The Dracut Diamond Dogs 11-year-old travel baseball team competed against 10 of the best teams from the Merrimack Valley and Middlesex County in the Chelmsford Baseball Tournament. The boys played hard in many close, exciting games and finished as the runners-up after an outstanding performance in the playoffs. Congratulations on a job well done.

Playoffs

Dracut Diamond Dogs 4

Lowell Callery Park 0

Entering the playoffs of the Chelmsford Tournament as the number 4 seed, the Diamond Dogs knew the path to the championship game would be a tough one. The boys played their best defensive game of the year and committed no errors behind the combined one-hitter of Cam McCullough and Matt Sidemen as they beat the undefeated Lowell Callery Park 4-0.

Dracut grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning after Jeremy Gray and Allyn French singles. With both teams playing well, the score remained 1-0 as the tight contest entered the sixth inning.

Proving again that baseball is a team game; the bottom of Dracut's order came through with three huge insurance runs to up the lead 4-0. First John Cormier and Michael Patterson walked, then Matt Robichaud knocked in a run with his single and Brad Keefe cleared the bases with 2 RBIs. Kyle Hould picked up a base on balls and Kevin Carney made several nice plays at first base.

Peter Sawyer, Joey Petka and Derek Ripa played flawlessly in the field. The big win set up a championship game against Dunstable.

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Championship

Dunstable Crusaders 7

Dracut Diamond Dogs 4

This was the game Dracut wanted. First, to play in the championship of the Chelmsford Tourney and second, to get another shot at an undefeated Dunstable team.

Unfortunately the Diamond Dogs dropped an epic 7-4 decision in a nine-inning battle with the Crusaders. This truly was a game filled with exciting plays and good baseball.

Dunstable took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning but Dracut tied things up after Cam McCullough doubled, followed by Allyn French and Kevin Carney reaching on errors and a Joey Petka single.

The game featured several defensive gems along the way, as first baseman Brad Keefe helped turn a 3-6-3 double play and Matt Robichaud made key stops at second base. The game remained 2-2 until Dunstable seized a 4-2 lead in the top of the eighth.

With things looking bleak, the Diamond Dogs fought back and tied things up as Derek Ripa and John Cormier managed to get on base and Michael Patterson knocked in the tying run with a two-out single.

The Diamond Dogs' bid for the championship came up short in the ninth as they left the bases loaded after falling behind by three runs. During the game Matt Sidemen picked up a single and Jeremy Gray doubled, with outfielders Kyle Hould and Peter Sawyer giving their all.