The Naperville Little League Juniors A championship game is here, featuring the Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers and the Eggplants. For the Canes, they are without Lincoln Candrian but players like Holden Fatig, Eric Sundstrom, Jude Duell, and Benicio Orihuela are ready for action against an Eggplants squad that claimed victory over the Canes twice during the season. The undefeated Eggplants, featuring Gio Pesoli, Patrick Cupp, Toby Chang, and Miles LeFevour, are looking to capitalize on the season with a perfect record and first-place trophy.
Eggplants grow an early lead
Eggplants strike in the bottom of the first with an Alex Fanthorpe base hit, bringing in Cole Hennessy to make it 1-0 purple team.
Then Jack Smucker sends a missile deep into right field. Smucker heads to second base for a double while Fanthorpe scores to make it 2-0. Then the ball gets away, allowing Smucker to advance to third. He also steals home later in the inning to give the Eggplants a 3-0 lead after the first.
3-1 Plants in the bottom of the second, but Zac Sumatra for the Canes gets a strikeout to cool off the bats.
Top of the fourth, still 3-1 but now 3-2 thanks to an Aaron Brown RBI giving Daniel Giacobbe the ok to score for Raising Cane’s.
Still in the fourth with the bases juiced. Frank Samaniego orders up a walk, allowing more chickens to score via Luke Estacio, and this game is tied at 3.
In the bottom of the frame, the Eggplants will take anything, so Sean Miller’s wish is granted with a walk.
That walk was crucial because Landon Burtnette gets a favorable bloop as Miller cruises home, and the Eggplants retake the lead 4-3 thanks to the RBI by Burtnette.
Let’s go to the sixth inning, where Corban Sherwood gets it started with a much-needed base hit.
Chicken Fingers order up a comeback
Two on, and Giacobbe follows up by placing his base hit through the infield. Coming home to score are Sherwood and Sumatra. The two-run RBI by Giacobbe gives the Canes their first lead of the game at 5-4.
Then Tyler Rodriguez adds more insurance with another hit. Giacobbe and the Canes get their Canniac on with a 6-4 lead.
Samaniego is back at the plate. He gets a ball call that gets away, so Luke Estacio steals home to extend the Chickens’ lead to 7-4 through six.
Henry Swedberg and Cole Hennessy team up for out number three, giving the Eggplants one last shot to win the game.
Miller jumps back on the attack with a leadoff base hit. He scores on an RBI groundout to make the deficit 7-5.
Swedberg is up, and with a misfire at first, Gaspar Cho steals, and we have a one-run ball game.
Raising Cane’s wins the Juniors A Championship
However, Sumatra keeps his cool, completes the last six innings with a punchout, and this ballgame is over. Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers takes it 7-6 over the Eggplants in the Juniors A championship and finishes their season with a final record of 15-2.
Remember to order a personal copy of the game by visiting the NCTV17 online store and purchasing an MP4 download!
