Capitol City (DC) Shakes Up Mid-Atlantic Region

Written by John Malone, editor
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Capitol City Little League of Washington D.C. has more than held its own at the Little League Baseball Eastern Region Tournament. Cap City had leads in each of its first two games and threw monkey wrenches into a couple teams' pitching plans. In the third game of the tournament, Capitol City finally earned more than respect, it earned a victory.

Behind a much-needed offensive outburst from Robert Reynolds and Isaac Frumkin, Cap City took a 10-3 lead after three innings and hung on for dear life in the sixth to record an 11-10 victory over previously unbeaten Berlin, Maryland.

"I was really excited because I didn't hit the ball well in the game against Pennsylvania," Reynolds said. "I was just looking for pitches in my zone and I got a lot of those today."

Reynolds was 4-for-4 with a home run, four runs batted in, and three runs scored to lead Capitol City. Frumkin was 3-for-4 with a triple at the top of the order. Usually a dynamic catcher, Frumkin came on in the fourth inning to record a long save with 2 1/3 innings pitched, two runs, and just two hits.

Capitol City led 11-8 heading into the sixth inning with Frumkin on the hill. Maryland's Tristan McDonough promptly ripped a double, and then Billy Wheatley was hit by a pitch. With two outs and runners on second and third, Jack Rosenberg ripped a double to left field plating both runs. The ball squirted through the outfielders legs and rolled all the way to the deep left field corner. Maryland tried to bring Wheatley all the way around to score but shortstop Collin Bosley-Smith threw a perfect strike to Sofia Ohanian at home plate to cut down the tying run for the game-winning play.

"I saw the coach waving the runner home, but I saw the guy stop, and then kept on going," Frumkin said. "There were perfect throws from Noah (Gold) and Collin though, and we got him by a mile."

Capitol City took a 7-3 lead in the second inning with Frumkin's RBI triple, a Rory Friel RBI single, and Reynolds' home run. In the third, Cap City padded its lead with three more runs with RBI singles from Aaron Rosenthal, and two more RBI from Reynolds.

Capitol City starter, Bosley-Smith, allowed three first-inning runs to Berlin with some control issues but buckled down to retire five of the next six batters he faced in a solid start that was marred with inconsistent calls at home plate and frequent game stoppages among other things. He came out with 65 pitches to stay eligible for the potential semifinal.

D.C. took a 3-0 lead after one inning with an RBI double from Zach Lordan, an RBI from Sofia Ohanian (who had a web gem at first base), and an RBI from Aiden Trinity. Berlin answered back with three runs on a variety of walks, infield hits, and a fielder's choice.

"I was really impressed with the way Collin pitched today. He came back from a rough first inning and threw really well," Reynolds, the staff ace, said. "He blocked everything out. All the pitchers did a great job working through stuff today."

Maryland never gave up in its quest to come back from the huge deficit. Matt Kinsey had a big two-run single in the fourth, and Wes Powell added a two-run triple to follow. Powell scored on a wild pitch to bring Maryland within two runs.

In an effort to keep the score within reason, Maryland went to its ace, McDonough, in the sixth. Reynolds ripped a single to lead off the inning and then scored on three passed balls to add the ever-important insurance run. It ended up being the winning run.

"I hope people realize we can compete here. We could've won the first two games and we got one now," Frumkin said. "We're very confident. We knew we could win a game, now we want to win another one."

The victory was the second win for a District of Columbia team in two years (Northwest Washington LL beat eventual Mid-Atlantic champion, Par-Troy East (NJ) last year) and the first for Capitol City since it beat Haverstraw (NY) back in 2008. Now, Cap City will try to reach the Mid-Atlantic semifinals for the first time since 2004.

Washington D.C. faces Burnt Hills (NY) in its final pool play game on Wednesday. Both teams need a victory to stay in the running for a semifinal spot.

"This team is so hungry for wins, so hungry to earn respect for DC baseball," Assistant coach Seth Rosenthal said. "They did it in the first two games, but today took us another step towards earning DC baseball some respect."

To listen to a pre-tournament interview with Capitol City assistant coach Brice Plebani, listen to Little League Insider Radio: Episode 2.

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

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East Region: Day 1 (Friday Aug 2, 2013)

Newark National (DE) 8, Capitol City (DC) 4, 7 inn.

