The Barrington Little League 12U All Star team out-hit Lincoln in the state finals on Saturday afternoon, Aug. 1. The Barrington All-Stars out-pitched Lincoln, too.

But Lincoln managed to out-score Barrington, 2-1, and capture the 12U state championship. Lincoln will represent Rhode Island in the Little League regional tournament in Bristol, Conn. 

Barrington opened the state tournament 2-0, after wins over North Kingstown/Wickford and Lincoln. But Lincoln bounced back with a 3-1 win in the first game of the finals and then edged out Barrington 2-1 in the winner-takes-all matchup on Saturday at the Cranston Western facility. 

Barrington 12U All Star Manager Rob Knychalski said he was very proud of his team, despite the loss in the finals. 

“We started practicing on June 4 and from Day One they bought into a plan. They gave us three coaches everything,” Knychalski said. “They showed up to every practice, gave us 100 percent. And that’s all you can ask from a team.”

Barrington hit the ball hard all game on Saturday. In the first inning, Barrington had two hits and appeared poised to tie the game after Lincoln built a 1-0 lead by scoring on a passed ball. Barrington’s Noah Robbins crushed a single to left field and advanced to second when Andrew Knychalski grounded out. With two outs, Lochlan Donaghy roped a line drive into left field and then sprinted half-way to second. Lincoln’s shortstop Hugo Fiero had the ball and looked to second base before checking on Robbins, who had made his way to third base on the hit. 

When Fiero took a couple steps towards Donaghy, Robbins bolted for home. Fiero shifted his focus and fired a strike to the plate. Robbins slid to the outside of home plate as the catcher slapped down the tag. 

“Out!” hollered the umpire, which sent the Lincoln fans into a frenzy. Barrington’s faithful shouted in disbelief, but only needed to wait one more inning before their team tied the game at 1-1. 

With one out in the bottom of the second inning, Sawyer Blanchet hit a single into left field. Caroline Armstrong’s groundout put Blanchet on second base with two outs. Then Rocco Coppolino stepped to the plate and delivered the clutch hit — a hard grounder up the middle. Blanchet sprinted around third and beat the throw to the plate. Coppolino advanced to second on the play, but was stranded there. 

Barrington looked ready to take the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Zak Oppler crushed a double down the left field line to lead off the inning. Oppler reached third when Robbins grounded out, but was unable to advance when Andrew Knychalski popped up in foul territory outside first base. Donaghy exploded into a Lincoln pitch, but his stinging line drive was snared by Fiero at shortstop, ending the inning. 

Barrington only had one more player reach base in the final two innings, but it was not for lack of contact. Barrington lined out, grounded out and flew out for nearly all its outs in the game — Lincoln’s pitcher tallied just two strikeouts. 

Meanwhile, Andrew Knychalski shined on the mound for Barrington. He pitched a complete game, striking out 11 Lincoln batters and allowing just two hits. Both hits led to runs for Lincoln, including the go-ahead score in the top of the fifth. Lincoln’s lead-off batter hit a single up the middle and reached second on a groundout. A wild pitch allowed him to reach third. Then Fiero cracked a grounder to Oppler at first, who snagged the ball and rocketed a strike to Blanchet at the plate, but the Lincoln player beat the tag. It was the second close play at the plate that went Lincoln’s way. 

“I feel like we did everything we could,” said Andrew Knychalski. “That’s a great team (Lincoln). We kept on going until the last inning.”

Coach Knychalski praised Andrew’s effort on the mound.

“He’s been in these situations before. He’s pitched in a lot of tough games, where we know it’s going to a 1-0, 2-0 game,” Coach Knychalski said. “I saw that first game (on Thursday)… that first inning. He didn’t have it. I’ll save him for today, and he gave us everything. He gave us everything. He gave us a hell of a performance that could have easily went the other way.

“Look, these two games were 50-50. They just didn’t go our way. That’s the beauty of baseball. They’re going to grow from this. They’re going to learn from this, and they’re going to be great baseball players moving forward. No doubt.”

Coach Knychalski said he believes the final score could have easily gone in Barrington’s favor. 

“That play at the plate could have went a different way,” he said. “That throw from first. We had a lead-off double. One ball falling and we have a lead with six outs left. That’s the beauty of baseball. But it’s a heartbreaking sport. At the same time it’s such a beautiful sport. You learn from it. You become better people and players from it. I’m incredibly proud of what they achieved here.”