GREENVILLE, N.C. — Cranston Western coach Lalo Marcano wasted little time following Saturday’s game remembering the positives that came out of his team’s run to the Little League Softball World Series.
That didn’t mean that Marcano was in denial as to what occurred in a 24-hour period, a time window in which his team went from advancing through the bracket without a loss in the modified double-elimination format to out of the tournament and heading home.
The New England Region champion’s 10-0 loss in four innings to West Point from Greensburg, Pennsylvania — the Mid-Atlantic Region champion — will sting in the short term but Marcano isn’t putting a damper on the bigger picture.
“We battled to the end,” he said. “I’m very proud of the girls for the job they did to bring us all the way here. I will always be grateful for them and what they did, and I have nothing but good things to say about them.”
Saturday’s loss at Max R. Joyner Family Stadium on the campus of East Carolina University took place less than 24 hours after a 16-0 loss to host Pitt County, the North Carolina champion, in 2½ innings in a contest in which nothing went Cranston Western’s way.
More: Cranston Western Softball loses to North Carolina in the Little League World Series.
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“It’s one of those things that you don’t want to happen,” Marcano said. “Obviously, we were expecting the team to bounce back from yesterday’s game.”
A throwing error in the first inning after an attempt to hold a West Point runner on base extended the Mid-Atlantic Region champion’s rally as Cranston Western fell into a 2-0 hole.
“The first inning happened and our defense let us down,” Marcano said. “It was something we were aware of early in the season, but we were hoping to get a better outcome.”
West Point added three more runs in the second, but what put the game out of reach was a five-run third in which West Point racked up six hits — aided by two more Cranston Western miscues — and sent 10 players to the plate.
Cranston Western was outhit, 12-2. Alexa Okolowitcz and Olivia Graziano had singles in the second inning.
Marcano knew his team needed to forget Friday’s loss and look ahead instead of looking back.
“Yesterday, we didn’t talk about the game,” he said. “The message this morning was pretty much put everything behind you. It’s a new day. We go out and compete and try with the best positive attitude about the game today. And they did.
“Even though we were down and even though we were losing, they had a positive attitude. But, obviously, you see the score — at least for them — and you see the runs piling up. It was tough for me to see them that way. This is a learning experience for them, and I hope they can use this as a steppingstone for their careers to take off.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Cranston Western's special summer comes to an end in Little League Softball World Series
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