Westwood District 11 Little League Champs

Westwood Little League watched their offense explode in the fourth inning to beat Wellesley South, 4-3, in Sunday's Massachusetts District 11 Little League tournament championship game at Kelley Field in Norwood.

Westwood advances to play Newton West, the District 10 champion at 7 p.m. Thursday at Lyons Field in Newton, Massachusetts.

"This team has been the most selfless team you could ask for. I mean guys not starting, coming in and getting big hits, making big plays in the field, they are a true team," Westwood coach Rob Gotti said. "[The] biggest hit of the game was Marc Ellenberg and he's not one of the regular starters, but he's been hitting the heck out of the ball and I've told him, I said, 'Listen, everybody on this team gets their opportunity, its what you do with that opportunity,' and he's embraced that so fully and it has been just a joy."

Westwood tallied four runs in the fourth inning, breaking up Will Ebben's no-hitter bid to take its first lead of the game

"We were just trying to see if we could get him into the fifth (inning), sixth potentially," said Wellesley coach Will Ebben. "Credit Westwood. They had some really good at bats against home. We tried to hang in there defensively in (the fourth) inning, but Westwood put a really good at bat together."           

Wellesley began the game taking a two-run lead with run scoring hits by Will Ebben and Mikey Connolly that plated Tommy Seidl and Jake Mohan. 

Westwood struggled for the first three innings against Ebben , who tossed 86-pitches, striking out seven, walking three while surrendering four runs on three hits in a tough-luck loss.

Ebben came apart in the fourth inning as Westwood scored four runs.

"Everyone of these kids has a heart of a lion. They're great competitors, they're all good friends and they support each other tremendously," said Coach Gotti           

Westwood pitcher Peter Horsfall pitched four and third inning, giving up three runs while striking out two before giving way to Matthew Talcott in the fifth. Talcott pitched the final inning and two-thirds to secure the victory, including recording a game-ending strikeout in the sixth.

"There is not a guy in this line up who hasn't made a great play, a smart back up, come up with a timely hit. This is a team game, its kids and this is all you could ever ask for, a great bunch of kids," said coach Gotti.

"I just said that I was very proud of the boys," said coach Ebben. "The sky is the limit for (Westwood). They are again, a terrific team. Coach Gotti and his staff, they do it really the right way and we've battle with them for many years so we want to wish them the best of luck. I think they can go on and win the next round and come right back here to Norwood for the state tournament, so I wish them the best of luck."