Well that game didn't go as expected for Delaware. Newark saved some of its pitching early in this one and it looked like a great strategy off the bat. Joey Davis cracked his fifth home run in three games in the top of the first inning and Delaware quickly had a 2-0 lead. Capitol City's Robert Reynolds settled in and threw four strong innings allowed three runs (two earned) on just three hits. In the third inning, Capitol City ran itself into a bad inning with an unsuccessful "1st-and-3rd" situation. With no outs, Newark nabbed the runner stealing second without allowing the run to score. Two quick outs later, and it was still 2-0 Newark.

 After another run scored on some passed balls and an error, Capitol City finally got down to business. Rory Friel had an infield single to start it off. Delaware changed pitchers and got into a bigger jam. A hit-by-pitch set up an RBI single from Eli Doroshow and an error loaded the bases. Newark was forced to go to its hard-throwing ace, Nate Hardcastle. An immediate strikeout slowed the bleeding, but 4-foot-8 nine-hole hitter, Aaron Rosenthal, stepped into the box. The diminutive firecracker ripped a two-run single off Hardcastle to tie the game 3-3. Rosenthal added another hit off Hardcastle later in the game and also worked a 10-pitch walk in his first plate appearance.

Capitol City took the lead 4-3 with a two-out RBI single from Zach Lordan in the fourth inning and Newark was reeling. Not only was Hardcastle in the game past 20 pitches, but Newark was now losing. In the top of the sixth with one out, Hardcastle drove a fly ball to right field for a sacrifice and tied the game. With Capitol City past its first two pitchers, Newark tacked on four runs in the seventh behind RBI singles from Eric Ludman and Brandon Sengphachanh. DC's Reynolds threw 85 pitches and DE's Hardcastle threw 65.

Lincoln (RI) 11, Saco (ME) 2

As one of the two main favorites coming into the tournament, Lincoln took care of business against Saco by scoring in five of its six innings. Aaron DeSousa was 4-for-5 with two runs scored and a double to lead Lincoln. Kyle Marrapese was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI. He also showcased an impressive left-handed fastball in his two innings of work to start the game. Along with Zarek Larisa and Steve Andrews, Lincoln's pitchers struck out 11 batters while allowing just three hits. Derek Madore had a hit and scored a run for Saco. Matthew Duchaine and Hunter Penley had the other two hits for Maine.

It was tough to tell if Lincoln is a viable threat to Westport, CT because Saco used six different pitchers of varying abilities. The jury is out on everyone still.

Berlin (MD) 5, East Greenwich (NJ) 4

For the second game in a row in the Mid-Atlantic region, the scrappy underdog forced the team with a big ace to waste its pitcher longer than it intended. Alas, like the first result with DE/DC, East Greenwich had to settle for a moral victory.

Berlin jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning after an RBI single from Tristan McDonough and sac fly from Matt Kinsey. Berlin starter Hayden Snelsire tossed four solid innings allowing three runs (one earned) on four hits. Snelsire doubled to lead off the third inning and scored on a sac fly by Billy Wheatley. Ethan Gill homered to pull New Jersey within 3-1. McDonough tripled in the fifth inning and scored on a groundout by Wes Powell to give Berlin a three-run cushion once again, but two errors and a Shawn Dougherty single made it 4-2. Maryland went to its big guy, McDonough. The overpowering righty induced three straight groundouts, but one of them scored a run to cut the lead to just one run. Berlin added a huge insurance run in the sixth after a Kevin Beck single (2-for-2, run), a walk, and a defensive miscue which led to an RBI for McDonough. In the sixth inning, McDonough picked up his six-out save but not before East Greenwich tacked on another run from a Zach Miller single and Sean Szestowicki RBI. The extra at-bats forced Maryland to stick with McDonough passed 20 pitches making him ineligible for Game 2. It was a valiant performance from Jersey, but Berlin picked up the necessary victory.

