Canton Junior Little League wins 4th in a row, advances to state final

ORANGE, July 26 – For the first time, a team of Little League baseball players from Canton will have an opportunity to win a state championship on Saturday. The Canton/Granby squad won their fourth straight game in the 2013 Junior Little League baseball tournament Friday night with a 2-0 win over Edgewood-Bristol. 

That victory puts Canton into the championship game against undefeated Tolland (3-0) at 1 p.m. at the Old Tavern Complex in Orange. Canton needs to win twice to capture the double elimination tournament and win the Junior Division (ages 13-14) state championship. 

Game two, if necessary, will be played immediately at 4 p.m. The winner advances to the Eastern Regional tournament on Aug. 2-7, in Freehold Township in New Jersey. 

Canton, which has players from Granby on its squad, won a best-of-3 series with East Granby to capture the District 6 championship, 2-1. East Granby also had Granby players on their team.

Canton lost to Mansfield, 10-8 in its first state tournament game but rebounded with four straight wins over West Haven, 10-7, Haddam-Killingworth, 9-0, Mansfield, 13-2 and Edgewood. 

Canton (6-2, 4-1 state tournament) has been playing Little League baseball since the 1950s and has qualified teams to participate in the state tournament. But they have never had a team — at any level — in the finals with an opportunity to play in an Eastern Regional tournament.

The most famous Little League tournaments are in the Major Division (ages 11-12) but Little League now also holds baseball and softball tournaments in the age 9-10 division, Minor Division (ages 10-11), Junior Division (ages 13-14), Senior Division (ages 14-16) and Big League division (ages 16-18). Not every Little League organization fields teams in every division but the opportunities exist.