2012 Little League East Region: Day 2

West Salisbury (MD) 5, Newark National (DE) 4

Maryland opened its tournament behind one of the more heroic individual performances. Grayson Winterbottom drove a fastball the opposite way for a 3-run homerun in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game 3-3 with Delaware. Newark National did the best thing you could do in a situation like that though. They answered back with a run. Winterbottom wasn't finished though. With a runner on, Delaware brought their ace in to face the dominant slugger in the bottom of the fifth inning, but it was no use. Winterbottom crushed a line drive well into the trees in left field for the lead. Finally, with one out in the sixth, Winterbottom came in for the two-out save against Delaware's best hitters. He easily handled them and picked up a victory for Maryland in their first game. Delaware fell to 1-1 in pool play. It was Newark National's first loss in pool play in the last two regional tournaments.

Maryland and Delaware are interesting teams. Both have very good pitching depth, and both have some huge hitters. Besides Winterbottom on Maryland, nobody else between these two teams is hitting. Nobody on Delaware has more than two hits total in two games.

Wellesley South (MA) 5, Scarborough (ME) 4 (F/7)

Maine jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead by the top of the third inning, but committed one of the cardinal sins of  regional tournaments. It was a two-part failure. They got too cute with their pitching in a game they were winning and they forgot they were from Maine. When a state like Maine is beating one of the "big four" of the  New England region, they need to remember it doesn't happen often. By playing for future games, Maine may have cost themselves a trip to the semifinals. Maine misses Vermont. The chance for a win somewhere else is slimmer than they probably realize. I guess you live and you learn. Maybe they'll pull one out somewhere.

Anyway, Massachusetts (which seems to produce small teams a lot) never gave up and got three big runs back in the third inning. Darrald Webb had an RBI-single and Bo Picking knocked in two more with a double to get the Wellesley South boys back in it. Massachusetts, which curiously didn't start their number one, brought him (Billy Seidl) in to pitch the final 4 2/3 innings. He didn't allow a run and struck out seven. Wellesley tied the game in the fifth with an RBI-single from Michael Bomes and scratched the game-winning run across in the seventh with a walk and a single and a tough error to end it.

Par-Troy East (NJ) 4, Collier Township (PA) 3

In the third game of the day, the script continued to stay the same. The home team got down early and came back to win it late by a single run. Pennsylvania scored three runs in the top of the first inning on three hits including a double by Zach Rohaley and an RBI double by Greyden Piechnick. Collier seemed to be feasting on Bener Uygen's pitching from New Jersey. PTE, known for its explosive power, flexed its muscles with the first swing of the bat from Emil Matti. The athletic SS/P hit the brand-new Breen Field scoreboard with a line drive well over 250' away. He leads the region with two homeruns so far. A walk and a single by Uygen gave New Jersey even more life. Anthony Scanelli hit a single through the middle, but a great throw from Caysen O'Keefe in CF cut a run down at the plate easily. A base-running blunder at 1B turned a single with nobody out into a double play. The inning ended with just the homerun.

What seemed like a potential slugfest (and what I predicted would happen) turned into a pitcher's duel. Uygen got stronger and threw harder. He only allowed two singles after the tough first inning in 3 2/3 innings. Rohaley, the Penn. starter didn't allow another hit after Scanelli's single, but that ugly thing called over-thinking came back around. Pennsylvania decided to go to their #2 pitcher for pitch count reasons. He gave up the second run with a double by Kyle Phillips. He was lifted for pitch count reasons to go to the #3 pitcher and the top of the order in the bottom of the fifth. It felt like a bad idea right away. Matti ripped a single, Dan Ruggiero found a hole for a single and Uygen brought it full circle with an RBI-single to tie the game. David Ton sealed the deal with a hit scoring Uygen and New Jersey went on to win.

Fairfield American (CT) 17, South Burlington (VT) 1 (F/4)

Connecticut jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a first-inning homerun (off the scoreboard again) by Will Lucas and never really looked back. Vermont continued to get base runners with the softest hits and plays ever in the second and third innings and even broke through for a run to make it 3-1 heading into the fourth inning. Vermont's lack of depth, and Connecticut's abundance of it would not be denied however. Fairfield sent 19 batters to the plate and scored 14 runs in the fourth to win easily. Lucas finished 3-for-3 with five RBI and two doubles. Matt Kubel hit a 3-run homerun, Michael Ghiorzi added two hits including a double, and Biagio Paoletta was 2-for-3 with three RBI in the victory.

I tweeted during the game that Connecticut needed to prove itself more on offense. I still believe that. I've seen them more than anyone in the regional except for Stony Point (NY) and their offense is extremely streaky. Anyone on the team is capable of hitting one out or driving in runs with singles, but they go cold a lot. I think they'll win a weak regional, but to continue to be successful, the offense needs more consistency. The fourth inning was a good start though.

East Region Team Rankings through Day 2

1. Connecticut (2-0)

2. New Jersey (2-0)

3. New York (0-1)

4. Pennsylvania (0-1)

5. Rhode Island (0-1)

6. Maryland (1-0)

7. New Hampshire (1-0)

8. Delaware (1-1)

9.  Massachusetts (1-0)

10. Maine (0-1)

11. Vermont (0-2)

12. Washington D.C. (0-1)

Random Thoughts: I'm usually a proponent of "winning the tournament is more important than winning the game." In pool play though, with bunched up games and single-elimination semifinals lurking, you HAVE to win your first game if its winnable. Two wins almost always gets you in the crossover, and a victory early means those pitchers can come back sooner, usually in game four if necessary or hopefully just the semifinal. By trying to keep your pitchers eligible for games two and three of pool play AND losing, you're putting yourself in a big hole. Sure, you have the ability to win those middle games now, but they became even more important and you're one, two, or three days closer to the semifinal now. You're potentially going to burn your starters  in those middle games when you could have burned them in game one instead. To me, it's a no-brainer. Win game 1 with your guy if you can. It's a huge advantage.

Homerun Meter: 8

Strikeout Meter: 105

Prediction Record: 3-1 (6-2 overall)

Sunday's Predictions: Rhode Island over Maine 5-2, Maryland over DC 7-2, Mass over Vermont 10-4, and New York over Delaware 5-1.

If you'd like game updates as they happen (and you don't have the LL site to be checking on), follow me on Twitter: @LittleLeaguePro 

If you have questions, comments, thoughts, etc... please add a comment below or just ask on twitter. Also, if you have blog ideas for each day of the tournament, please let me know. I'll be getting into some other regions as the weekend goes on and we know more about the teams.