The Duxbury Junior Legion Baseball Team travelled to Plymouth Thursday to play for the District 10 Championship.  The team knew they were up against a heavy favorite who would be throwing their top pitcher against them.  The whole team rose to the challenge to beat Plymouth 14 – 11.

The game was tied several times with several lead changes.  Duxbury never backed down, coming back from deficits of 2, 4 and 5 runs before taking the title game.  Duxbury struck first in the second inning as Mike Cardelle and Jake Foote scored with the RBIs coming from Matt Murphy and Colin McGillvray. The game of seesaw began when Plymouth came right back in the bottom of the second with two runs of their own. A leadoff single in the third from Kevin O’Rourke looked promising until Duxbury’s effort was erased by a double play. Mike Cardelle then singled and stole second where he was stranded.  Plymouth then came up and put up four runs to take a 6 - 2 lead.

Coach Cardelle pulled all the boys together after the inning and gave one of his patented pep talks, reminding the team that they have persevered all year long and to continue battling.  The team did just that when Jake Reagan led off with a single to left. He was erased at second on a nice defensive play off a hard hit ball from Chris Moretti. With two outs in the inning, Murphy laced a double into left center, McGillvray then followed that with an RBI single to left, Riley Crane then knocked in Murphy with a single to left.  O’Rourke then had a double, which cleared the bases.  As the coach had asked for a crooked number, four scored, game tied.

Plymouth was also there to win. In the fourth inning they scored five more runs to take the lead 11 – 6. It would have been more except the defense picked up, a running catch made by Crane in the outfield as he once again got a great read on a line shot into the gap and tracked it down from Center Field on a full sprint with the bases loaded. This would be the last inning that they would touch home plate.

As dusk settled in, Duxbury’s pitching and defense took over while their bats starting lighting up Siever Field.  Chris O’Connor pitched two scoreless innings and hard line drives were snagged, like the one grabbed by Moretti at third and the graceful diving catch in left field by Murphy to seal the win.

Down to the last three outs in the game and trailing by five, they would not accept defeat.  The last inning started with Crane hitting a double, which was followed by a moon shot from O’Rourke for a two-run homer.  Matt Saia then reached on an error and you could see the momentum shifting.  Cardelle singled, Foote doubled in a run, Chris O’Connor then had an infield single, Moretti worked a walk scoring a run, Jack Speranzini followed and did the same and Murphy then had a base hit putting Duxbury into the lead, batting around Crane then had his fourth hit of the game knocking in two more runs.  The first eight batters of the inning all scored.

Offensively the team pounded out 15 hits, led by the O’Rourke homer. Kevin also had two other hits and four RBIs; Crane had four hits and three RBIs; Murphy had three hits; and McGillvray and Cardelle had two each.  Every starter scored at least one run.

On the mound, Foote started, assisted by McGillvray and closed out by O’Connor who was spinning pitches that had the Plymouth batters baffled. When the last out was recorded and the championship was secured, the ice water bucket was dumped on Coach Cardelle. Asked after the game what he thought as Vinnie Callahan was carrying O’Connor on his shoulders, he simply said, “I love it.”

It does not end for this team as they participate in the Win Bates Classic Tournament in Braintree this weekend.