Here's how Lincoln Little League Baseball reached the state title game

CRANSTON — Lincoln Little League Baseball didn’t take the easier route.

A winners’ bracket final loss to Barrington put them in an elimination situation against the state tournament hosts. Winning this tournament from either side of the bracket, though, was never going to be simple.

Lincoln navigated past Cranston Western for the second time in the 11- and 12-year-old All-Star state tournament behind timely hitting. A 10-3 finish under muggy conditions in Cranston lands the District 4 champions in the title round.

A rematch against Barrington, after the District 2 winners won 5-1 on Sunday night, is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday at 6 p.m. The upcoming storm will likely delay the final to Thursday at the same time. If Lincoln wins, the winner-take-all match is slated for Friday at 6 p.m.

“It’s great when you have everybody contributing to the win and the fans cheering you on too,” John Rattigan said. “I think we did good as a team cooperating together. Our coaches came over to talk to us about how we’re going to contribute and we did it all together.”

“We need to play clean baseball [against Barrington],” Jackson Lockhart said. “We can’t make as many errors because when they played North Kingstown, they hopped on the errors. We have to get our energy high and keep going all game.”

Lincoln started off the first with a bang as Lockhart opened with a single to left and Hugo Fiero followed with a base hit through the middle. Milo Sheridan loaded the bases, before Lincoln recorded an out, with a six-pitch walk. Rattigan then opened up the scoring with a two-RBI double to left.

Lincoln added two more runs, one on a wild pitch and Luca Martinelli’s single, to end the frame with a four-spot. That was plenty for the combined pitching efforts of Lockhart, Tucker Choiniere and Fiero as Lincoln totaled 11 hits in the victory.

“It’s very cool, especially leading off and getting a single,” Lockhart said. “My energy was super high and then we hit the bases loaded. Rattigan shoots one in the gap and that put our energy all the way to the max. It felt great coming out of that first inning.”

Choiniere threw 38 pitches in relief – he got Lincoln out of a fourth-inning bases-loaded jam by striking out Cranston Western in three pitches. The big righty stayed under the limit and should be able to pitch against Barrington on Thursday.

“We’ve left a lot of runners on in those big games,” manager Kevin Greene said. “Today, we got the big hits with guys on base. That’s really been the difference for us between wins and losses.”

Lincoln, after adding four runs across the second and third frames, put Cranston Western away with two more in the fifth. Sheridan started by reaching on an error and Rattigan added to his 2-for-3, three-RBI day with a second double to left. Ryder Norman closed out the game with a sacrifice fly to right.

Lincoln’s path only gets harder now needing to beat Barrington twice to win the state’s bragging rights.

“It’s just been a blast hanging with the team and playing together with them, even if we lose,” Rattigan said.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Here's how Lincoln Little League Baseball reached the state title game

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