Cumberland cut its deficit in half in the fifth inning when Gilbert smashed a two-out RBI grounder through shortstop that was ruled an error. Umberto, who reached his limit of 85 pitches while hurling to the next batter, Brian Belisle, struck out the CALL second baseman to end the threat.
“Louis is a spectacular pitcher,” CW manager Gary Bucci said after the game ended. “He’s a bulldog who knows what he is doing out there. And our reliever (Vicario) is such a mentally tough kid. That’s what it takes to win a game like this one.”
Bucci stood in the outfield after the game, shaking off the stress of this one-run contest that had a sizeable gathering at Garvin Field glued to the action.
“This was a great way to open the state tournament,” Bucci said. “Both teams had great pitchers out there. We got a home run from a kid (Miller) who just took over as our third baseman last week when someone else left the team.”
CALL manager Dave Belisle maintained a positive attitude after the game.
“We had our chances,” he said. “They made a good play to take us out of a chance to tie the game in the fifth inning. Their pitcher and our pitcher pitched very well. It was a good game and we go on from here.”
That would be into the losers’ bracket, where CALL will face the loser of Saturday night’s game between Barrington and Warwick Continental. Game time is 7 p.m.
Cranston Western plays in the winner’s bracket contest at 4 p.m. against the winner of the Barrington-Warwick Continental game.
“Our team lost the opener three years ago in the 9-10 (age group) tournament,” Belisle recalled, “and we came back to win the state championship. This is pretty much the same group of kids. We don’t feel dejected. We know what we have to do.”

Cumb. American 000 010 – 1
Cranston Western 002 00x – 2
Jesse Gilbert and Pete Travers; Louis Umberto, Chris Vicario (6) and Dave Forte. WP – Louis Umberto. LP – Jesse Gilbert. 2B – Ed Markowski. HR – Dan Miller.