Essex Town cruises to 8-10-year-old Little League baseball state crown

Back in June, uncertainty was a fair outlook for the 8-to-10-year-old Little League all-stars from Essex Town.

A couple players were coming off their first season of baseball this spring; others a year removed from coach-pitch. In all, Essex Town manager Zach Smith welcomed eight 9-year-olds to the 13-player squad.

"I’m not going to lie, when this all began in June, if somebody told me we’d be 8-10 champs, I wouldn’t have believed them," Smith said.

Earlier in their run, Essex Town players turned Smith into a believer. Sunday, they proved it to everyone else.

Behind David Bent's pitching and hitting performance, Essex Town rebounded from Saturday's loss to Central Vermont and pulled away late for a 15-2, five-inning victory in a winner-take-all state championship game at Schifilliti Park.

Bent, who turned 9 earlier this week, went 4 2/3 innings on the mound, allowing six hits and no earned runs while fanning four over 77 pitches. The starter also went 3-for-5 at the plate with a pair of doubles, four runs and two RBIs from the leadoff spot to ignite a 14-hit attack.

Essex Town, which put the Vermont championship away with a nine-run fifth, advances to the regional tournament in Cranston, Rhode Island.

"These kids come with a lot of fire and energy, and they don’t like to lose. They got down on themselves more than I’ve seen before (on Saturday) and they bounced back today as well as we could’ve hoped for," Smith said. "These kids are emotional, they are passionate, they like to win. And they did. They are winners today."

Electing to be the road team after winning the pregame coin toss, Essex Town went right to work. Bent, a lefty at the plate and righty on the mound, opened with a single to left field. Ethan Weeks followed with a run-scoring double. In the second inning, Essex Town plated a run on an infield error and Winston Smith's RBI single for a 3-0 advantage.

Central Vermont got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second with a sacrifice fly and then cut the deficit to 3-2 in the third on a error.

In the fourth, Weeks (triple) and Winston Smith (single) had run-scoring hits and Joe Taylor-Marsh smacked a sac fly to right for a 6-2 margin.

Then in the fifth, the floodgates opened for Essex Town. Mason Smith, the manager's son, delivered a two-run double, Winston Smith had an RBI groundout and Finn Eklof poked a single up the middle to drive in two more runs for an 11-2 margin. Bent added a two-run double and Weeks singled to center to plate two runs to close out the scoring.

Weeks (4-for-5) and Winston Smith (2-for-4) joined Bent with multi-hit games. For Central Vermont, Tanner Alberghini had two hits and William Moore doubled.

Saturday, the Central Vermont all-stars forced the decisive game with a well-earned, 7-3 triumph. They plated three early runs and relied on Alberghini's two-hit, one-earned ball over 3 1/3 innings to keep Essex Town at bay. Central Vermont also caught three Essex Town runners attempting to seal home to ward off a comeback bid.

Smith gave credit to Central Vermont's resolve.

"Hats off completely to Central Vermont. They had to play Friday vs. Colchester and beat them. They had to play us on Saturday and beat us. And they had to come in for a third day and we know that’s an advantage for us and it worked out for us," Smith said.

Essex Town's 10-to-12-year-old state championship team from last summer — won exactly one year ago Sunday on the same field — has familial ties to the 8-10-year-old team. Four players on Smith's team had older brothers who played on the 10-12 title team. That served as motivation, Smith said.

"These kids really kind of knew, they had seen it before. They knew they were going to get it done," said Smith, who had sons on both teams. "This whole run has been so fun. The kids are really fun to be around. Everything just came together."

Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5.

Essex Town's Summer Run

Districts

Essex Town 11, Milton 2

Essex Town 6, Northeast 5

Champlain 11, Essex Town 10

Essex Town 18, Northwest 3

Essex Town 14, Northeast 4

Essex Town 15, Champlain 3

Essex Town 10, Essex Junction 5 (championship)

State tournament

Essex Town 12, Brattleboro 6

Essex Town 17, Central Vermont 2

Central Vermont 7, Essex Town 3

Essex Town 15, Central Vermont 2 (championship)