BRISTOL — James Graziadei, a seven-year-old player on the Lincoln Little League baseball team, recently made that rare defensive play — an unassisted triple play.
On Thursday, May 7, James and his teammates from Lincoln assembled to play a fun game against Bristol at the Bristol Recreation Field. James’s dad, Michael Graziadei, said it was very cute to see these little kids, ages 6-8, play on such a big field.
“You could see the wonder and amazement on their faces as they ran around the big baseball diamond and gazed up at the lights surrounding the field,” Michael Graziadei said.
Late in the game, James was playing in shallow left field. The batter from Bristol made a solid hit and as the pop fly came toward James, he quickly moved under it and made a confident catch, just behind third base. That was out number 1.
He immediately ran over and tagged a runner that was going to third base for the second out.
He then noticed a runner had moved from first to second base and he could see an opportunity for another out. To the amazement of the umpire, coaches and some of the parents, he realized that neither the runner on second nor his teammates were sure what had happened. But he knew what to do and ran over to make the tag for the third out.
As the players returned to the dugout, his team surrounded him and jumped up and down calling his name and congratulating him. Everyone at the game was thrilled to have witnessed such a rare occurrence, especially in Little League baseball.
Editor’s note: This story was provided by Michael Graziadei.