Ethan Canfield’s two-run, first-inning double provided all the offense Classic Designs of New England would need to defeat J&J Pool, 4-0, and capture the Babe Ruth Baseball American League championship last weekend.

Providing a little insurance, though, were Justin Lemma (single and a run scored), Ryan Boucher (single and a run scored) and Nick Urso (RBI single). Boucher also pitched three scoreless innings while Matt Coletti made a nifty catch in leftfield to shut J&J Pools down.

For J&J, Alex Buckman, Tanner Schmidt and Mike Woessner collected hits while Jared Modzelewski pitched well.

Classic Designs had to work pretty hard to reach the finals – especially after they found themselves in a 4-0 hole in the first inning of the first playoff game. But they scrapped back with clutch hitting and a solid defensive performance to pull out an exciting 5-4 win over Shaw Builders.

Boucher’s fourth inning single drove in Urso with the winning run. Urso led the winning attack with two hits and two runs scored and also pitched two scoreless innings. Alex Magoulas and Brendan Buzaid also hit hard while Justin Lemma made a great catch in centerfield.

For Shaw, Kyle DiNicola, Evan Gregoire and Kurtis Liska all hit well, with Liska and Greg Rodden both pitching scoreless ball.

Classic Designs followed that up with another tight win, a 5-4 decision over Automated Security in the semi-finals. Lemma scored the game winning run in the top of the sixth inning on Boucher’s two-out single over the first baseman’s glove.

Lemma also drove in two runs with a bases-loaded hit in the third inning to spark the offense.

Other big hits were doubles by Joel Minalgo and Keith Hogenauer. Hogenauer’s was nearly a home run, hitting the top of the centerfield fence. Alex Magoulas pitched three strong innings for the winners and Boucher closed out the game in relief.

For Automated Security, Jeff Davis led the offense with two hits and an RBI while Jason and Danny Smith also hit hard. Each pitched three strong innings, as well.

National League

 

Base Technologies       4

Shoreline Construction  3

 

Base Technologies might have jumped into the finals of the Babe Ruth Baseball National League championship with a convincing 14-0 win over Newtown Limousine last week, but it had to work a lot harder than that to win the division title on Saturday.

Dan Spencer ripped a single down the left field line in the top of the seventh inning, scoring Pete Wlasuk with the go-ahead run and Base Technologies went on to defeat Shoreline Construction, 4-3. Wlasuk and Dash Jeffries both singled with two outs, leading to Spencer’s hit.

Clinging to a one-run lead, pitcher Geno Villafano got one out but still found himself with runners on second and third. Villafano induced Mitch Bloomberg to pop out to Kurt Nacewicz at shortstop, but Nacewicz quickly relayed to Spencer at second base to put the tag on the runner trying to get back to the bag.

Game over.

Shoreline took the early lead in the third inning as Brian Murphy, Bloomberg and Kyle McNamara all singled to put Shoreline on top, 1-0. Jake Devellis pitched two shutout innings and Matt Narel pitched two more to keep Base off the board, but in the fifth Wlasuk, Jeffries and Spencer each back-to-back-to-back doubles to score two runs. Spencer also scored on an overthrow, giving Base a 3-1 lead.

It was short-lived, though. In the bottom of the fifth, Devellis doubled in a pair of runs to tie the game, 3-3.

Kevin Bonacci of Shoreline and Wlasuk of Base pitched a scoreless sixth, sending the game into extra innings.

The champion Base Technologies included Kris Arndt, Anthony Corleto, Dash Jeffries, Timmy Lacouture, Kyle Markham, Steven Musco, Kurt Nacewicz, Mike Notaro, Hiram Orama, AJ Ritchie, Dan Spencer, Geno Villafano, Pete Wlasuk and Jim Zarifis.

The team was coached by Warren Spencer, Pete Wlasuk, Brian Halapin, Bill Notaro and Will Jeffries.

AAA

 

Tendler Real Estate     2

Dental Associates        0

 

Casey Tenney and Ryan Cahalane pitched a gem of a game, whiffing 10 batters and leading Tendler Real Estate to a thrilling 2-0 win over Dental Associates in the Babe Ruth Baseball AAA Division championship.

Robbie Blanc sparked the defense by throwing out – from deep in the hole at shortstop – a runner attempting to score. Tom Mascher applied the tag on that play and later got together with Cahalane and Kyle Droniak on a nifty 1-6-3 double play to end a Dental Associates threat.

Matt Hamilton went the distance for Dental Associates, limiting Tendler to just two hits while striking out nine.

Tendler – which was 8-3 during the regular season – advanced into the finals of the double-elimination tournament with wins over Newtown Hardware (7-4), Aerco International (12-6) and Dental Associates (11-0).