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Winchester Youth Baseball coach Chris Gannon’s U-12 2025 all-stars are certainly ready for prime time, because most of them have been together since 2022, when they were nine. That year, they lost to Arlington in pool play, but recovered in time to beat their nearby neighbors when it counted the most to secure the state championship.
The team continued on to win the regional championship in West Hartford, Conn. to earn a berth in the U-10 2023 World Series at Crown Point, Ind., where they survived pool play, despite losing to Meridian, Idaho.
Southern Lexington, a team representing Kentucky, then eliminated them in the first game of the World Series bracket, 5-1. Even though they lost twice, their overall play still guaranteed them a spot in this year’s U-12 World Series that will be played in Branson, Mo. from Aug. 6-17.
They got that automatic bid, because they were one of the finalists.
“We are more than ready for this year’s World Series after that experience two years ago in Indiana,” said Gannon, an Arlington native who grew up playing baseball and hockey, before attending Boston College, where he played on its baseball team as a southpaw pitcher. He also played baseball overseas in Germany after college.
Last year, the local nine kept on winning as a warmup to Branson. They were the District 7 champs, before making it all the way to the state finals, only to lose to Easton. However, they still made it to the regionals once again, as one of the state’s two best teams. They were then able to even the score against their Easton counterparts in the regional finals to the tune of 9-1 to secure the title. Those games were played in Oxford, Conn.
In Cal Ripken, only U-10 and U-12 players are eligible for the World Series, but last year’s regional championship only enhanced the Winchester team’s growing confidence to prep for 2025.
During the past three years in the Cal Ripken Tournament, most of these Winchester kids lost just four times.
Gannon doesn’t have a problem comparing his lineup with the other lineups throughout the state over the years.
“In my opinion, my seventh and eighth hitter would be among everybody else’s top four batters in their lineups,” Gannan explained.
Gannon feels the same way about his pitching staff.
“We have seven or eight capable arms that could be any other team’s top two,” he said.
Gannon is carrying 14 players on this year’s roster, and 12 of them all have prior Ripken Tournament experience.
“All of these players are here, because they are above all else good teammates, who have solid character,” he said. “They also understand that baseball is a mentally challenging sport, and it can destroy self-esteem, but they still play it, because it’s fun to them, and they have no fear of failure. They have all developed a mental toughness to overcome losses, and because they are good friends off the field, they know how to pick each other up quickly to get back on track. They certainly know how to compete.”
Asher Rosenberg, Chris Fiore, Vincent Moran, Kellan Stachelski, Tom Vittiglio, Callan Gannon, twins Cooper and Charlie Statires, Morgan Sweeney, Bryce Shaw, Pete Toner and Ayla Capone, the only girl on the team, have been playing together as all-stars since they were nine. Jack Doherty joined them last year, and is back for another go around this summer. Ben Albiani rounds out this year’s roster.
Andrew Statires, Mark Stachelski and Mike Moran are Gannon’s assistant coaches. All four coaches work together as one team with specific responsibilities.
During the past few weeks, they have been focused on getting the players ready for the Cal Ripken District 7 tournament, which begins tonight (June 20) against host Arlington at Poet’s Corner Park on Dow Ave., starting at 5:45 p.m.
Fiore is slated to start the pool play opener on the mound for the visitors. They will return to their own Newtown Field to face Burlington on Saturday (June 21) at 6 p.m., followed by a matchup against Medford at the same time and place the next night to complete pool play. The top two teams then move on to the next round.
Besides Fiore, head coach Gannon has plenty of other pitching options to choose from to keep everybody sharp all the way to Branson, and they include the likes of his own son Callen, Charlie Statires, Sweeney, Shaw, Doherty and Albiani.
Even though the 2025 Winchester U-12 stars are all set to play in the World Series, they still want to maintain their excellence in the districts, states and regionals that they were able to establish over the last several years.
