North Kingstown/Wickford wins RI Little League title. Here's how they beat Bristol/Warren.

NORTH KINGSTOWN — Wednesday night was a comparative stroll in the park for a team that won five straight elimination games in district play.

The state Little League title on the line? Extra innings? The potential winning run at third base with Bristol/Warren set to walk it off?

North Kingstown/Wickford stood up to all of those challenges and more. Its reward was a lap around its home diamond at Cooney Field, the Rhode Island champion’s banner flying in its wake after a 7-5 victory in nine innings.

More: Making a play after a play that wasn't made, Bristol/Warren kept its Williamsport dream alive.

Chris Lannie snapped the second tie of the evening by scoring on a passed ball and Cameron Amaral’s infield single added some insurance. Liam Barner had already squeezed through his tightest escape in the bottom of the eighth inning — the ninth proved less stressful. He left the potential tying run at first thanks to a routine grounder to the right side, and North Kingstown/Wickford clinched the crown thanks to its eighth consecutive victory overall.

“Just so much pride in the kids, in how they battled,” North Kingstown/Wickford manager Justin Amaral said. “They’ve been battle-tested since the beginning, and this game proved it.”

The two teams traded single runs in the eighth before North Kingstown/Wickford staged a final rally in the ninth. Lannie started at second base per tiebreaker rules governing play beyond the seventh inning and moved up twice on pitches that went to the screen. Liam Berardi slammed a double to left-center, took third on a sacrifice bunt by Parker Colahan and scored when Amaral flared one toward the right side that dropped in.

“It’s great that we get to be here on our home field,” Barner said. “Everyone here is supporting us. I feel like they were helping us.”

Bristol/Warren got within a couple of great defensive plays of walking it off in the eighth, as Cam Salisbury’s fielder’s choice answered an RBI single by James Anderson to make it 5-5. The District 2 champions loaded the bases with one out and Berardi showed his mental sharpness on a chopper that barely reached the infield grass. He sprung out from his catcher’s spot, fielded cleanly and turned back in time to make a diving tag of the plate with his glove for a game-saving force out.

“I just knew I had to get an out,” Berardi said. “I had to get it one way or another. I just grabbed the ball, dove and hoped for the best.”

James Droney caught a deep fly to center with his back against the fence for the final out, and North Kingstown/Wickford made the most of its last chance. Barner earned the victory in relief of Lannie, covering the last 3⅔ innings. The tall right-hander allowed a lone single and struck out three while buying his offense time to pull through.

“I trusted my defense when I was pitching,” Barner said. “I went out there and did it.”

North Kingstown/Wickford matched Bristol/Warren by making its own improbable run out of the one-loss bracket in District 3. That momentum continued here with a 5-0 opening shutout of Cumberland and an 8-2 victory over Bristol/Warren that left the tournament hosts needing to lose twice to be knocked out. Lannie smacked a two-run double, Berardi followed with an RBI double and Droney’s single to center gave North Kingstown/Wickford a quick 4-0 lead in the top of the first.

“We just knew we had to stay focused,” Berardi said. “Make it through one game at a time, one at-bat at a time, one pitch at a time.”

Bristol/Warren clawed back with three runs in the second and one in the third to tie it at 4-4. Jayden Larisa’s fielder’s choice drove in a run to highlight the first rally and Logan Sheedy hit the base of the fence in deep right with an RBI double to key the second. It stayed that way into extra innings party thanks to Bristol/Warren right-hander Jackson Case, who allowed just two hits over his final 21 batters faced and struck out eight.

“They’re not on an island,” Amaral said. “There are 11 other guys out here who can help pick them up. You’ve got to rise to the occasion in the moment, and they did.”

North Kingstown/Wickford opens Metro Region play against the New York state champion at 7 p.m. Aug. 3. All games will be played in Bristol, Conn., and the Rhode Island champions are now within touching distance of a trip to the Little League World Series. Smithfield became the seventh team from the state since 2011 to hit Williamsport after winning three straight elimination games at Breen Field last year.

“I’m ready,” Barner said. “As soon as the Little League season started, I knew our all-star team was going to be great.”

North Kingstown/Wickford  400 000 012 — 7 10 1

Bristol/Warren  031 000 010 — 5 5 3

Chris Lannie, Liam Barner (6) and Liam Berardi. Jackson Case, Louie Botelho (6) and Logan Sheedy.

bkoch@providencejournal.com

On X: @BillKoch25

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: North Kingstown/Wickford wins RI Little League title. Here's how they beat Bristol/Warren.