The Martha’s Vineyard 13-year-old All-Star team competed in the Babe Ruth District 7 finals over the holiday weekend, earning their spot after a 6-5 defeat of Sandwich on Friday. The game was close throughout, with the Vineyard trailing by just one run in the bottom of the fifth. After starter Elias Fhagen-Smith turned in a solid start on the mound, Jack Sayre came in to hold Sandwich scoreless in relief. The Vineyard evened the score in the sixth inning, and notched the go-ahead run in the seventh as John Morris capitalized on a Sandwich throwing error to dash home on Graham Lewis’s groundout. Mitchell Chaves led the offensive effort, turning in two singles and a double while notching two RBIs. Jack Sayre and Sam Bresnick had two hits each, and Elias Fhagen-Smith and Theo Gallagher had one hit each.

The Vineyarders faced a strong Plymouth squad in the district title game on Saturday, holding their own throughout the game but ultimately falling 7-0. Head coach David Smith praised the team’s play, noting that the finals were the only game in the District 7 tournament that Plymouth did not win via the slaughter rule. Jack Sayre started for the team, allowing just two runs on two hits in the first four innings and striking out six. The Vineyard trailed 2-0 after four innings, and 3-0 after five. Tabor Caron came in to pitch in the fifth inning, and Mitchell Chaves and Graham Lewis combined to pitch the sixth. Plymouth’s pitching, however, proved the deciding factor, with the Vineyard managing just two hits in the game — a double by Jack Sayre and a single by Theo Gallagher.

The team will travel to Mansfield this weekend, where they will compete against teams from Massachusetts and Rhode Island.