2012 Little League East Region: Day 4

South Burlington (VT) 5, Wellesley South (MA) 3

Vermont threw a huge monkey wrench into the New England equation by beating Massachusetts on Monday at 8:30am. A Massachusetts victory would've ensured that Vermont and Maine miss the semifinals, but now... all three teams are still alive.

Vermont's Nate Gaboriault hits the ball hard, but other than that, Vermont dinks and dunks their way around the bases. Each game has been the same. It's uncanny how successful it is. They even threatened Connecticut with this type of offense.

Vermont has six 11-year olds on the team and they're important players to the team's success. I don't doubt that they'll be back next year. Ben Tate is one of them and he looked good on the mound while picking up the win.


Newark National (DE) 5, Stony Point (NY) 0

The second straight surprise of the day was Delaware's easy win over New York. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before the Delaware bats actually woke up and they did. Clayton Hansen was dominant on the mound with 11 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. He only allowed three strikeouts and a walk.

New York has yet to hit the ball hard in the tournament and they're now looking at win four in a row situation. Stony Point faced two great pitchers so far, but they have two great pitchers themselves. Their opponents are finding ways to get the bat on the ball. That's the difference.

Delaware has the ability to win this whole tournament. They have great pitching and they're a big team. Theodorakis broke out today and they have 2-3 other hitters.

Northwest Washington (DC) 8, Par-Troy East (NJ) 2

This was one of the biggest upsets I've ever seen in Bristol. Northwest Washington isn't atrociously bad this year at all. There are five teams worthy of winning this region and they just easily handled one of them and almost took down another one in Maryland. They hit the ball and they have three tough pitchers. Owen Isaacs blasted a deep 3-run homerun in the second inning to start the onslaught. Henry Furlong and Sydney Love-Baker added to the damage in a six-run second inning.

New Jersey's biggest problem right now is defense. They've made seven errors in two games. The fact is, each team has at least two fantastic pitchers. None of the scores matter unless those pitchers are facing each other.

Bedford (NH) 17, Conventry (RI) 9

After only allowing one run in two games, the Coventry pitching strength ran out. New Hampshire has now scored 30 runs in two games (they've also given up 14). The two teams combined for 28 hits and I thought the game was never going to end. Jarrad Grossguth continued to prove that he's one of the best players in the tournament. He was 4-for-4 with a homerun and three RBI. Bedford's Connor Zendzian was 3-for-3 with three RBI.

New Hampshire is 2-0 now but does not have the pitching dominance that most of the other contenders have. When they face someone of RI's top pitching caliber or CT's top two, things will be different.

Collier Township (PA) 15, West Salisbury (MD) 2

This game was a waste of time in terms of determining who can beat who in the semifinals. This was a scoreless game into the fourth inning when both teams were using their #2 pitchers. Once pitch counts came into play, it got out of hand. Pennsylvania scored 13 runs in the sixth inning capped by a grand slam from Steve Alauzen. Nick Serafino was great on the mound in his three innings pitched and proved to be the most dangerous bat in Pennsylvania's lineup. He finished 4-for-5 with four RBI and a homerun.

Fairfield American (CT) 15, Scarborough (ME) 2 (F/4)

Connecticut scored six runs in the top of the first inning with a string of hits. The rout was on right away. Maine answered back with two quick runs in the second inning, but Connecticut was just too much. Fairfield added seven more runs in the third inning behind a grand slam from Biagio Paoletta. He leads the tournament with eight RBI.

Maine falls to 0-3 which was expected, but the 15 runs definitely hurts. Maine is still alive but it's a long shot.

East Region Rankings Through Monday

1. Connecticut (3-0)

2. Delaware (2-1)

3. New Hampshire (2-0)

4. New Jersey (2-1)

5. Pennsylvana (1-1)

6. Rhode Island (1-2)

7. New York (0-2)

8. Maryland (2-1)

9. Washington D.C. (1-2)

10. Vermont (1-2)

11. Massachusetts (1-1)

12. Maine (0-3)

Random Thoughts: This is the craziest tournament I've ever seen in Bristol. The talent is not up or down necessarily, but the talent is even. Pitching is definitely up though. I honestly can't predict who is going to win these regionals until the brackets come out. Pitching matchups are the sole thing that will determine the winner.

Homerun Meter: 17

Strikeout Meter: 200

Prediction Record: 3-3 (Overall 11-5)

Predictions: Rhode Island over Vermont 8-2, New Hampshire over Massachusetts 11-6, New York over DC 7-2, Delaware over Pennsylvania 4-0.