2013 New England Region Preview

Read last year's New England Region Tournament to see how well I did or didn't do right here.


Read about the 2013 Mid-Atlantic Region Tournament also in Bristol, CT right here.


Tournament History: Since New England split with the Mid-Atlantic region, Massachusetts has excelled winning four regional championships in the last 11 years. Connecticut and Rhode Island each have three championships including one each in the last two years. New Hampshire and Maine each have one trip the World Series since the New England regional tournament was formed, and Vermont is looking for its first trip to Williamsport ever.

2012 Team Pedigree: Lincoln (RI) just won its first state title since 2009 but it’s the eighth title overall for the regional powerhouse, all since 1999. Lincoln has already struck gold twice with two trips to Williamsport including 2001 and 2004. Lincoln has played an astounding 40 games at the regional level in its history. They’re 26-14 overall.

South Burlington (VT) is making its second straight trip to Bristol and fourth overall since 2001. Over that time, SBLL is only 5-10 in regional play but made the regional semifinals twice and even played for the New England title back in 2001 after a massive upset in the semifinals. Last year, South Burlington nearly pulled off another one when it pushed eventual regional champion, Fairfield American (CT), to eight innings in a 4-3 loss. Rye (NH) just won its second state title ever. The first was back in 2003. Maremont LL of Saco (ME) won a state championship back in 1988. This version of Saco LL won the state title as 10s and 11s previously.

Newton SouthEast (MA) and Westport (CT) are playing in regional competition for the first time in league histories. Another interesting note is that these two teams failed to win state titles as 10-year olds. The other four teams all reached the 10-year old regional tournament back in 2011 and have some familiarity with each other.

Team Previews (Tournament records in parentheses)

Rye, NH (12-1): Rye has had plans of visiting Bristol, CT for a couple years now after winning a state title back in 2011 and it’s a happy time for the league. Dylan Chase and Max Malila provide some home run pop at the top of the order, but the team has 25 total in 13 games. They’ve hit at least one in 12 of the 13 games throughout the tournament. Malila has been on fire with a .600 batting average and nine home runs so far. Chase and Malila happen to be the team’s top two pitchers and are both capable of blowing it by hitters.  

South Burlington, VT (10-1): This is the second straight trip to Bristol for South Burlington who returns six key players from a run to the regional semifinals last year. Ben Tate and Ethan Klesch have been mashing the ball and Max Plunkett is a pure hitter. Sammy Premsagar seemingly hits the ball hard every time. Tate, Klesch, and Premsagar are a valuable 1-2-3 punch on the mound and 11-year old Matt Guyette is solid in relief.

Westport, CT (12-0): Without seeing the other five state champions in the New England region tournament, it is still safe to say that nobody will have a better combined duo on the mound than Chad Knight and Harry Azadian. Both throw in the low 70’s with incredible control and breaking stuff. They make Westport go. The defense behind them is excellent, and with Chris Drbal and Max Popken bringing the bats along with Azadian and Knight’s power… this is a very formidable team. You can pencil them into the championship game.

Lincoln, RI (9-0): Lincoln is a powerhouse league that has seen some competition pop up lately within its district. This year’s squad has gone back in time however. Lincoln completely dominated the state of Rhode Island, and that rarely happens even when RI comes up with a regional championship. As a team, Lincoln has posted four shutouts in nine games and has only allowed more than two runs twice… never more than four runs in a game. Steve Andrews is an intimidating force at the plate and hits the ball as hard and far as you’d expect him to. Braedon Carney and Dominic Cunha have a ton of pop and Dave Bordieri is a doubles machine. Kyle Marrapese is the team’s hard-throwing lefty on the mound

Saco, ME (9-1): Saco is slowly becoming a powerhouse in Maine despite not having a ton of past success. This squad has won state titles as 10s, 11s, and 12s. The age group right behind them owns state championships as 10s and 11s now too. This team has a never say die attitude as it needed to come out of the losers bracket every single year so far. Saco has scored 41 runs in its last three games including a sweep of Portland Bayside. Brogan Searle-Belanger has a good fastball and leads the pitching staff. Luke Chessie is a very good starting pitcher as well. Michael Bourgault, Timmy Smith, and Dan McLeer all have home run power. Chessie, Hunter Penley, and Daniel Sprague do damage with their bats too.

Newton SouthEast, MA (14-2): Not only has 12 of Newton’s 14 wins come by three runs or less, but Newton has come from behind nine times so far in the tournament. They’re officially the latest brand of The Cardiac Kids. Newton usually pieces its pitching together with three or four pitchers per games which creates matchup advantages. Matt Beckles, Dante Taylor, and Brandon Lee can swing the lumber, but everyone has handled the late-game pressure for Newton. They’re never dead.

Projected Records

Connecticut                        4-0

Rhode Island                      4-0

New Hampshire               2-2

Vermont                              1-3

Maine                                   1-3

Massachusetts                  0-4

Semifinals: Connecticut over Vermont 5-0, Rhode Island over New Hampshire 5-2

Final: Connecticut over Rhode Island 3-2


You can hear more of my thoughts on the entire East Region tournament by listening to Little League Insider Radio: Episode 2.

For Mobile Users, try this link here: Little League Insider Radio: Episode 2

To listen to the debut episode of Little League Insider Radio: CLICK HERE

Join the Little League World Series discussion on Facebook with some of the best baseball minds around right here: Little League World Series Discussion

Like our Facebook page: Little League Insider

Follow along on Twitter: @LittleLeaguePro

Please spread the word about the blog to anyone who loves the Little League World Series. To support all the hard work on this blog, Please...