Avon 10-11 Little League All Stars Wins District Championships Against Canton

The victory lap the members of the Avon 10-11 Little League All Star team took after dispatching Canton 8-4 at Sperry Park Friday evening was symbolic of the type of game they played.

Three quarters of the way around the field, with several players grasping the District 6 Championship banner, several kids tumbled to the ground.

After an awkward moment of laughter, the players picked themselves up and continued with their celebration.

Similarly, Avon didn’t play its cleanest game of the tournament, but it did enough things well to prevail and advance to the state Section II tournament scheduled to begin in Harwinton on Wednesday.

“We stumbled and bumbled a little bit during the game, which is not like us,” Avon head coach Steve “Dober” Harris said.

Avon pitcher Connor Harris pitched a complete game, allowing four runs on eight hits, while striking out three over six innings. He did not walk a batter.

 “[Connor Harris] didn’t have his ‘A’ stuff that he normally does,” Dober Harris said. “He didn’t feel well, but he battled through. He’s our No. 1 pitcher. We had our ace on the mound.”

Avon’s first three batters - Dylan Nastri (3-for-4, two doubles, two runs, RBI), Adam Therault (2-for-2, double, homerun, two runs, four RBIs) and Ryan Ollested (2-for-3, run, RBI) - led Avon’s offense, which rapped out 11 hits over five innings.

Canton jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, as Braedon Bean’s groundout drove in Zach Mulcahy (2-for-3, two runs), who singled and advanced to third on Alex Sullivan’s (2-for-3) base hit.

The lead was short lived, however, as Therault gave Avon a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first by crushing a two-run home run to dead center field, driving in Nastri, who led off the inning with a double.

“[Therault] had a big game,” Dober Harris said. “That was the first home run he hit all year. That was a bomb in center field. He and [Nastri] set the table very nicely for us.”

Avon extended its lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the second on Nastri’s RBI single that scored Dylan Hellyar (1-for-3, run) and Therault’s sacrifice fly that scored Jack Stokesbury (1-for-1, run).

But Canton, which lost to Avon last year 26-6 in an All Star game, refused to lie down, nicking Connor Harris for two runs – one on Brandon Peters’ steal of home, the other on a Bean groundout - in the third inning to close the gap to 4-3.

But Avon all but salted the game away with a run in the bottom of the third and three more in the fourth to take an 8-3 lead.

Canton rallied for a run in the sixth on Jaren Mollica’s single that scored Ian Jacobs (1-for-3, run) to make the game 8-4, but Stokesbury, Avon’s right fielder, ended the threat by cutting down a runner at the plate to end the game.

Canton head coach Doug Mulcahy, for his part, was thrilled with his team’s effort, despite the loss.

“I think we played really well,” Doug Mulchahy said. “We had to pull a lot of players from different teams and they played well together. Compared to last year, it’s a tremendous effort by our group. … We are closing the gap.”

It’s the second consecutive District 6 championship for several Avon players, who won last year’s district 9-10 Little League All Star tournament and advanced to the sectional semifinals.

 “I like our chances,” Dober Harris said of this year’s team. “We want to put ourselves in a position to win sectionals and play for the state championship.”