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PUTNAM — The Putnam Little League kicked off its 57th season on April 17 with a parade, an address from Putnam Mayor Bob Viens and some words of encouragement from the Putnam High Baseball coach Shawn Bates. Putnam has 19 teams with children from ages 5 through 16.
The three competitive teams (12-year-old division) were all in action for the first week of the season. Last year’s upstart Police Association Pirates posted wins against the Killingly Vipers and the Woodstock A’s. Josh Allard,Jon-Luc Cornouyer and Brevon Harmon set the pace for the Pirates with big hits and shut down pitching. Ryan Whitehouse and Scott Davagian, Jacob Straub, Angelo Desalvio and Zach Cutler all chipped in with some great defense and timely hitting.
The Putnam Vision Center Red Sox were led all the way by Kyle Ciquera and his soon-to-be-famous bat. Kyle hit four homeruns last week including a grand slam against the Killingly team that left Murphy Park and was sent into a low orbit around Putnam.
Nathan Tozzi and Nicholas Foucault pitched near perfect games in the two outings.The Red Sox also got huge games from Reed Hopkins, Jacob Brule and Kristian Burke.
Last year’s champs, the Chase Graphics Dodgers, also notched two wins and no losses the opening week. Shawn Audet pitched a no hitter against Killingly while Kyle Loomis went 4-4 with a pair of doubles to set up the four-inning shut out. In the second game Steven Dakai started as pitcher cruising to a 9-0 lead as was lifted for Cole Andersen who finished the game and preserved the 12-1 win. Andersen, Loomis, Audet and team leader Jacob Guertin all had a multiple-hit game. Steven Shippee, Andy Simmons,Jay Hassett, Conor Quinn and Kyle Moore all contributed to the effort and a solid pair of team wins.
This week Putnam start inter-league play with Pomfret/Eastford in the Joe Phaneuf Little League.