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When we last left the Winchester Youth Baseball 12-U Cal Ripken all-stars, they lost a 2-1 heartbreaker to the Milton Americans in the EMass state championship game, and as a result they missed out from participating in the All-New England Regional Tournament by one slim run.
Instead of playing against their regional counterparts in Rochester, N.H., they went back to work with daily practices to hone their skills for the World Series in Branson, Mo., something they had already qualified for after making it to the August Classic two years ago.
The 2025 Cal Ripken 12-year-old Major 70 World Series began late last week at Branson’s Ballparks of America complex. A total of 25 squads descended upon the home of live entertainment from all over the country to comprise the USA pool.
After pool play, World Series U-11 qualifier Altamonte Springs out of Florida, Pacific Southwest qualifier Hawaii Kai, the South Fort Myers Invite, Ohio Valley regional champion South Lexington, Kentucky, and Middle Atlantic regional qualifier Northern Burlington out of New Jersey were the only U.S. teams that were still undefeated after three games, while Winchester was close behind at 2-1.
A total of 17 clubs made up the international pool, and only Chinese Taipei, Korea, Japan and Asia Pacific were still perfect after three pool play games.
Coach Chris Gannon’s crew entered the Branson Classic with a fabulous 9-2 record. They dropped its World Series opener to South Fort Myers, Fla. on the St. Louis diamond by another close count, 6-4 on Aug. 8. But they bounced back nicely the very next day against the Meridian all-stars, the Southwest Regional champs out of Mississippi, 15-9 on Chicago’s Wrigley Field turf.
The Winchester stars were looking to make it two in a row, when they went up against the Guilderland Bulldogs Red team out of New York early Monday morning, Aug. 11, at 9 a.m. They were once again back on the St. Louis surface, and were able to come out on top this time around, beating the Bulldogs, the Middle Atlantic regional champion based just west of New York’s state capital of Albany, 5-2.
Morgan Sweeney pitched the first five innings against Guilderland, allowing five hits and two runs, but only one was earned. He struck out seven. Pete Toner then took over the mound chores in the final frame, and ended up walking one and fanning one to help secure the team’s second World Series win.
The Winchester offense accounted for only four hits, but they made them all count. Kellan Stachelski (1 run) powered the attack with a three-run homer. Chris Fiore and Toner (1 walk, 1 run) were credited with one double apiece. Bryce Shaw chipped in with a single, and scored a run. Vincent Moran drove in a run. Charlie Statires scored once after waiting out a walk.
Gannon believed his team was well-positioned to continue on to the World Series bracket, which consists of the 12 best teams that made the cut out of pool play. The Winchester kids got their answer late Monday, and it was all good news. They ended up playing the Central Ozarks, the Missouri state champs, as the 11th seed at the St. Louis venue once again on Tuesday afternoon (Aug. 12) at 3 p.m.
“This was an achievement onto itself,” Gannon said, “because it meant that we were amongst the Top 12 U.S. teams in the nation.”
Even though the final score did not go their way – a 9-1 loss to the sixth-seeded Central Ozarks – Winchester was still better than 14 other clubs in this year’s World Series after finishing up with a 2-2 record. Overall, they were 11-4 throughout the entire tournament that started way back in late June on the district level.
In the win against Meridian during pool play, Sweeney (3 innings, 5 hits, 1 walk, 3 earned runs, 4 strikeouts), Toner (2 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, 4 earned runs, 2 strikeouts) and Fiore (1 inning, 2 hits, 1 walk, 2 earned runs, 2 strikeouts) dominated their southern counterparts from the mound.
The offense was also on fire in this game, banging out 14 hits. Shaw paced the offensive attack with nine total bases that included two homeruns and one single for three RBI. He also scored three times. Cooper Statires was also credited with a round tripper. It was his lone hit in the game, but it produced two RBI. He scored three times, as well.
Rounding out the offense, Toner collected two hits and two RBI, and scored once, while Fiore also had two hits, which drove home a run. He also scored twice.
CNBC to televise Ripken 12-year-old Major 70 World Series title games
The U.S. and International championship games will be televised on CNBC Friday night (Aug. 15) at 7 and 10 p.m. The World Series championship game, pitting the winners of Friday’s contests against each other, will also be on CNBC Saturday afternoon (Aug. 16) at 4 p.m.
