WESTMINSTER, Vt.- In a rematch of last year’s Fall Mountain Babe Ruth League championship game (Claremont beat Walpole 4-3 in the 2017 title game), Walpole was able to cruise to victory on Friday night, winning 13-1 in six innings.
The game was hosted by Bellows Falls Union High School Friday night. Walpole served as the home team while Claremont was the away team in the cloudy title game that saw light rain throughout. For Walpole, it is now their second title in the last three years, as they beat Springfield in the final game in 2016.
Claremont jumped out to an early lead. In the top of the second, Eric Peaslee hit an RBI single to shallow centerfield that scored Ty Theriault, and caused a collision of Walpole defenders.
Claremont held that lead until the bottom of the third, when Walpole’s Nick Peltier was a one-man-show running the base paths. With two outs, Peltier walked, stole second, and while he was swiping third on the next pitch, the attempt to throw him out sailed into left field and he was able to jog home safely to tie the game. After a Curtis Hosley walk, Ethan Peltier was able to knock him home with a chopper to third, beating out the throw to put Walpole on top, 2-1 after three.
In the bottom of the fourth, Walpole put four more runs on the board. With the bases loaded and one out, Hunter Paquette hit a ground ball that resulted in a fielding error, and after an errant throw, two runs were able to come around to score. Nick Peltier then had an infield single that scored Hayden Anastasio. Hosley knocked in a run with an RBI groundout right in front of the catcher that served as a suicide squeeze, and Nick Peltier was able to score as Ethan Peltier reached first on a dropped third strike. Walpole led 7-1 after four.
Nick Peltier struck out three batters in the top of the fifth to keep Claremont in check. In the bottom of the fifth, Sean Adams took over for Zack Bundy on the mound for Claremont, as Walpole extended their lead to 10-1 in the inning. Anastasio knocked in Luke Roy after Roy led off the inning with a single. After Noah Gutierrez scored on a passed ball, Hosley once again barely got a piece of a pitch, hitting a dribbler down the third base line to record another RBI.
In the bottom of the sixth, Walpole scored three runs on passed balls to put the game away with the twelve-run mercy rule.
For Walpole, Nick Peltier tossed a gem of a game. “I had a couple of difficulties at first with location but then I kinda got it,” said Peltier after the game. “The problem would be that I’d get two outs and then I’d get into a full count and I’d end up walking him. But it worked out.”
He went all six innings, striking out 11 batters while walking 4 and allowing 4 walks. At the dish for Walpole, Anastasio went 3-4 and Roy and Hosley added two hits apiece.
For Claremont, head coach Derek Ferland was extremely proud of his team for making in this far in the tournament. After earning the last seed, Claremont upset Ludlow in the quarterfinals and went on to upset Lebanon in the semifinals to reach the championship for the second straight year.
On the semifinal upset over Lebanon, Ferland said, “It was awesome. We hit the ball. We had so many line-drives… we had two-out RBIs. Owen Taylor went 3-for-3 with three doubles and pitched all seven innings. He was a beast. I wish he could’ve been here tonight. We played some good baseball in that game.”
With just one 15 year old on the team (Caden Ferland), it was impressive to see Claremont compete the way that they did. “It was fun… we were playing with house money. Just getting here was pretty cool,” said coach Ferland. “It was a great summer… no complaints. I was really proud of our guys.”
On the win, Walpole head coach, Kevin Tidd, said, “Everybody hit the ball when it was thrown over the plate. This is a young group… this is mostly a 14 year old team. We only have two kids that are ineligible next year (because of age). It’s what you try to accomplish at the start of the season. It doesn’t matter what happens through the first four-five weeks, it’s about the last week. We put it together tonight.”
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