St. J beats Champlain in dramatic fashion

Or even Friday, when St. Johnsbury won out 6-4 over the Lamoille County All Star team after a back-and-forth game that was decided in the fifth inning.

There was no shortage of dramatics this weekend — where St. Johnsbury went on a three-game winning streak to beat Lamoille and Champlain Valley to advance to the New England Region Tournament in Bristol, Conn. That’s the last stop before the Little League World Series, played Aug. 16-27 in Williamsport, Penn.

It was a heartbreaking loss for the Champlain team, which at more than one point throughout Sunday’s game built those kind of dramatic comebacks that only baseball can produce.

“It was an emotional time for all of us,” Champlain head coach Mike Niedbur said. “I told them to try not to hang their heads and how proud we were of them.”

Lamoille v. St. Johnsbury

St. Johnsbury’s weekend run toward the Little League World Series began on Friday, where a close matchup with the Lamoille all-stars made for a great game.

The Lamoille team got on the board early when leadoff batter Stevie Barnes smacked a solo home run to left field for the first play of the game.

The scoring didn’t stop there. St. Johnsbury responded in the bottom of the first after Lamoille walked in a runner. Then, a single by Owen Ruane drove in a run to give Lamoille a 2-1 lead in the top of the 2nd inning.

Landon Mosier tied the game for St. Johnsbury at 2-2 after driving in a run but Lamoille then retook the lead in the 3rd inning when Stevie Barnes hit a hard ground ball to first, scoring Conner Mayo.

Both teams were tied 4-4 entering the fifth inning when St. Johnsbury pulled ahead. Maddox Stacey’s two-run homer to center field put the team up 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth. Tayton Goodwin then struck out three batters to close it out.

“While the loss really stings, they are a great group of boys and tremendous ballplayers and should be proud of what they accomplished together,” Rick Stram, Lamoille’s assistant, said. “It has been a privilege and great pleasure to coach them during this journey and we have become a family. While our journey isn’t continuing as we had hoped it would, we are very proud of them as people and as ballplayers, and of how hard they worked to get to this point.”

Champlain v. St. Johnsbury

Saturday’s game at Schifilliti Field in Burlington had hardly begun when the rain came, and it continued throughout the afternoon. Despite the weather, Evan Dore, of Charlotte, pitched well — striking out 10 batters through five innings.

Dore ran into a bit of trouble in the fourth, hitting a batter and walking two to load the bases with two outs before striking out the final batter of the inning.

The Champlain team’s offense had some early trouble against St. Johnsbury’s pitcher, Tayton Goodwin, who kept the team at bay through the early innings with his arsenal of off-speed pitches.

That didn’t last very long, however. Champlain’s offense came alive in the third when Tyler Niedbur of Hinesburg doubled to center, scoring Holden Rodliff to give the team the lead.

As the rain grew heavier, St. Johnsbury responded in the fifth when Caleb Decker launched a two-run homer to give the team the lead, 2-1.

By then, the heavy rain was accompanied by thunder and lightning, forcing officials to call the game for St. Johnsbury — setting up for some Sunday dramatics.

Scoring in this game started right away, with St. Johnsbury driving in three runs in the first two innings before Champlain responded in the second, putting up two runs off the bats of Pete Stephen of Hinesburg and Braden Cook of Charlotte.

Champlain was backed into a corner in the bottom of the sixth, with two outs and Carl Giangregorio of Charlotte on first base when Dore ripped a double to center field —missing a game-winning home run by mere feet but scoring Giangregorio on a game-tying double, with the Champlain crowd erupting in the bleachers.

Both teams dueled through the seventh and eighth innings. St. Johnsbury would add a run off the bat of Caleb Decker, but the Champlain team responded in the bottom half, scoring two runs from a costly error.

But a three-run homer in the top of the ninth by St. Johnsbury’s Maddox Stacey dealt an insurmountable lead for the team. With runners on in the bottom of the ninth, a double play clinched the win for St. Johnsbury, giving the team its first Vermont state title since 1985.

The team will now face Massachusetts in the regional tournament on Saturday, Aug. 5 — televised on ESPN+.

After the loss, Niedbur said the players “weren’t as sad about the loss as we were about the fact that this journey and our time together had come to an end.”

“We reminded them about how much we loved them, how much fun we had over the past couple of months working together, watching them grow as baseball players, but, most importantly, the friendships they forged that will last a lifetime.”