(The Hartford Courant)BRISTOL — – After wrapping up a spot in the four-team, single-elimination semifinal round earlier in the day, the Glastonbury National Little League coaches delicately tried to convey to the players that a win against Peabody West of Massachusetts wasn’t all that important.
Like a game of telephone, that led to gross misinterpretations of tiebreaker scenarios and the players’ roles — and even the game itself.
“In fact, one of the kids misheard something we talked about, something like, ‘We’re supposed to lose this game?’” Glastonbury manager Chris Murphy said. “And I said no, we’re not supposed to lose this game, we’re trying like crazy to win. But we’re also trying to keep our powder dry for a game with this team the next day.”
The result was a wild affair that saw both teams trot out regular outfielders as pitchers and Peabody West clinch the top seed in the New England Region semifinals with a 13-7 victory at the Giamatti Little League Center.
“I know that before the game, we had a spot, but this would have been huge if we also won this game,” said Andrew Takahashi. “We’re lucky and we’re fortunate that we’re able to move on after this.”
Glastonbury (2-2), now the No. 4 seed, will play the same team today at 5:30 p.m. for a spot in Saturday’s regional championship. That winner will go to the Little League World Series.
Peabody West (4-0) clinched the top seed, though it was in doubt early. Two home runs by Nate Mandell and one each by Alec Graham and Takahashi gave Glastonbury a 7-1 lead entering the bottom of the second inning.
“I honestly thought we were going to win at that point, but I think a few kids, including myself, got a little too cocky,” Mandell said.
Peabody West then scored 11 runs in the second, including two three-run home runs by Matt Hosman, and added another in the fourth. It finished with 18 hits.
“I knew it was a tough game, but it wasn’t also like you win you move on, you lose you’re out,” Takahashi said. “We know they can definitely hit the ball well, so we have to have a good pitching staff against these guys.”
Sometimes it’s just too easy. Glastonbury didn’t even attempt to put up a fight. You do have to give the Glastonbury kids some credit, when Coach Murphy told his team, “Their 3-0. You’re not supposed to win this game, so don’t try to win” they followed his instructions to a “T”; that’s why people from Connecticut are worker bees and people from Massachusetts are bosses.
The rematch is today at 5:30, so make sure you tune into NESN and watch the P-B-D machine dominate.
-Nacho
