PEPPERELL, Mass. -- On the surface, the Lanesborough Bulldogs 11-year-old Cal Ripken All-Stars have been all about offense this weekend.

 

Yes, they have scored 53 runs in four games of the state tournament at the Kyle A. Bartelson Youth Baseball Complex.

 

And yes, they hit four home runs on Sunday, including a two-run shot by Landen Jamjula in Sunday afternoon's 13-3 state semi-final win over Townsend-Ashby.

 

But all those big numbers on the offensive side of the ledger can obscure how well this team plays defense.

 

Going into Monday evening's state title game, the Bulldogs have committed just five errors in the tourney. They had none on Sunday afternoon, and a couple of big plays by left fielder Panayoitis Constantopoulos turned the tide in the come-from-behind win.

 

It was 3-1 in the top of the third when Townsend's Bryce Latham hit a fly ball to left with one out. Constantopoulos, a third-baseman in his house league, had a little trouble tracking the ball, and it dropped for a single.

 

Latham tried to stretch it for extra bases. Big mistake.

 

Constantopoulos grabbed the ball on the bounce and fired a strike to second baseman Alex Axt, who applied the tag to keep the bases clean for starter Jamula. 

 

The next man up lifted another fly ball, this time toward the line in left, but Constantopoulos made a good read going to his right and snagged it to retire the side.

 

In the bottom of the third, Constantopoulos doubled in a three-run rally to make it 4-3, Lanesborough, and the Bulldogs never looked back.

 

"Phenomenal play," Lanesborough coach Rick Paris said of Constantopoulos' assist.

 

"A lot of these teams haven't seen a guy with an arm like that, so they think they have second. But he made a nice play to regroup. He went right after it, turned around and made the throw. Didn't hesitate. He made the throw right to second, right on the money, perfect throw, nice tag by [Axt].

 

"Couldn't ask for anything better."

 

Lanesborough, which started the day with a 14-4 morning win over Pepperell to wrap up first place in Pool A, could have gotten off to a better start on Sunday afternoon.

 

Townsend turned two hits and a walk into a 3-0 lead before Lanesborough had a turn at bat.

 

"As they soon as they scored the third run, I was a little bit scared," Constantopoulos said. "We mercied all the other teams, but I didn't think we were going to do it to this team."

 

Lanesborough got a run back in the bottom of the first when Derek Paris reached on an error, stole second, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on Josh Polumbo's grounder to the left side.

 

But the Bulldogs left two men on in the first and left the bases loaded in the second.

 

"I told them, just keep going at it, keep battling," Rick Paris said. "Every inning is a new inning, and all we have to do is keep trying to score every inning. If we can keep putting the pressure on every inning, sooner or later, it's going to break."

 

The first breakthrough came in the three-run third to give Lanesborough the lead.

 

And the 'Dogs did not stop there, adding four in the fourth and five in the fifth to end it.

 

In the fourth inning, Paris reached on a one-out bunt to start the rally, which featured an RBI double by Caleb Greene.

 

In the fifth, Jamula hit his second homer of the day (Constantopoulos and Roberto Barron also homered against Pepperell). And Barron tripled in a run and scored on a wild pitch to give Lanesborough a 10-run lead and end the game with one out.

 

On the mound, Jamula settled down after a rocky first inning to allow just one more baserunner over his next three innings. Barron came on to pitch the fifth, striking out two.

 

Barron, Jamula and Jack Cangelosi each will have innings available for Monday's final, a 5:30 start that will see the Bulldogs play either Pepperell, the No. 2 seed in Pool A, or Pool B champion Greenfield.