Opening day for Martha’s Vineyard Little League is Saturday, April 27, at Veira Park in Oak Bluffs. The events include a parade up Circuit avenue to the field. All the teams will take part in the parade and are asked to meet at the Oak Bluffs police station at 10 a.m., with the parade beginning at 10:30 a.m.

Underdog Tigers Land Little League Title

Championship Game Held on Saturday at Veira Park

By MAX HART

There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;

There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile lit
Casey's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,

No stranger in the crowd could doubt ‘twas Casey at the bat.

- From Casey at the Bat
by Ernest Lawrence Thayer

It was the kind of early summer afternoon that was made for
baseball.

The smell of freshly cut grass blended with that of grilling hots
dogs and hamburgers during the Vineyard Little League championships at
Veira Park on Saturday, while the dust kicked up by the infielders was
quickly cleared away by a swiftly moving ocean breeze.

The game was in hand for coach J. Ernie Chaves’s Tigers team on Saturday during the Martha’s Vineyard Little League championship game at Veira Park in Oak Bluffs, when one of his players hit a line drive foul ball that sent him scurrying for cover as he stood on the third base line.

Maybe you’ve seen them when you drive past Veira Park in Oak Bluffs or Nunes Field in Edgartown. You might have heard the metal clinks of their bats connecting with a fast-moving — relatively speaking, Dustin Pedroia would send it right over the fence — pitch, or maybe the booming voices of their coaches calling out plays from across the field.

Maybe you’ve seen them when you drive past Veira Park in Oak Bluffs or Nunes Field in Edgartown. You might have heard the metal clinks of their bats connecting with a fast-moving — relatively speaking, Dustin Pedroia would send it right over the fence — pitch, or maybe the booming voices of their coaches calling out plays from across the field. What you might not have seen or heard, though, are the sounds of actual game play.

What’s the key to success in a Little League all-star game? “Really belting it out, hopefully,” said nine-year-old Jared Regan after the major league all-stars finished their game.

The Little League season wraps up this Sunday with two championship games at Veira Park. The minor league game will be held at 11 a.m., while the major league championship will take place at 1:30 p.m.

After three weeks of play, last year’s little league championship-winning team, the Cubs, is again in first place. The team is undefeated after winning a doubleheader against the Cardinals last Saturday. Pitcher Aiden Aliberti struck out 11 of 12 batters while notching three RBIs in the first game to help the Cubs to an 11-0 win. In the second game, the Cardinals took an early 6-3 lead, with Benny Binder, Nick Bischoff, Otto Osmers and Auguste Pizzano having a hit apiece. Cubs pitcher Tabor Caron stepped in in the later innings to hold back the Cardinals offense, however, allowing his team to take an eventual 8-6 win.

The Cubs will defend their championship title tomorrow at Veira Park against the winner of Thursday’s A’s-Pirates game (scores were unavailable at press time). Game time is at 11 a.m.

The team clinched their spot in the title game with an exciting 5-4 win over the Tigers Wednesday night, pushing the contest into extra innings before Aidan Aliberti launched a walkoff homer in the seventh.

Pitchers’ duels ruled the day in the two Little League Championship games at Veira Park on Saturday afternoon. The league-leading Cubs picked up their second title in a row with a 2-1 win over the second-place Pirates in the Majors game, while the Marlins won 3-1 over the Reds in the Minor League contest.

Early threats of thunderstorms faded into cloudless blue skies as Cubs ace Aidan Aliberti took the mound for his first of four 1-2-3 innings to start things off.