Above: The Urwin Tournament Champs, back row: EG 8U Coaches: Lenny Kiernan, Erik Wilcox, Brian Dougan, Head Coach Dave Pitney, Jim Cohill, and Chris Brennan. Middle row: Jack Brennan, Jack Healy, Luke Wilcox, Zach Pitney, and Caleb Gilbert. Front row: Brennan Moser, Braxton Dougan, Owen Hamil, Connor Kiernan, Henry Glass and Jimmy Cohill. Submitted photo.
The East Greenwich Little League U8 tournament team captured a big win Tuesday – champions of the the John H. Urwin III Memorial Friendship Tournament in Coventry, with an 11-0 win over the Coventry team. The tournament is named for Coventry’s John Urwin, who died at age 23.
Hosted by Coventry Little League, the Urwin tournament was the first tournament experience for many of the 8U players. Eight teams from East Greenwich, Lincoln, Smithfield, Exeter-West Greenwich, Warwick North, West Warwick, Scituate-Foster, and Coventry, respectively, practiced in the weeks leading up to the start of the tournament’s elimination games.
East Greenwich entered elimination play ranked sixth after having lost the first two pool play games to Smithfield and Coventry, then beating Warwick North. In elimination play, EG beat third-ranked Warwick North with a final score of 8-1, then beat number 2 ranked Smithfield also 8-1, before facing fifth-ranking Coventry in the championship game.
“We pushed them hard every practice, working on baseball plays most of the boys had never been exposed to before and learning to play based on the tournament rules, and they all did phenomenal,” said EG head coach Dave Pitney. He continued, “They all should be very proud of themselves. I believe this is only the second time EG has won this tournament since it started 16 years ago. We had the largest coaching staff in the tournament and there’s no doubt it gave us an advantage because of the attention we were able to give to the boys during practice.”
Congratulations, EGLL U8!
Conner Kiernan’s face says it all: they won! Photo by Chuck Nadeau
Jimmy Cohill is hit on the ankle with the first pitch of the game. Photo by Chuck Nadeau
Luke Wilcox waits on third. Photo by Chuck Nadeau
Conner Kiernan finds out the bag doesn’t move in his slide into third. Photo by Chuck Nadeau
Henry Glass keeps his eye on the ball. Photo by Chuck Nadeau
Zach Pitney. Photo by Chuck Nadeau
Jack Brennan, who proved strong at bat. Photo by Chuck Nadeau
Jack Healy. Photo by Chuck Nadeau
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Congratulations to all the participants. We are all proud of you.