The Tolland Junior All-Stars defeated Canton/Granby to capture the state Little League age group championship by the score of 8-0 on Saturday in Orange.
The score was 0-0 after two innings. Tolland the scored once each of the next three innings to take a 3-0 lead.
In the third inning Cody Ouellette led off with a single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Sean Kelly. In the fourth inning, an error followed by two hits and then a force play plated Tolland's scored second run.
In the fifth inning, Parker Ryan and Kyle Boutot ran the pickle play perfectly to scratch across another run.
In the sixth inning Tolland broke out with five runs. With one out, singles by Matt Curtis and Sean Kelly, followed by a walk to Eric Gottier loaded the bases. Andrew Jaworski and Clayton Keane followed with singles that drove in a run apiece.
Boutot then hit a two-run double.
Dan Steiner had a solid game defensively catching for Tolland. Matt Curtis went the distance pitching with the complete-game shutout. He struck out six and allowed only two hits.
Kelly and Keane had three hits apiece and Curtis had two hits.
Tolland now travels to Freehold, NJ to take part in the Junior League Eastern Regional Baseball Tournament. Tolland's first game is scheduled for Sunday, Aug 4 at 7 p.m. versus the winner of Massachussets and New Jersey.
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