—submitted on behalf of Eileen Silva
NC Rams 11U baseball team
After a tough Memorial Day Classic tournament that included five games in just two days, the New Canaan Rams made it look easy in the championship game. After only three innings, the NC Rams 11U baseball team run-ruled the White Plains Hit and Run by a final score of 16-0. In a tournament this long, most teams run out of pitchers. Not the Rams. Jack Sommers pitched a shutout, allowing only three hits, while Jack “Shef-B-I” Sheffield led the team in RBI’s driving in 5 runs for the NC Rams.
The Rams fielding was error free over the final three games of the tournament. The championship game was filled with amazing defensive plays all over the field. Teddy Cooney started the game with a diving catch and Henry Silva followed with an amazing ‘how did he do that?!’ catch off of a line drive the following inning. The combination of Alex Benevento at shortstop and Mason “the split” Pickering at first base proved to be a deadly one on multiple plays. The Rams brought it home in the third inning with eight runs, including singles for Brian “Salty” Balkun, Sheffield and Connor “Cheeseburger” Lytle. Sommers and Silva (2 for 2 in the final game), both hit doubles in the third inning. John Bajaj and Danny Rogers scored one run each and Jack Jensen scored two runs in the championship game. The exclamation point for the tournament came at the end of the game, as the Rams turned a textbook double play to preserve the shutout.
For the tournament, Benevento hit a staggering five home runs, while Rogers and Sheffield each slammed two, showing tremendous power for a team that struck out only 14 times. The Rams defense was the difference maker, as the team committed only 5 errors over the span of the tournament and made spectacular plays look routine. Sam Bisesi was out due to an injury but was sorely missed. Congratulations to the NC Rams 11U baseball team!