Portsmouth all-stars edge Bristol-Warren, 3-2,  earn spot in finals

Bristol to play Riverside in semi final on Wednesday

Story and photos by Richard W. Dionne, Jr.
Posted 7/11/22

Centerfielder Tyler Boyani belted a two-run homer and scored on a passed ball to lead the Portsmouth 12U all-stars over Bristol-Warren 3-2 in the winner’s bracket quarterfinal on Saturday …

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Portsmouth all-stars edge Bristol-Warren, 3-2,  earn spot in finals

Bristol to play Riverside in semi final on Wednesday

Posted

Centerfielder Tyler Boyani belted a two-run homer and scored on a passed ball to lead the Portsmouth 12U all-stars over Bristol-Warren 3-2 in the winner’s bracket quarterfinal on Saturday night. Pitcher Ben Humm, backed by the Portsmouth defense, threw a gem, striking out seven and walking none, while allowing just five hits and two runs in six innings. 

“He’s cool hand Luke out there,” said Portsmouth coach Bob Campion of pitcher Ben Humm. 

“I felt nervous. But nope I’m Ben Humm,” said the charismatic pitcher after the game. “We wanted to throw strikes. That’s it. Just throw strikes.” Humm said that he threw a barrage of fastballs to catcher Ryan Campion who called the game from behind the plate. “That’s all we needed,” he said. 

Bristol-Warren Coach Steve Furtado agreed. “Their pitcher threw well,” he said. “Our bats, we weren’t hitting tonight. He threw it right down the plate and we weren’t swinging.” 

Portsmouth, 3-0 during their all-star run, will play for the District 2 championship on Saturday night. Bristol-Warren, 2-1, will play a semifinal game against Riverside at Bristol Memorial Field on Wednesday at 5:45 p.m. The winner will face Portsmouth in the final and will have to beat them twice. 

Bristol pitchers Parker DeWolf and Michael Towers threw well, combining to strike out seven, walk five and allow just five hits and three runs in five innings. Both pitchers are available to throw a complete game on Wednesday if needed.

 

DeWolf gives Bristol-Warren an early lead

DeWolf, batting lead off, crushed Humm’s first pitch of the game over the fence to give Bristol-Warren a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. 

Humm rallied backed by the Portsmouth defense and got out of the inning without further damage. He got Towers to fly out to right field and Kyle Wiesinski to ground out to shortstop for the second out of the inning. 

Clean up hitter Blake Boughton (2 for 3) drilled a two out single. Then Humm got Ryan Thompson to ground out to second base to end the inning. 

“The defense played solid,” Coach Campion said. “We made the plays that I felt we should have. We didn’t give them anything.”

 

Boiani clouts two-run homer for Portsmouth

Boiani gave Portsmouth the lead in the bottom of the inning. Ryan Campion reached base on an error. With one, Boiani, the team’s three hitter, stepped to the plate and blasted a DeWolf pitch over the center field fence into fans in lawn chairs to give Portsmouth a 2-1 lead. His teammates emptied the dugout and ran to meet him at home plate as he rounded the bases. 

“Tyler crushed it,” said Coach Campion. 

“The team was hyped,” he said. 

Humm drew his first of three walks during the game. Carter Doran bunted and was thrown out at first base for the second out. DeWolf struck out Riven Patel looking, to end the inning. 

 

Portsmouth adds to their lead

Portsmouth added to their lead in the third inning when Boiani and Humm drew walks to lead off the inning. DeWolf fought back and struck out Brady Fanning for the first out of the inning and caught a pop up by Riven Patel for the second out of the inning. But the runners advanced on the infield fly and Boiani scored on a wild pitch to give Portsmouth a 3-1 lead. DeWolf walked Mason Smith who worked a full count. Smith stole second to give Portsmouth runners at second and third for Kane Brule. DeWolf bore down and struck him out on four pitches to end the inning. 

 

Hancock RBI cuts the lead

The Bristol-Warren offense heated up in the top of the fourth inning when Blake Boughton led off with a double and came around to score, on a one out double by Wyatt Hancock, to cut the lead to 3-2. The cool and collected Humm went back to work and struck out Dylan Scarbourgh and Dylan Cote with the tying run on second base to get out of the inning. 

 

Spiderman to the rescue

Towers who came on to pitch for Bristol-Warren in the bottom of the fourth inning held Portsmouth scoreless in the fourth and fifth innings as the team attempted to knot the score. With the top of the order due up, Coach Furtado decided to have have pinch hitter Reed Dubois bunt to lead off the fifth inning. Dubois laid down a perfect bunt that rolled up the third base line, but the speedy Humm pounced on it, scooped it up and threw to first base. Brule, Portsmouth’s second baseman, raced over to cover the bag, he snared Humm’s throw and stepped on the bag, a second before Debois, to record the out. 

“I’m like Spiderman,” Humm said. 

“I thought he shot a web and pulled it to him,” joked Coach Campion. Ben kept his head and Kane got to the base in the nick of time. He had the presence of mind to beat Dubois’ foot to the bag.”

Humm got DeWolf to ground out to Doucet at first base and he struck out Towers to end the inning. 

After Portsmouth stranded runners for the second time in the game in the bottom of the fifth, Coach Campion who thought about going to Boiani in the last inning, asked Humm if he was good to finish out the game in the top of the sixth. 

“Yeah I got it. I got it,” he said to Coach Campion.

And he did as he struck three and four hitter Wiesinski and Boughton and got Thompson to ground to shortstop to end the game.

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.