Hopedale Youth Baseball 12U Team continued their dominance this summer, as they won their fourth consecutive Tondorf Baseball Championship against a very strong Medway Team in the tournament Finals. 

The 11-game tournament regular season provided a glimpse into the possibility of another championship, as Hopedale went 9-1-1 and a first-place seed. 

Pitching, catching, and defense were the calling card to a strong regular season, led by pitchers Griffin Dalpe, Calvin Mandeville, Colin Johns, and Nolan Vaillette, Hopedale allowed a tournament low 2 runs per game. 

Defense helped the pitchers tremendously, with Matthew Goldman (Matty G) behind the plate, stellar infield play by Trey Holterhoff, Owen Worthington, Johns, Dalpe, & Vaillette, along with their center-field general Jaxen Whyte. Together, they made certain no runs came easy for opponents. 

Rounding out the championship team with great plays was Nathan Castiglione, Teddy Hodgdon, Sam Catalogna, and Charlie Schuler.

While pitching and defense led the way during the regular season, during the playoffs, Hopedale added another aspect to their game – power - and that’s when their opponents knew they were in trouble.

Hopedale beat Holliston 11-0 in round one of the playoffs behind four strong innings by Vaillette. Hopkinton was next, and they received the same treatment, a Hopedale 11-1 win led by Matty G, who provided the power with a home run blast deep into the Medway landscape. 

Now standing in their way at the Championship round (best two out of three) was a very strong Medway team, their clear rival during the regular season and all four Tondorf seasons.

 Hopedale won game one of the series 5-2 behind the pitching of Johns, Mandeville, and Dalpe – along with a spectacular run saving play at short stop late in the game by Colin Johns. 

Game 2 was an amazing game, a 6-5 heart beating win. Matty G pitched five strong innings striking out 10+ Medway batters. Hopedale first scored in the 3rd when Griffin D. triple to center scored Calvin M. to even the game at 1-1heading into the 4th inning. The score remained that way until the top of the 5th, bases loaded for Hopedale’s Matty G, who hit a shot to the fence scoring two and Hopedale soon found itself with a 5-1 lead late. But Medway is a strong team and capitalized on walks and a few hits to bring them to within 1 run at 5-4 late in the game. That changed in the top of the 6th, with two outs, Matty G at the plate, home run over the right field fence to provide that extra run Hopedale needed. Griffin Dalpe came on in relief to secure the heart pumping save. Hopedale went on to Win 6-5 in front of a large and loud contingent of Hopedale fans. 

 The team also won other awards, Hopedale was crowned Home Run Derby Team Champions with participants Jaxen Whyte, Owen Worthington, Calvin Mandeville, and Matthew Goldman. In the individual Home Run Derby competition, Hopedale’s Matthew Goldman took home first place against representatives from all other Tondorf teams.

 Congratulations to this group of players and coaches (Marc Goldman, Scott Mandeville, & Russ Dalpe) for a memorable four-year performance; Hopedale Youth Baseball is alive and well! Let’s Go!