Torrington’s Lilah Boulli is safe at home after the ball slipped out of the glove of East Granby/Granby catcher Ava Guyer in the fifth inning of Friday night’s District 6 Little League softball championship game in Simsbury.
SIMSBURY, June 29, 2018 – Despite pitching with a jammed finger, Torrington pitcher Amelia Boulli gave up just two hits and struck out seven to lead the Torrington Little League softball team to the District 6 Major Division championship on Friday night with a 12-1 win over East Granby/Granby in five innings.
For the first time, Torrington won back-to-back District 6 championships at the Major Division level (ages 11-12). After losing two straight games to East Granby/Granby in the tournament, Torrington (7-2) beat East Granby/Granby on back-to-back nights to win the championship.
“I told my kids from day one that if you do the simple, little things – hit the ball, catch the ball, throw the ball – we will be successful and that’s what we did the last three or four games,” Torrington manager Rich Boulli said.
East Granby/Granby won their first six games in the tournament, including a 12-2 win over Torrington that put East Granby/Granby into the finals of the tournament. East Granby/Granby averaged 11 runs a game in their first six contests. In their final two games against Torrington, they had just six hits and scored three runs.
“The bats went cool,” East Granby/Granby coach Joe Bordonaro said. “The thing I was most proud of is that they played hard for each other and never gave up. They’re a great group of kids.”
On Thursday, Torrington scored four unanswered runs including two in the top of the sixth inning to hand East Granby/Granby their first loss of the tournament, 6-3, and force the winner-take-all game on Friday. Haley Burger and Amelia Boulli were each 2-for-4 for Torrington.
Ava Guyer and Corri Howard were 2-for-3 with doubles for East Granby/Granby.
On Friday night, Torrington raced out to a 7-1 lead after two innings, taking advantage of six walks and four hits. The game was delayed for nearly 30 minutes at that point when it was discovered that the pitching rubber was too far away from the plate.
Torrington pitcher Amelia Boulli allowed just two hits and struck out seven to help Torrington win their second straight D6 championship.
For Major Division play, the rubber is supposed to be 40 feet away from the plate and it was 43 feet away. Representatives from Simsbury Little League put the pitching rubber in the right spot and the game resumed.
East Granby/Granby was energized when pitcher Isabella Hassett struck out the side in third inning but East Granby/Granby still couldn’t muster much of an attack against Amelia Boulli with just one hit from Corri Howard in the final three innings.
Torrington secured the win with five runs in the fifth inning thanks to three hits, a pair of errors and a hit batter. Burger was 2-for-2 for the winners while Leanna Harvey was 2-for-3. Amelia Boulli had a double.
Howard and Isabella Hassett had singles for East Granby/Granby.
It was the second straight year that the two teams had met in the finals. Torrington won a year ago in the championship game, 3-2. Torrington was captured four District 6 titles in the last seven years.
Torrington has won four District 6 Major Division championships in the last seven years.
This Torrington group has been playing together for three years now and have won three consecutive District 6 titles at the 9-11 level, the Minor Division (ages 10-11) level and now the Major Division level. Ten of the 12 players have won three D6 championships.
Torrington will advance to the Section II state tournament where they will face the District 3 and District 5 champions on July 5-8.
Torrington 12, East Granby/Granby 1 (5)
at Simsbury
Torrington (7-2) 430 05 – 12-7-2
East Granby/Granby (6-2) 010 00 — 1-2-2
Amelia Boulli and Lilah Boulli; Isabella Hassett and Ava Guyer; WP: A. Boulli; LP: Hassett; 2B: A. Boulli (T)
Torrington 6, East Granby/Granby 3
At Canton (June 28)
Torrington (6-2) 011 202 — 6-7-3
East Granby/Granby (6-1) 012 000 — 3-4-4
Amelia Boulli and Lilah Boulli; Isabella Hassett and Ava Guyer; WP: A. Boulli; LP: Hassett; 2B: Guyer (EG/G), Corri Howard (EG/G), Shea Higgins (T), Kayla Battistoni (T)
2018 District 6 Major Softball Tournament
Round robin
East Granby/Granby 10, Torrington 6
East Granby/Granby 11, Central Valley 1
East Granby/Granby 13, Thomaston 3
East Granby/Granby 15, Simsbury 0
Torrington 10, Simsbury 0
Torrington 15, Thomaston 5
Torrington 11, Central Valley 3
Central Valley 6, Simsbury 3
Central Valley 7, Thomaston 6
Thomaston 13, Simsbury 3
Double-elimination
Winner’s bracket
East Granby/Granby 6, Thomaston 1
Torrington 10, Central Valley 8
East Granby/Granby 12, Torrington 1
Consolation bracket
Thomaston 7, Central Valley 1
Torrington 12, Thomaston 9
Championship round
Torrington 6, East Granby/Granby 3
Torrington 12, East Granby/Granby 1 (5)
Kathleen Engle
June 29, 2018 at 11:22 pm
YOu do a fantastic job covering local sports, Thank you!