Sports
11-Year-Old All-Stars Eliminated
After their second loss to Burlington, the 11-year-olds have been knocked out of the Cal Ripken All-Star Baseball Tournament, but their success qualifies them to compete for the state title.
The 11-year-old all-stars were the last Marblehead team remaining in the Cal Ripken All-Star Baseball Tournaments, but with a 3-1 loss to Burlington on Wednesday night they saw their divisional championship hopes come to an end.
Their tournament started out with decisive back-to-back wins over both of the host city's teams, the American and National squads from Arlington. Marblehead played Arlington American in their first game on June 24, which they won 6-1. Then they easily advanced over the Arlington National team with a 16-5 victory on June 26.
Marblehead's first loss came on June 27 to a tough Burlington team. The game was a close contest, but in the end Burlington came away with a 6-5 win. The loss put Marblehead in the consolation bracket of this double-elimination tournament.
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Their first consolation game was against Arlington American on June 29. Coach Steve Turbidy describes the game as a "pitching and defensive duel." Spencer Carr and Crew Whittier pitched well for Marblehead, who once again defeated the hosts, this time by a score of 6-2, eliminating Arlington from the tournament.
Amazingly, all of the games' runs came from home runs. Arlington got their two runs on solo homers in the first and third innings. Marblehead's runs were all scored with two-run home runs, first by Kyle Koopman in the second and third innings and by Matt Koopman in the fourth.
Find out what's happening in Marbleheadfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The win against Arlington put Marblehead in a position to win the tournament, but it would require the local boys to earn consecutive wins over the Burlington team, which handed them their first loss.
Unfortunately, the Marblehead team once again lost to Burlington, this time by a score of 3-1. Each team only had three hits in the game, but Marblehead's five walks seemed to make the difference in Burlington's win.
For their success in the divisional tournament, the 11-year-old all-stars qualified for the state tournament in Raynham starting July 17.
The team has high hopes; as 9- year-olds, they won the Cal Ripken State tournament and made it to the semifinals of the New England Regional Tournament. Last summer, as 10-year-olds, they made it to the Cal Ripken State Tournament again, but fell short of winning it all.
Stay tuned to Patch for continued coverage of all Marblehead Youth Baseball tournament teams this summer.
