By Kim J. Harmon
By Kim J. Harmon
An offensive juggernaut.
There is no other way to describe the 12 players of Nickâs Restaurant â a bunch of kids that scored 40 runs (with the aid of eight home runs) over three games to capture the Babe Ruth American League championship.
And they had to do it coming out of the loserâs bracket in the double-elimination tournament. But with a 15-4 win over Package Automation last week (in which Joe Devellis was 4-for-4 with a three-run homer and Kevin Cahalane was 2-for-2 with a two-run homer), Nickâs went on a tear that didnât stop until it was hoisting the championship trophy on Sunday night.
Forty runs.
Eight home runs.
About the only thing that managed to slow the offense down (for just one day, though) was the rain.
Nickâs Restaurant entered the American League championship with the unenviable task of having to defeat Newtown Car Wash twice (while the Car Wash had to defeat Nickâs just once). But the offense was in a groove.
Oh boy, was it ever. And with a 14-4 win on Friday night and (after rain postponed the next game for one day) an 11-5 win on Sunday night, Nickâs Restaurant grabbed that championship trophy.
The offense was in a groove, but no one was in a better groove, perhaps, than Devellis. In the win on Friday, he was 3-for-4 with a pair of grand slam home runs and eight RBI. And in the win on Sunday night, he was 2-for-2 with a three-run homer.
Now thatâs a groove.
But Devellis was hardly the only one swinging a mean bat.
Ryan McGrath was 3-for-4 with a solo home run in Game 1 of the championship series while Tyler Tarantino and Cory Fletcher both had hits and combined to score five runs. McGrath was then 2-for-3 with a single, triple and two RBI in Game 2 while Tony Gallucci was 2-for-2 with a double, home run and four RBI.
McGrath and Devellis did most of the pitching for Nickâs, too. In Game 1, the two combined for a complete game while, in Game 2, they pitched five innings while Cahalane came on to finish up the sixth.
Nickâs finished up the season at 17-3.
Despite the disparity in scores, Newtown Car Wash had its moments, too.
In Game 1, a three-run fifth inning was fueled by a triple by Colin OâConnor (a slashing drive just over the first base bag, right to the corner of the outfield fence), a bloop single by Jared Modzelewski, and a triple by Jeff Davis. In the field, no one had a better glove than Aron Fay, who had to make a couple of sparkling catches.
In Game 2, Ryan Boucher was 2-for-3 with a double, homer and four RBI to power the offense (even with Nickâs holding on to an 11-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth, there was time for a late rally and Boucherâs two-run homer did the trick). Brian Shimko was 2-for-3 with a double while Tom Gaboriault, OâConnor, Modzelewski and Mike Murphy had two hits apiece.
Nickâs Restaurant included Jake Benson, Kevin Cahalane, Joe Devellis, Cory Fletcher, Tony Gallucci, Danny Giorno, Kevin Jurasek, Kurtis Liska, Ryan McGrath, Cody Shpunt, Tyler Tarantino, and Chris Tomascak. The team was coached by Joe Devellis, Matt McGrath, John Giorno, Jeff Liska and Bill Shpunt. The sponsor was Tony Gallucci.
Newtown Car Wash included Chris Nuelle, Brian Shimko, Ryan Boucher, Tom Gaboriault, Aron Fay, Colin OâConnor, Jared Modzelewski, Mike Murphy, Jeff Davis, Tucker LaPak, Evan Gregoire and Scudder Baggett (who was forced to miss the last two games after suffering a broken leg).
In other playoff action, it was Package Automation that had dropped Nickâs Restaurant into the loserâs bracket by virtue of a 6-4 win. Joe Bowen drove in two runs in the first inning and Joe Collins banged an RBI double in the fourth inning to lead Package. Josh Powers and Greg Rodden each delivered game-saving catches in the field.
Kevin Cahalane roped a two-run homer for Nickâs.
Package also defeated Chartwells, 13-5, as Mike Barbour went 2-for-2 and Mike Maher and Jake Burg banged out timely hits. Shaun Coakley and Joe Collins were solid behind the plate.