Windham 12-under baseball turns in strong showing against Cumberland North Yarmouth

By Matt Pascarella

After a big push in the fifth inning where Windham Little League’s 12-under fall baseball team scored five runs in a solid effort to upend Cumberland North Yarmouth on Saturday, Sept. 30 at Ciccarone Field at Lowell Farm in Windham, the rally ultimately fell short with a score of 8-6.

Windham Little League's 12-under youth baseball team
seventh grader Chase Gagnon makes a catch during a game
against Cumberland North Yarmouth while on the mound
at Lowell Farm in Windham on Saturday, Sept. 30.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA  

“I think hitting was good today and some fielding,” said Windham seventh grader Dylan Emmons. “We did the best we could.”

Emmons had three really strong hits against Cumberland North Yarmouth, two that were fielded and one that almost went over the fence.

In the bottom of the second inning, Windham seventh grader Chase Gagnon reached first base on a dropped third strike. He later scored and Cumberland North Yarmouth led 2-1.

Windham’s defense was powerful, with the team often ending innings with runners left on base. They also made several great plays and caught runners headed to bases.

In the fourth inning, Cumberland North Yarmouth scored several runs to take a commanding 8-1 lead.

In the top of the fifth inning, Windham pitcher and seventh grader Hunter Pulkkinen caught a hard-hit ball on a bounce and made the throw to first base with plenty of time. Windham sixth grader Caitlyn Halladay made a similar play and a great throw to first base.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Windham made a lot of progress in catching up to Cumberland North Yarmouth. Pulkkinen walked, and Halladay walked. Sixth grader Darius Bean and seventh grader Sam Cataldi walked; and Pulkkinen scored. Seventh grader Silas Clark then walked. Seventh grader Matthew Beaulieu reached first base when his pop fly was dropped. Bean scored; Emmons hit a long, long ball to center field that reached the warning track, bringing in two more runs.

Windham kept Cumberland North Yarmouth from scoring further, but they weren’t able to make up the deficit.

“Hitting went well,” said Gagnon. “Consistency in pitching needs improvement, but morale in the dugout is always positive. We did as good as we could, we tried.”

Windham 12-under fall baseball coach Bill Tom awarded the game ball to Emmons.

“Pitching has been really good, but wasn’t the best today, yet we were still in the game,” said Tom. “It’s been great how competitive the games have all been, it’s been a lot of fun, building confidence in the kids. We hit as a team better than we have been ... unfortunately the balls just went to where the defenders were. [Otherwise] it could have been a totally different game.”

According to Tom, younger players need to develop more so they can contribute at the bottom of the lineup, but limited practices during the fall baseball season make that difficult. The team has kept a positive atmosphere, and he has seen kids improving. <