Norwell Spartans Capture Rehoboth Championship The Spartan’s, Norwell’s 11 year old All Star Little League Team, the defending Suburban League Champions, picked up where they left off last year as they captured the Rehoboth Grand Slam Tournament Championship in Rehoboth, MA. As has been the custom for the Spartans, they took their fans on a wild and crazy ride. The Tournament began on Friday night with a humbling 10-0, four inning “slaughter rule” loss to Easton. The Spartans played sloppy ball and appeared ill prepared to compete with the larger boys from Easton. Having only lost one of their previous twenty games dating back to last season, the Spartans appeared not only shocked and confused but also embarrassed. The team refused to designate a player for the “Outstanding Player Award” and instead collected themselves to compete the next morning against Plymouth South. The Spartans came out swinging and put up five runs in each of the first three innings and pasted Plymouth South by the score of 15-0. The big hitters in this one were Patrick Carroll, Jake Bennett, Peter Marchetti and George Trebino (mammoth home run ). Chris Calnan came within one out of hurling a no-hitter as a grounder up the middle barely escaped his glove. Game three against Sandwich on Sunday morning can only be described as the George Trebino Show. Combining a blazing fast ball with radar like control, Big George tossed a one-hitter. The Sandwich pitcher however also baffled the Spartan hitters with a combination of fastballs and tantalizing off speed pitches. The Spartans could only muster one hit but it was enough as Trebino’s solo home run was the difference as Norwell defeated Sandwich by the score of 1-0. Tremendous defense was played by Jack Dargon and Hugh Hillstrand to help preserve the victory. With a preliminary round record of two wins and one loss the Spartans were now forced to await the results of the other preliminary games to see if they would advance to the semi-finals. With several teams tied with two wins and one loss the tie-breaker became the number of runs scored against. Norwell edged out the other teams by a mere two runs and moved onto the semi-finals. The opposition in the semi-final would be Rehoboth, the tournament host. Rehoboth had taken advantage of a favorable schedule to outscore its three opponents by a combined score of 42-2. Their top pitchers were well rested and it was just their first game of the day. By game time of the semi-final the temperature had risen to 101 degrees and what had started out with batting practice in Norwell at 8:00 AM was becoming a very long day. The Spartans spotted Rehoboth an early lead but Norwell went ahead for good when Peter Cronin drilled a two out two run liner to centerfield. Mark Webber added a two run homer and a three run homer in his next two at bats as Norwell held on for an 11-7 victory. Peter Marchetti pitched well in this one to earn the win while Patrick Carroll turned in several defensive gems at shortstop. The Championship game began in conditions that one parent described as being comparable to the Serengeti Marathon. With the game time temperature hovering at 100 degrees the coaches couldn’t help but wonder if the Spartans had anything left in their tank. Easton took the field as the home team and gave their pitching assignment to their ace. As the big boy warmed up it was apparent that the Spartans had never faced a pitcher who threw so hard. The Spartans starting pitching assignment went to Will Raymond who appeared unfazed by Easton’s intimidating line-up. Easton jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one inning as the Spartans displayed less than stellar defense. The Spartans countered with one run in the second as they took advantage of a hit batsman (Calnan), a Dakin base on balls and an error on a ground ball hit by Cronin. Raymond shut down Easton and the Spartans rallied to tie the score in the bottom of the third. With two outs Webber walked, stole second and scored on a single by Trebino. The score would not have remained tied if Joey Lamparelli had not made the defensive play of the tournament in the bottom of the fourth inning. With a runner on second and two outs, the Easton hitter drove a ball to deep left center. Webber called off Lamparelli as both players converged. Webber was unable to reach the ball but Lamparelli, crossing behind Webber, made a spectacular catch only a few feet from the fence. The game remained tied as the Spartans came to hit in the sixth. Calnan led off with a single and with one out Cronin singled to center. Lamparelli proceeded to single down the right field line scoring Calnan. Easton showed signs of fatigue as they botched the relay allowing Cronin to score all the way from first. Easton rallied for two runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the score at 4-4 and what had started out as a baseball game was turning into an extra inning war. Norwell produced a run in the seventh as Hillstrand and Calnan connected for singles while Trebino and Dakin reached on walks.
Easton came back with a run in the seventh inning to tie the score. Only a fine piece of relief work by Calnan allowed the Spartans to extend the game to the eighth inning. Neither team scored in the eighth inning and the Spartans came to hit in the ninth as dusk set in. Walks to Carroll, Webber and Trebino loaded the bases for the Spartans. With two outs and a full count, T.J. Dakin barely fouled off a pitch to stay alive. The next pitch he launched to left field, hitting the fence on one bounce and clearing the bases for an 8-5 Spartan lead. Calnan shut the door in the bottom of the ninth but not before Mark Webber put his stamp on the game. With two outs and runners on first and second, Webber made a diving game ending catch of a line drive to right center. Prior to the award ceremony the Spartan coaches were asked by the Tournament Committee to select their “Outstanding Player Award” recipient for the Championship game. There were so many outstanding performances that the coaches were unable to pick just one. How could you overlook Will Raymond’s gutsy effort under pressure; or T.J. Dakin’s bases clearing bomb; or Joey Lamparelli’s catch; or Peter Cronin’s ironman performance of catching eighteen innings on the day; or Chris Calnan’s shut out relief effort? Deeming it the only fair thing to do, the Spartans accepted the award as a team. After a victory lap around the field with the Championship Trophy, the players made a mad dash to the adjacent field where the Norwell 12s were rallying for a victory in their Championship game. It was a tremendous sight as the 11s joined the 12s in the celebrating after the final out of what was a tremendous weekend for Norwell baseball. | 
