After taking home the championship trophy at the Massachusetts Cal Ripken State Tournament last week, the Greenfield 8U All-Stars got to compete against the best in New England at Regionals in Milford, Connecticut this week.

Regionals got underway on Saturday, with the Ducks opening with a victory over New Milford, 17-13. That followed with losses to Newtown, Connecticut (20-8) and Barrington, New Hampshire (17-14), with Greenfield still earning a spot in bracket play as the No. 3 seed, where it took on No. 2 Marshwood, Maine.

Facing a Marshwood squad with two talented pitchers, the Ducks found themselves in a 5-5 tie in the sixth when Marshwood walked it off with a base hit to eliminate Greenfield with a 6-5 victory on Tuesday.

The Ducks closed out their season with an 18-5 record and were the first team in program history to make it to regionals.

“The coaching staff is extremely proud of this young group of kids and the strides they made as individuals and as a team this summer,” coach Jay Liimatainen said. “We held our own down there. We went into it thinking it was a bonus knowing we’ve never been in a position like this but the kids fought and fit right in during this tournament.”

Despite the loss, Liimatainen said it was one of the Ducks’ better performances of the season in the elimination game against Marshwood.

“We played what was probably our best game of the season in our last game against a very good Marshwood team,” Liimatainen said. “They had two pitchers throwing harder than anyone we had faced all year.”

Playing in a tournament like this against teams from all over New England will only benefit the players moving forward.

“At this age, it’s something they’ll never forget,” Liimatainen said. “They saw better pitching, better players, better competition and showed growth throughout. Being put in a situation like this at a young age is going to be a good thing for them in the long run.”

Cooper Deane finished the tournament with nine hits including two doubles while driving in seven. Cody Liimatainen knocked five hits including two doubles and drove in two, Colton Urkiel cracked nine hits and three RBIs while Jacolby Dyer, Kydanie Rivera and Mason Lovett each had six hits and four RBIs for the Ducks.

Blake White knocked three hits including a double and drove in two, Cody Castine finished with three hits and an RBI, Dimitri Gioules singled and tripled while driving in one, Zach Bensen tallied three hits and drove in two while Marshall Royce drove in two at the plate for Greenfield.

Lovett led the way with seven strikeouts on the mound, White and Deane both struck out five, Dyer struck out four, Gioules struck out two and Castine added a strikeout on the mound for the Ducks.

The Greenfield season was nearly over before it started, as the team had to hold a second tryout to get the requisite number of players to compete. Liimatainen said he’s most proud of the growth shown throughout the year, evidenced by their performance this week.

“The entire coaching staff is proud of the growth these kids have showed since the first day we got on the field together,” Liimatainen said. “Early on there wasn’t a whole lot of contact and now we’re fouling balls out and making contact against a Maine team that was throwing hard. We wouldn’t have been able to do that at the beginning of the season. They had a lot of fun. It’s a great group of young kids with great families.”