Ashburnham's All Stars reach Bradley Tournament's championship game

The 7- and 8-year-old Ashburnham All-Stars played in the championship game of the Bradley Tournament. The team was compised of (front row l. to r.) Ethan Foster, Brian Walter, Nick Cefole, Evan Bourque, Kyle Thibault (middle row (l. to r.) James Concannon, Owen Napolitano, Gabe Harding, Shamus Gorman, Eric Wells, Matthew Lafferty and (back row (l. to r.) Manager Chris Wells, Coach Ben Lenart, Coach Jim Concannon, Coach David Napolitano. Not pictured: Cassidy Driscoll.

The 2007 Ashburnham seven- and eightyear old All Star baseball team competed in the Stacy Bradley Memorial Tournament against nine other teams this summer before making it to the championship game.

The other teams were from Groton, Lunenburg, Leominster, Pepperell, Southboro and Townsend. The teams play a combined 54 games to determine the standings for a single elimination tournament.

"The coaching staff huddled the kids up before the (championship) game and told them, 'This will be a game you will remember for the rest of your lives and, win or lose, you are already champions. Just do your best and have fun.' And they did. These kids have a lot to be proud of," said the team's manager Chris Wells.

The team was led by the core pitching talents of Brian Walter, Ethan Foster, Shamus Gorman, James Concannon, Eric Wells, and Gabe Harding. Coming as relief at different points in the season, Matthew Lafferty, Kyle Thibault, Owen Napolitano and Evan Bourque, threw some great pitches.

Nick Cefole had a strong season behind the plate, sharing the catching duties with Cassidy Driscoll, Wells and Gorman.

Every player hit the ball well during the season. Concannon and Walter hit a combined six inside-the-park home runs.

Napolitano won the team's Most Improved Player Award for the tournament.

The All Stars started out their season in the tournament with a record of 1-3. Ashburnham, who won the tournament last year, looked like a long shot at best.

After the fourth game of the season, the team came together and lost only one of the final five games to finish the regular season 4-4-1 in sixth place. In order to make it to the championship game, Ashburnham needed to win three games in a row against teams that all had a better record.

The team won the next three games with authority, beating both Southboro-based teams, 12-6 and 15-6, respectively, and then beating a talented Groton team, 15-7. Suddenly, Ashburnham was a contender and found the team in a position to repeat the last year's accomplishment. The championship game versus Townsend, went down to the wire and Ashburnham lost 11-12.

It was a heartbreaking loss for a team that had not lost in six straight games, however it was a tremendous accomplishment for a team that didn't give up and surprised everyone with their success.