BRISTOL, Conn. – The Yarmouth Little Leaguers could have left their bats in the rack.

The four-run rally that propelled the Maine state champions to a 9-1 win over the Barre (Vt.) Community Little Leaguers, in the third inning of Sunday’s New England Regional game, was executed without a base hit.

Three walks and a hit batsman with the bases loaded made the third inning decisive after two of the first three hitters made outs.

“What we’re trying to do in this tournament is we head to plate (making sure) that they’re throwing strikes, and they did early in the game,” Yarmouth Manager Jay Tobias said. “In the third inning, the ball started elevating out of the strike zone so we made sure they were patient and not chasing any pitches.

“The mantra is, ‘Once you see a pitcher start to throw them out of the zone, force him to throw them in there.’ “

With the score tied 1-1, Grant Tobias drew a one-out walk — the first of four issued by Vermont in the inning. Starting pitcher Joe DeFusco reached on an error and C.J. Cawley walked to fill the bases. Conor O’Donnell walked on the ninth pitch of his at-bat to force in the go-ahead run.

“What I try to do is pick a spot in the zone where I want to hit the ball and usually have success,” O’Donnell said. “If it’s not there, I try to foul it off. I make sure I don’t swing at any balls. That pitch didn’t come.”

John Thoma was hit by a pitch to push another across and knock out Vermont’s starting pitcher, Niko Tillas.

With Chandler Phillips on, the trend continued. Caleb Gray and Chris Romano worked run-producing walks as Yarmouth took a 5-1 lead.

Manager Tobias used DeFusco, Bobby Murray and winner Luke Klenda for exactly 20 pitches each. O’Donnell finished by retiring all seven hitters he faced, striking out five.

“With (Saturday’s) rainout consolidating our schedule to three games in three days, we weren’t looking past Vermont, but we have four pitchers with different looks who throw strikes all day long,” the manager said. “They mix their pitches very well so we felt comfortable going by committee.”

Yarmouth took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Chris Romano tapped an infield single and took second on a wild pitch. Klenda (2 for 4) delivered two-out run-scoring single to center.

Vermont literally stole a run in the second when Phillips singled, moved to third on a walk and fielder’s choice grounder and alertly stole home.

The Mainers tacked on three in the fourth. Klenda rapped a double to left-center and scored on a single by DeFusco. O’Donnell drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Chris Amoroso delivered a run-scoring single.

The last Yarmouth run came across in the sixth when Romano singled, advanced on an error and scored on Grant Tobias’ groundout.

Yarmouth, 1-1 in the tournament’s preliminary round, plays a makeup game against Fairfield (Conn.) American today at 5:30 p.m. Next up is Andover (Mass.) National at 10 a.m. on Tuesday to conclude the round-robin portion of the tournament. Four of the six-team New England field advance to the championship round, which begins Thursday.

 

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