Magical season ends in NJ for Junior League champs

Canton Junior League players gather for a photo after their first win at the East Regionals.

A magical season ended Monday on the brink of a World Series trip for the Massachusetts Junior League state champions as Canton’s “boys of summer” were eliminated following two tough losses at the East Regionals in Freehold, New Jersey.

In the end, it was the Pennsylvania state champs — a team from Clinton County, near Williamsport — as the only East team left standing as they punched their ticket to Taylor, Michigan with a victory over Maryland in Tuesday’s regional final. (The World Series gets underway this Sunday with PA opening against either the Southeast or Central champions.)

For Canton’s 14-year-old all-stars, their season would come to an end just one day earlier with consecutive losses to the two eventual finalists — 9-0 to Pennsylvania and 10-0 to Maryland.

Prior to that point, however, the Bulldogs had looked like one of the favorites and were one of only two squads (along with eventual champion PA) to survive unscathed through the first four days of the tournament.

In their opening round matchup against the New Hampshire state champions on Thursday, August 4, the Canton bats came out sizzling, scoring eight unanswered runs before the game had to be paused due to a rain delay. The action picked up at 9 a.m. the next morning and while New Hampshire managed to close the gap, Canton kept its composure en route to a comfortable 9-4 win.

Advancing to the second round in the winners bracket, Canton would go on to have its signature performance of the tournament in a 6-2 victory over the New York state champions.

Hailing from NYC, the formidable West Side Little Leaguers had scored a whopping 35 runs in their first two games, with both contests ending via the slaughter rule. But it was Canton that did most of the damage in Sunday’s matchup while pitcher Shane Kelleher kept the New York bats in check over six scoreless innings — ending the sixth by striking out the last batter to escape a bases-loaded jam.

The victory was hailed as a total team effort, with Teddy Shuman, Chris Pirrera, JT Norton and several others making noteworthy contributions.

Despite falling short in Monday’s games, the Bulldogs walked off the field with their heads held high as they came within two victories of matching the achievement of the vaunted 2008 Junior League squad — the only Canton team to advance to a World Series. Every member of this year’s roster made an impact, and together, as one parent noted, they bonded in a way that few teams do while making memories that will last a lifetime.

The 2022 state champion Canton Junior League team was coached by Tom Norton, Joel Lesser and Ted Pirrera and team members included Graidy Carr, Liam Connolly, Gavin Davis, Ryan DeLello, Andrew Gillis, Shane Kelleher, Justin Lesser, Patrick Long, JT Norton, Chris Pirrera, Joey Ryan, Teddy Shuman, Riley Swearingen, and Gavin Thompson.

The team is grateful for the support of Canton Little League, the Canton community, and for all of those who donated to help finance their trip to New Jersey for this year’s East Regional championships.

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Posted by Canton Citizen on Aug 12 2022. Filed under Sports, Youth Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.