14U Lightning Baseball of New England
Wins National Gold; AAU Mass State Tourney

14 & Under - Gold medalist, Division I Classic Tournament (Sarasota, FL)

The 14 year old team continued to display their talent and resiliance throught out the national tournament. Rain delayed their start for 2 days and had to open up pool play against the number one seed in the country, while also playing a triple header on that Monday. They finished this portion of pool play going 1 - 2, and had a large mountain to climb to continue in the tournament. Coach Feeley and the staff did a great job bringing the team together and subsequently went on a run of 4 straight wins, outscoring their opponents 36 - 5 to win the Gold medal in the Classic Tournament. Overall the team went 7 - 3 and finished 9th in the Country for Division 1. In addition, because of the top 10 finish, the 14 year old lightning team is the only New England team that is already qualified for the 2004 Division 1 National Championship.

Mass. Tourney Results

Game 1 6/27
Lightning - 6
Worcester Heat - 2
Mike Caruso pitched a complete game, giving up only 1 earned run while striking out 3 and walking only 1. Juan Amador paced the offense by going 3-3 with a double, 3 rbi, 2 runs and 2 steals. Ben Hoffman had 2 hits, including an rbi double to open the scoring for the Lightning.

Game 2 6/28
Lightning - 8
Frozen Ropes - 6
Trailing 6-4 in going into the bottom of the 5th the Lightning scored three times and added one in the 6th and Dan Walsh made it hold up en route to a complete game victory. Walsh struck out 6. Maguire Wiswall paced the offense with 3 hits, 2 rbi and 2 runs scored. Demetrie Spinney scored 3 times for the winners.

Game 3 6/28
Lightning - 11
Magic - 1
Demetrie Spinney threw a complete game one-hitter and Lightning bats bashed out 10 hits to down the Magic. Peter Lutts knocked in 3 runs and Anthony Fioritta and Juan Amador each knocked in and scored 2 runs. Ben Hoffman and Eric Oxford eached scored twice for the Lightning.

Game 4 6/29 Semis
Lightning - 14
Americas Pasttime - 2
David Hudson threw a complete game 1 hitter while striking out 4 to move the Lightning into the the State Final. The Lightning scored 10 times in the bottom of the first to put the game out of reach. Alex Gale led the offense with 4 hits, including a triple and 2 rbi and all 9 starters had at least one hit and 1 rbi.

Game 5 6/29 Finals
Lightning - 7
Cape Rip Tide - 1
Peter Lutts threw the Lightnings' 5th straight complete game, giving up 4 hits and striking out 4 while giving up no earned runs to give the Lightning the Gold Medal in the 14u division of AAU baseball. Ben Hoffman had 3 hits and 2 runs and Alex Gale also had 3 hits, including a triple, with 2 rbi. Juan Amador had 2 hits and 2 steals for the winners.