Canton Little League heading to New England title game after 5-0 win over New Hampshire
BRISTOL, Conn. -- The Canton Little League team is one win away from the Little League World Series. The Bulldogs will play for a trip to Williamsport on Thursday night, after beating Salem, New Hampshire on Wednesday afternoon.
Canton bounced back from Monday's 7-1 loss to Maine with a 5-0 victory over New Hampshire in Bristol, Connecticut. Small ball led the Canton offense and Andrew Sullivan was stellar on the mound, shutting down New Hampshire Wednesday afternoon.
The Bulldogs improved to 16-1 overall with Wednesday's win.
After both teams went scoreless in the first inning, Canton took a 3-0 lead in a wild top of the second. The Bulldogs loaded the bases with three straight singles to lead off the frame and proceeded to plate three runs; one off a wild pitch, one off a bunt single, and another off an errant throw to third after Salem had tagged a runner out at home.
Canton added another run in the fourth. After Owen Collins hustled for a two-out triple, his fifth hit in Bristol, Will Casey sent him home with an RBI single up the middle to make it a 4-0 Canton lead.
Ryan Roberts then drove in Canton's fifth run of the day in the top of the fifth. Mikey Zollo worked a one-out walk and made it to third on back-to-back wild pitches by New Hampshire. Roberts sent him home when he ripped an RBI single down the left field line to make it a 5-0 game.
That was more than enough run support for Sullivan, who went the distance for a two-hit shutout. He struck out seven along the way, striking out the side in the bottom of the third. He then set Salem down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fourth.
Sullivan ran into some trouble in the bottom of the fifth, with Salem putting runners on second and third with two outs. But he escaped the jam when he got Matty Barry to ground out to shortstop to end the threat.
Sullivan struck out Gavin Griffin for the game's final out, sending Canton to the New England Championship Game.
Canton will now face Maine Thursday night at 7 p.m. with a trip to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania on the line.
