43
Hamilton routs Canfield in Little League state final
Hamilton routs Canfield, delays game with bat-flipping incident in state final
By Gary Housteau
BOARDMAN
In a win or go home situation for Canfield in the State Little League tournament at the Field of Dreams in Boardman, Hamilton West Side pounded out more home runs than Canfield had hits en route to a 11-0, six-inning rout.
In addition to five shutout innings thrown by Hamilton’s Micaden Stephens, four of Hamilton’s eight hits in the game cleared the fence, including one blast by Stephens, while Canfield managed just three singles overall. Hamilton was clicking on all cylinders.
“Boy did we run into a good baseball team,” said Canfield manager Kevin Burdette. “When you give up one run in the entire state tournament, I think that’s all they gave up, when you have that kind of pitching and that kind of defense and, of course, everybody seen the way they can hit, they’re just solid. They earned the state championship.”
Canfield hung tough with Hamilton through the first three innings, trailing just 1-0 and giving up only one hit that knocked in their lone run going into the fourth. But then the bottom fell out as Hamilton hit four home runs and scored 10 runs over the final three innings.
One of those home runs caused a 45-minute delay. In the fourth inning, Hamilton’s J.J. Jones hit a solo home run —his team’s second of the inning. After the ball left his bat, he took two steps and then flipped his bat high in the air. By the time Jones made his way to home plate, officials decided to eject Jones.
Hamilton manager Tim Nichting then approached the game’s official scorer and indicated that he was putting the game under protest. When that occurs, play is halted until the protest is addressed by Little League officials based in Williamsport, Pa., the home of the Little League World Series.
The umpires and the tournament’s director retreated to an office at Fields of Dreams to put in a call to Williamsport. When the officials returned to the field, they announced that Jones’ home run counts, Jones is out of the game and he will be suspended for Hamilton’s next game.
“It had no effect on the game,” Burdette said. “I believe it was the proper call and I believe the umpires did a good job going through the process (with Williamsport) they had to go through. And I believe it taught the kids a lesson and that’s that we need good sportsmanship in society and sports. They’re 11 and 12 and this is where we teach them. There’s rules and they’re there for a reason and they need to be followed.”
When play resumed, Hamilton continued to build on their offensive onslaught, adding two runs on a home run in the fifth and six more runs with another two-run homer in the sixth. Stephens held Canfield scoreless through five innings before he had to leave the mound with nine strikeouts after reaching the 85-pitch limit. Stephens had two hits, including one of the two solo home runs, to lead Hamilton on offense as well.
Canfield’s best chance to score came in the bottom of the first inning but they couldn’t come through with a clutch two-out hit with runners on second and third.
“That kind of was the story for both games we were facing Hamilton,” Burdette said. “First and second or second and third, we were just unable to find a gap or get the ball through or put the ball in play enough to get the run home and you can’t do that at this level, you have to score those runs to help your pitching out.”
Canfield again had runners on second and third in the sixth inning, without the benefit of a hit, before an unassisted ground out to first ended the game and gave Hamilton the state championship.
“It’s bittersweet but it’s like anything in life, when you work hard eventually you’ll take a moment and you’ll look back on your body of work, and the body of work that this team’s put together over the last three or four years is, in my mind, nothing short of an A-plus,” Burdette said.