Front row, left to right: Team helper Brady Sullivan, Kyle Lentini, Happy Platt, Nick DiBlasio, Henry Shugrue, Jason Cassidy, Ben Novick, and team helper Addison OʼDonovan. Back row standing, left to right: Head coach Sean Sullivan, Mike DiPasquale, team helper Jonathan Lentini, Jordan Dauphin, team sponsor Tom Lynch, Devin OʼDonovan, Sean Sullivan Jr., Matthew Gomes, coach Brian OʼDonovan, and coach Dan Shugrue.

On Tuesday, June 21, the Somerville Little League majors championship was won by Boston Closet. The championship series featured Boston Closet against Somerville City Club, in a best 2 out of 3 series.

Boston Closet swept the series with scores of 10 to 0 in game 1 on Monday June 20th and came back the next night with a 5 to 0 win to take the city championship. The series featured some very solid pitching by Matthew Gomes, Henry Shugrue and Devin O’Donovan of Boston Closet, who combined to allow no runs to score.

Boston Closet opened the scoring in the final game, when speedster Jordan Dauphin scored in the 1st inning on a pass ball. This would be the only run needed as the pitching and fielding of Boston Closet was able to limit the City Club to just 4 base runners.

After Boston Closet made the score 1 to 0 in the top of the first, it was their fielders’ turn to make an impact. 2nd Baseman Sean Sullivan made a nice pop fly catch to get the 1st out in the bottom of the inning, this was followed by short stop Nick DiBlasio making an equally nice catch for the 2nd out and 3rd baseman Kyle Lentini throwing out the 3rd batter on a hard hit ground ball.

This would set the tone defensively, just as the play of Happy Platt at 3rd base and Ben Novick at 2nd base had done the night before. As has been the case all season, left fielder Michael DiPasquale and right fielder Jason Cassidy were able to field all balls hit to them and instantly get it to their cutoff, limiting any extra bases.

As the bottom of the last inning started, Boston Closet had increased their lead to 5 to 0. 2nd baseman Sean Sullivan fielded a hard hit grounder and threw to first baseman Henry Shugrue for the 1st out of the inning, this was followed by Devin OʼDonovan striking out 2 of the last 3 batters and the celebration was on.

As the sound system blared We Are The Champions and the kids celebrated with their head coach Sean Sullivan and assistant coaches Dan Shugrue and Brian OʼDonovan, league president Mike Baxter came onto the field and presented the 60 year old championship trophy to the elated team and the team sponsor, Tom Lynch of Boston Closet.

As became their tradition during the season, brothers and sisters along with parents were all on the field and part of the celebration. With a team victory lap and many group and individual photos with the trophy, another successful little league majors season was complete.

Boston Closet finished the season with a record of 13-3, and allowed only 2 runs in their 4 playoff games. As coach Sean Sullivan said, “our team defense was what really separated us from the rest of the league, in our last 10 games of the season, in 8 of those games we did not make a single error”. The players each received their own championship trophy at a team and family celebratory party on Tuesday June 28th, which was generously hosted by team sponsor Tom Lynch.