Lion's Field — In their first game of the season, the Yankees of Tolland Little League’s Majors Division put up enough runs (at times in bunches) and held off a couple of late rallies by the A’s to secure a 10-6 win at Lion’s Field on Saturday.

            Patrick Regan started on the mound for the Yankees and pitched three innings.  He allowed one run on four hits, one walk, one hit batter, and struck out nine—all nine outs that Regan recorded were via the strikeout.   Regan also scored one of the Yankees’ ten runs on offense.

            By the time the relievers entered halfway through the game—first Will Person, then Matt Titterton, and then Matt Abbate to finish it off—the Yankees had a 5-1 leading, having scored 4 runs in the second inning.  Jack Broscious walked with one out and scored all the way from first when Jon Maher singled to the outfield gap.  Matt Williams doubled next, and then Will Person walked to load the bases for Jack Percy, the number nine hitter, who collected two RBIs next on the first of his two hits.

            But a four run lead with three to play wasn’t enough for the Yankees, as the A’s started putting the pressure on the home team the very next inning, scoring three of their six runs in the top half of the fourth.  Andrew Sarles, defensive star who had a beautiful sliding catch against the fence in foul territory down the left field line and then a diving catch off the mound in the fifth, picked up a one-out walk.  Dan Salem worked out a tough walk next himself, and John Lee followed suit to load the bases.  The number ten batter, Josh Pike, singled in a pair of runs to turn the lineup over, where Stephen Sutton grabbed an RBI with a groundout to second base.

            So the lead was down to one and it seemed like the momentum was shifting until the Yankees took their turn to bat in the bottom of the fourth.  Again they tacked on four runs to push the lead to 9-4.  Matt Abbate and Jake Ciraco each had a pair of runs batted in, scoring Jack Percy, Jake DeMartino, and Brennan Nick.  Abbate scored on Ciraco’s run-scoring double.

            The Yankees added another run in the fifth when Will Person scored the second time in the game after singling and then advancing home on a throwing error.  The A’s made it interesting in the sixth by scoring a couple and loading the bases with two outs, but they couldn’t get any closer than the 10-6 final.  Jack Cerra and Stephen Sutton scored in the inning.  Cerra finished with a hit and two runs scored.  Also for the A’s, Matt Byam went 2 for 3 with a walk and 2 runs batted in.  Andrew Sarles also had 2 hits and a run scored.  Austin Wheeler picked up an RBI as well.