LACONIA — The Belmont Junior All-Stars, eight and nine-year-olds, completed a perfect run through the Laconia Little League Junior All-Star tournament last week.

Belmont coasted to a 10-0 triumph over the Laconia Red Jr. All-Stars in the first game of the finals to clinch the title in the tournament, which started last Monday with three games and concluded over the weekend. The Belmont Junior Stars went 4-0 in the tournament, scoring 10 or more runs in all four games.

Laconia outlasted Bow on Friday and defeated Gilford Saturday to earn a shot at defending their tournament title.

The Belmont stars would not give in though, playing outstanding defense all game long to hold Laconia in check. Offensively, the Belmont All-Stars were led by Miles Defosses and Derek Stevens, who both went 3 for 3 for the day with several RBI. Lars Major also contributed several key hits for Belmont.

"It was a great team effort," Belmont coach Mark Stevens said.

Belmont opened the tournament with an impressive 13-3 victory over the Bow Gold All-Stars. Ben Charleston banged out a triple and knocked in three runs. Caleb Duggan also had a triple, scoring two runs. Alex Giammarino went 3 for 3, and finished a home run short of the cycle. Giammarino also made a spectacular diving catch in left field to save several runs. Belmont took control of the game with a 10-run third inning.

The Belmont stars than outlasted the Laconia Red Junior All-Stars, 13-12, in a thrilling game that went back and forth for the complete six innings. Belmont was down by one run going into their final at-bat. Lead off hits by Nolan Gagnon and Griffin Embree got the rally started. Caleb Duggan went 3 for 3, including the game winning hit. Jake DeWare had a huge three-run triple early in the game. Cameron Magerer and Colby Brown contributed to the effort with three and four hits each respectively.

Belmont earned a berth in the championship round by defeating the Gilford Junior All-Stars 19-1. The Belmont offensive outburst was led by several players who had multiple hits during the game including Colby Brown, Caleb Duggan, Derek Stevens, Miles Defosses, Nolan Gagnon and Cam Magerer.

"This was a great team effort, both offensively and defensively," coach Stevens said.