’re very fortunate in the fact that any one of the boys we can give the ball to and feel good about it,” Burette said. “Right now, our pitching has been performing well on the mound and that’s really what’s allowed us to have so much success.”
The staff includes Ryan Petro, Collin Burette, Tony Pannunzio, Ben Slanker and Jake Grdic.
Kevin Burette said there’s no ace and there’s no weak link — the latter being very important in back-to-back, multiple games in one day situations like they’re going in the state tournament.
Burette will decide who gets the ball on Sunday after he scouts Canfield’s opponent on Saturday.
“It could be any one of the boys,” he said. “They all have some big-game experience.”
Little League has pitch counts for all age levels. For 9-10, if a player throws more than 20 pitches, they’re required to take one day of rest.
If a pitcher throws more than 30, it’s two days of rest. That’s where Canfield’s pitching depth has paid off.
Whether past tournament success translates into wins at the state level won’t be clear until they start the games.
“I always tell them when they step across the white line, it’s the same game they’ve been playing their whole life,” Burette said. “This team’s peaking at the right time.
“Our pitching staff is really performing top notch right now. We have hope we could compete for a state title. If a team’s going to beat us, we’re going to make them play a darn good game. We’re not going to beat ourselves.”