While pitching has been one of its strengths throughout the All-Star Tournament, including its dominating run through the District IV playoffs, Lincoln’s bats have created the most havoc for its opponents. No matter who was on the mound, Lincoln’s power at the plate has been a major reason it has been so successful.
 “I think that’s the one advantage on our team,” O’Dell said. “We’ve got six kids that any one of them can lose the ball out of the park. We hit a lot of home runs. We have kids that hit for power and that’s kind of been our game.”
In its 11 games, Lincoln has averaged more than 12 runs per game. Leading the offense during that stretch has been the lethal bats of Jake Petrin, Jeff Sheehan, Tyler Duquette, Sam Brito, Alec Cronan and Chris Leclaire, who have combined for 26 of Lincoln’s astonishing 28 home runs.
The sextet occupies the top six players in Lincoln’s batting order.
“These are six kids in a row that I would want to pitch to,” O’Dell said. “I would want to pitch to them.”
Besides hitting for power this summer, Lincoln has also hit for average. As a team, the All-Stars had an average of .423 during the All-Star Tournament. It did some considerable damage with the lower-tier teams in the district tourney, but Lincoln has also shown it can generate its offense against the cream of the crop.
“To tell you the truth, the bigger the game the better we played this year,” O’Dell said. “We have had five elimination games that we have done very well. The other thing is we have faced some very good pitching, which is going to help us when we got to Bristol.
“I think we’ll be in good shape. We’ve seen some very good pitching and did well against it.”
The first real test for Lincoln’s offense this summer came in the District IV semifinals when the locals were able to overcome the strong arm of North Smithfield’s C.J. Dandeneau, a righthander with a fastball in the 75 mph range, with eight hits en route to a 6-0 blanking.
After defeating a good Cumberland National squad in the district finals a few days later, Lincoln kept its offense rolling throughout the state championship with 40 runs in its five games. Lincoln’s run in Rhode Island was capped by a pair of convincing victories over Johnston National in the finals. After errors spelled its doom in its first encounter with the District I winners – a 7-5 loss - Lincoln took care of Johnston in the finals, defeating its rival twice in the double-elimination tournament with scores of 10-1 and 11-6, respectively.
Certainly not to be overlooked is also the effort of Lincoln’s pitching staff, which has been anchored by Sheehan and Duquette. Lincoln has scored 143 runs this season, but it also has only given up just 25. That’s an average of just over two runs a game. Against the top-level teams in the state tourney, Lincoln allowed an average of just under four runs per outing.
Lincoln’s pitchers combined for 84 strikeouts and just 25 walks.
“We have two real good pitchers (Sheehan and Duquette) and Sam Brito’s pretty good, too,” O’Dell said. “We have other experienced pitchers, too. We have a lot of depth on the mound, which is a big plus…We have 13 kids (on the roster) and probably everyone has pitched at some point in the season in a house league or at the all-stars.”
Lincoln will play four games during pool play of the regional tournament. It begins action with its opener against Bangor East L.L. on Friday. After a day of rest on Saturday, Lincoln will be back on the field on Sunday versus Massachusetts’s Peabody Western L.L. (2 p.m.). Pool play continues on Monday for Lincoln where it will take on Vermont’s Brattleboro L.L. (2 p.m.) and caps off on Wednesday, Aug. 12, when it battles New Hampshire’s Portsmouth L.L., the defending champions, in a 1 p.m., tilt that will be televised by NESN.
The top four teams during pool play advance to the semifinals next Thursday and Friday with the winners facing each other on Saturday, Aug. 15, for the ultimate prize, a berth in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Penn.
O’Dell admits he doesn’t know too much about his opponents, but he does feel his confident (and very talented) bunch will be able to hold its own against New England’s best.
“It’s been pretty much business as usual (this week),” said O’Dell, whose team leaves for Bristol on Thursday. “I think that’s kind of the way we have approached it all year – one step at a time, don’t look too far ahead. After that, we concentrate on the next game.”
“Right now, it’s like we are playing with house money. We are going to try and beat every team and go to Pennsylvania. These kids are going to have a good time.”