Everett Little League Minor Division Mariners capture the 2026 city championship

By Joe McConnell

The Everett Little League Minor Division Mariners Manager Chris Stopford has literally grown up in the organization. Stopford was a player in it from 1994 to 2002, and was an Everett athlete, primarily playing basketball and baseball, straight through to end of high school in 2006.

At one time, Stopford lived in Malden, before he and his family moved to the city when he was in the fourth grade. But he proudly said that he always played sports in Everett.

It has now come full circle for him, as he’s coaching his eight-year-old son Lucas, and together they helped the Mariners to the 2026 minor division city championship. In the best of three final series late last month, they defeated the Expos in two straight games.

The Mariners dropped their first two games of the regular season, but that didn’t slow them down. They quickly picked up the pieces to rattle off 14 consecutive wins that included going 4-0 in the playoffs. For the record, they were 10-2 in regular season league play.

“We were the youngest team in the league, and everybody counted us out, even before the season started,” said Stopford. “We only had two nines on the roster with the rest all eights in a league that’s built for 10- and 11-year-old players.”

Stopford added that the team was diligent in improving one game at a time.  “We got better in every game,” he said. The proof of that progress was all of that winning that they had from Game 3 of the regular season on.

The Mariners manager had some help in the ongoing construction of this championship team. Jonathan LaRosa, David Scafati and Jason Abruzzese were his assistants, and they all helped him get the players ready for the games.

With the majority of the team made up of eights, the coaches had to work around the rules. As a result, James Oliveira (5-0) and Kaleb Olson (4-0), the team’s lone two nine-year-olds on the roster, saw the bulk of the action on the mound, and they responded with perfect records.

Nine-year-olds are allowed to throw over 50 pitches, while the eights are limited to just 50 per appearance. The coaching staff used only two eights – Joziah Rivera and Alex Pleytez – on the mound. Pleytez was credited with one regular season win, and also had another victory in the postseason, while Rivera’s only start was not until the championship final game against the aforementioned Expos. “(Rivera) gave us several good innings to get the win,” Stopford said. “We beat (the Expos) in that game going away, 15-8.”

The Mariners won the opener of the championship series, 12-9 to set the stage for Rivera’s heroics. They were actually trailing, 5-0 in that game, before outscoring the Expos, 12-4 the rest of the way.

Logan LaRosa was the team’s primary catcher throughout the season. Oliveira, at times, filled in for him to give him a break from an everyday position that can wear players’ down.

First base belonged to Pleytez, with Lenox Pham seeing time there, as well. Brayden Dinh was the team’s second baseman. When he wasn’t on the mound, Olson was the shortstop, and Rivera was beside him at third base.

Jason Abruzzese, Dagoberto Castro, Jeremiah Duarte, Rocco Scafati and Lucas Stopford took turns in the outfield.

In Little League, it takes the entire roster to produce a championship team, because each player has to play at least two innings in the field with one guaranteed at-bat to avoid forfeits. And that’s what it took for the Mariners to come out on top.

Passionate for sports

Stopford, a high school baseball umpire and basketball referee, has been coaching youth baseball for 10 years that included temporary stops in Malden and Sudbury. He became an Everett Little League coach six years ago.

The former Project Manager at Raytheon was also an assistant basketball coach at Chelsea High School and has been an Everett Travel Basketball coach the last several years, where he has guided both boys and girls teams from age 7 youngsters to high school varsity players. He coached the Everett Bobcats for 12 years, before COVID shut everything down.

But now, Stopford’s looking forward to moving on up with his eight-year-olds to hopefully the next level in the Everett Little League organization. He would also love to work in the Everett Recreation Department to continue his commitment to the city’s youth as a full-time instructor to go along with his high school officiating responsibilities.