Little League baseball: Avon gets off to strong start against Elyria in Minors district tournament

AVON — When he wasn't busy writing fables, Greek storyteller Aesop is believed to have said, "It is possible to have too much of a good thing." More than 2,000 years later, the Avon 10u Little League all-stars put those words to the test Friday at Veterans Memorial Park. Avon scored 16 runs in the first inning and was only getting started. By the time the dust settled and the numbers on the scoreboard stopped flickering, Avon kicked off the Little League Minors (ages 8-10) District 7 tournament with a 44-2 win over Elyria. "We didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings but we wanted to keep swinging the bat and keep playing baseball," Avon coach Michael Burcewicz said. "We didn't have a lot of time to put this team together between the bad weather and all of the kids playing on different teams. It was tough to get them together and give them time to jell." On Friday, it looked like the Avon all-stars had been playing together since they learned to walk. The first nine Avon hitters all reached base and scored as the team sent 21 batters to the plate in the opening inning. Despite the fact the game was called due to the mercy rule after three innings each of the 12 hitters in the Avon lineup had five plate appearances. Avon scored 17 runs in the second inning and 11 more in the third. Left fielder Jack Sittinger led the way for the Avon offense, going 4-for-4 with a double, four runs and seven RBIs. "When you get four or five at-bats in three innings it gets easier to hit," Sittinger said. "We all hit the ball and played good in the field. I think we're going to have more confidence now." Avon won't have much time to rest, or admire their stat lines, as it is back in action today at 11 a.m. against Maumee at Veterans Memorial Park. "We have very disciplined ballplayers, they have great coaches outside of Little League, and that leads to consistency," Burcewicz said. Levi Salem, Donovan Burcewicz and Mariano Melendez each scored five runs for Avon. Salem also had four hits. Avon had 11 players with two or more hits as it compiled 30 hits to go along with 13 walks and three batters that were hit by pitches. The highlight of the game for Elyria came in the bottom of the first inning — Elyria was the home team as decided by coin toss — when Carter Easterday and Eli Canon-Santiago led off the inning with back-to-back walks and scored on a Mason Kilgore single. Avon starting pitcher Matt LaMarca settled down from there and retired three of the next four hitters he faced. Brody Irwin came in from the bullpen to retire all six batters he faced over the final two innings. "I was a little bit nervous, it was my first game with the Avon all-stars," LaMarca said. "The team played great tonight. We all hit the ball hard. I knew we were capable of hitting the ball, this is a great group of athletes. We just have to keep up the energy." Elyria will have a day to regroup before its takes the field Sunday at noon in the consolation bracket. All remaining Minors tournament games will be played in Avon with the championship game scheduled for Wednesday evening. Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.