At a very young age, the members of this season’s Lisbon U12 baseball team felt a tragic loss.

Teammate and friend Mitchell Breton-Tuplin tragically passed away after an accident, with most of his friends on this team just 8- or 9-years-old, and the team had to find a way to move on, compete, battle.

Just this week, this group of Lisbon kids — Mason Booker, Hunter Brissette, Ethan Brown, Nick Ferrence, Owen Fish, Jeremy Harmon, Neil Larochelle, Justin Le, Caleb Phillips, Levi Tibbetts, Riley Turner and Drew Wilcox — returned home after competing in the New England Regional Baseball Tournament in Telmsford, R.I. The squad took fourth, going 2-1 in pool play before knocking off a team from Massachusetts in the quarterfinals.

A loss to eventual regional champion Rhode Island, 8-7, ended Lisbon’s hopes of moving on to nationals, but as head coach Darren Brown and his staff of Scott Tibbetts, Ryan Booker and Andy Wilcox saw, this was a group of kids that not only brought skill and determination, but sportsmanship and the right way of playing baseball to the field.

“I have chills even now talking about the experiences that we had,” said Darren Brown. “I have learned so much from them. We went to the tournaments with class. I can’t remember a season that felt like this.”

First off, how did the Lisbon squad get to Rhode Island?

Things began by assembling the 12 players that were going to wear the Lisbon uniform. Once the roster was set, it was off to the sectional tournament at Bath.

In years past, Lisbon has run up against the talented Ararat squad, and this year’s final was no different. Lisbon went undefeated in the tournament, rolling by Ararat, 6-2, in the final, sending Lisbon to the state tournament in Skowhegan.

“That win over Ararat was something we had been battling since these kids were 9-years old,” said Brown. “We always were the runners-up, no matter the tournament.”

State Tournament

Lisbon cruised through the first six games of the state tournament, going undefeated and punching its ticket into the championship.

Then came a matchup with Andy Valley, a game Lisbon not only lost, but fell in a mercy-rule 10-run defeat.

The teams played again, and this time Lisbon put it together, rolling to the win.

“We had won six games prior to that loss, so coming into the final we went back to basics and we played the game the way that we know how to play it,” said Coach Brown. “We are a team that can play small-ball, bunt. We can also hit for power. All I can say is the state tournament was like a blur.”

Next came the trip to Rhode Island to face the best of New England. Lisbon didn’t feel intimidated, instead winning two of its three pool games to claim the No. 2 seed in the knockout stage.

A 10-2 win over Lanesboro, Mass., sent Lisbon into the semifinals against undefeated Washington Park, R.I. Lisbon battled, dropping the one-run contest to end its season.

Brown remembers back to when this Lisbon team was assembled.

“We have had these kids together since they were 9- years-old,” said the coach. “They are a great group of kids who play the game hard.”

Brown feels his team used that closeness to pull together after the loss of Breton- Tuplin. Inside the Lisbon dugout is a flag honoring the young man’s memory.

“They touch the flag before infield, before each at-bat, and Mitchell is still a part of our dugout,” said Brown. “Mitchell’s dad, Luke, is a key presence for this team, catching our home run balls with Mitchell’s glove. Mitchell’s spirit is here. We always say, ‘What would Mitchell do?’ He would get out there and play baseball, and that is what we have done. I couldn’t be prouder!”