Westport (CT) 9, South Burlington (VT) 2

With South Burlington returning six players from a regional semifinalist a season ago, this was not a gimme game for Westport. If anyone had questions about Vermont's abilities, they were answered in the first inning with RBI singles from Chance O'Connor and Sammy Premsagar. Premsagar, one of the veterans, was more than effective on the mound with a great fastball. He struck out five batters in two innings. He also walked five. Connecticut took a 3-2 lead in the third inning without the benefit of a hit or an error. Three consecutive walks plus passed balls and wild pitches allowed a run to score. A fielders choice tied the game 2-2 and then a well-executed run down on a first-and-third situation allowed the third run to come home before the third out was made. Connecticut's Chad Knight, one of the best pitchers in the region, didn't had his best stuff and was smartly pulled at 35 pitches in just 1 1/3 innings pitched.  All four outs were recorded by strikeout. Westport's equally dominant pitcher, Harry Azadian, came on and pitched 3 2/3 innings of no-hit ball. He struck out seven. Max Popken quickly picked out the final two outs of the game. Connecticut piled on five runs in the fourth inning to put the game out of reach with an RBI from Popken and back-to-back triples by Azadian (1-for-3, 4 RBI) and Charlie Roof.

East Region Rankings after Day 1

1. Rhode Island

2. Connecticut

3. Maryland

4. Delaware

5. Vermont

6. New Jersey

7. Washington D.C.

8. Maine

OFF: New York, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Massachusetts

Random Thoughts: The amount of pitchers that took the mound today was crazy. With pitch counts and four games in six days, I understand it, but wow do games drag now. In four games, there were TWENTY-NINE pitchers. I had to spell it out. It's just ridiculous. Here's hoping it gets better when teams really need to pick up wins. I was impressed with the amount of players with great velocity today. Out of the eight teams, I'd say there were nine pitchers who threw really hard.

Home Run Meter: 2 (Last Year: 3)

Strikeout Meter: 66 (Last Year: 50)

Prediction Record: 4-0

Saturday's Predictions: Massachusetts over Maine 4-2, Pennsylvania over New York 6-3, Vermont over New Hampshire 3-2, Maryland over Delaware 6-5.

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

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2013 Mid-Atlantic Region Preview

Check out my 2012 Mid-Atlantic Preview and see how right and wrong I tend to be. There's usually 4-5 teams that I hit the nail on the head and one that I miss completely on. Last year, it was Delaware. I didn't expect their pitching depth to go past their ace.

Read about this year's New England Region Preview to see how the other teams in Bristol, CT look. 


Tournament History: In the 12 years of the Mid-Atlantic region, Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland have each won three championships. New Jersey has gone to Williamsport twice since the split with New England, and Delaware has its lone trip to the LLWS in 2003 with Naamans Little League. Nobody from the District of Columbia has ever advanced to a regional final.

2013 Team Pedigree: Newark National (DE) is making its third straight trip to the Mid-Atlantic region tournament. For the second consecutive season, at least one player is back from the previous year. This time it’s big man Nate Hardcastle. Capitol City (DC) is a regular in Bristol, CT but has only reached the regional tournament once since 2008.

The remaining four teams in the Mid-Atlantic tournament have won their state championship for the first time in league history. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake (NY) is from the Albany region which hasn’t sent a representative to Bristol since Colonie in 2004. Lionville’s (PA) section hasn’t represented the state of Pennsylvania since the last time District 27 won a state championship back in 2003. That team was Lower Perkiomen. East Greenwich (NJ) is ALSO from an area of its state that doesn’t win often. Section 4 in New Jersey hasn’t sent a team to the regional since 1991 before this year. Berlin (MD) isn't traditionally strong and hasn't won a state title previously, but this group has been built for this run at the regional title.

Interestingly, only East Greenwich (NJ) has tasted defeat so far this tournament. Each of the other five champions are all unbeaten. In the pitch-count era, that's very surprising and unusual.

Team Previews (Tournament Records in Parentheses)

Capitol City, DC (7-0): After a short hiatus, Capitol City is back. District of Columbia’s traditional power ran through the DC Tournament fairly easily especially in pool play and its semifinal game. In the championship against rival Northwest Washington, Capitol City used a momentum-boosting home run from Sofia Ohanian to break open a tight game in the middle innings before winning comfortably. Capitol City relies on great team defense, strong pitching, and its timely hitting. Always an underdog in Bristol, Cap City will try and change some opinions about D.C. Little League as a whole.

Newark National, DE (6-0): Newark needed just six games to get through Delaware this year. That’s the beauty of double elimination when you stay in the winners’ bracket. This is the third trip in a row for Newark National and they’ve had a lot of success in Bristol. Newark is 7-1 in pool play during the last two years. In 2011, Newark made the semifinals. Last year, they lost a 1-0 decision to Par-Troy East (NJ) in the regional final. Could a third time be the charm? Nate Hardcastle is the name on everyone’s tongue because he played last year and has dominated the state of Delaware with his mid-70s fastball and monster home run power. Joey Davis might be the hottest player in the tournament though with four home runs in his last two games.

Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, NY (13-0): Burnt Hills enters the regional tournament out of nowhere, at least according to this downstate New York blogger. While BHBL has never won a state title before, this team has had plenty of success with sectional championships as 10s and 11s. They rolled through districts and sectionals and took home the state championship with very good pitching and timely hitting from players like Jack Wyatt, Evan Bowers, and Derek Haughey. Hunter Valley is a top pitcher.

East Greenwich, NJ (12-1): East Greenwich is one of the unlikeliest state champions from New Jersey in a while. It doesn’t mean the boys from South Jersey can’t play ball. East Greenwich’s defense was superb in its state championship victory over Toms River East especially at shortstop with Josh Crowding and in right field with Hunter Kelly. Shawn Dougherty and Sean Szestowicki supply the offense at the top of the order. On the mound, East Greenwich tends to give a different look often. They maximize their abilities by throwing a couple pitchers per game and sometimes as many as four or five... all on purpose. They like to give you a different look every now and then and keep their staff available and fresh. 

Berlin, MD (10-0): Berlin’s trip to Bristol has been years in the making. Berlin is the only team in the Mid-Atlantic region to win state titles as 10s, 11s, and now 12s. The team is led by Tristan McDonough who has an overpowering fastball and big bat. Hayden Snelsire doesn’t get the same publicity but tossed five shutout innings in the winners’ bracket final against Conococheague to send Berlin to the state final. Along with McDonough, Wes Powell and Matt Kinsey have big power. Others including Snelsire and Jack Rosenberg can hit it out of the park as well.

Lionville, PA (11-0): Lionville’s offense has been a juggernaut all tournament long and averaged 14 runs per game. When you have a dominant pitcher like Michael Rodriguez on the staff, you don’t even need that much. Joe Janick carries the team’s best stick, to the point that he was the winning run and still intentionally walked in the state semifinals. It’s probably an inadvisable move in the regional since Connor Kalten his behind him and hit a game-winning double. The next night, he blasted a home run of his own.

Projected Records

Pennsylvania                     3-1

Delaware                          3-1

Maryland                          2-2

New York                         2-2

Washington D.C.               1-3

New Jersey                      1-3         

Semifinals: Pennsylvania over New York 7-4, Delaware over Maryland 3-1.

Final: Pennsylvania over Delaware 9-3


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

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Little League Insider Radio: Episode 2

On episode 2 of Little League Insider Radio, John Malone discussed some of the great games in New Jersey and Connecticut that he saw in the past week. Capitol City Little League assistant coach Brice Plebani of Washington D.C. called in to talk about his family lineage at the Eastern Regional as well as this year's team. The guys also took calls from fans in Maryland and Maine and talked about some national news around the country as the state tournaments begin to wind down.

Next week's show is going to be right in the heart of the regional tournaments. We'll be live in Bristol, CT for the Eastern Region tournament as well as taking calls from around the country as we head towards the Little League World Series.

You can play the show right here on this page, or download it from the bottom right corner of the link.

Without further ado...

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

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The List Gets Longer...

Washington D.C.

Capitol City Little League won its first District of Columbia championship since 2010 with a 7-1 victory over rival Northwest Washington. NWLL had won two straight titles and three of the last four since Cap City’s run of 20 straight city titles. Sofia Ohanian broke the game open in the third with a two-out two-run blast to Cap City up for good. Isaac Frumkin had a pair of doubles and an RBI. Robert Reynolds picked up the win giving up just three hits over 4 2/3 innings. He struck out five. Cap City will look to advance to the regional semifinals for the first time since 2004.


Alaska

Sitka knocked off defending state champion Gastineau Channel 5-1 in the District 2 finals behind a masterful pitching performance from Bryan Joseph who struck out nine batters and induced eight ground ball outs in 5 2/3 innings. Sitka will now face Abbott-O-Rabbit LL from Anchorage in the Best-of-5 state championship series.
Florida

The state tournament is set in Florida as all eight sections are complete. The best teams nearly always advance through sections in Florida because of their great schedule. They play round robin with no championship game. If you’re unbeaten and you beat everyone else already, why should you have to beat them again in a single game, right? Right.

Plant City looks like a solid contender and is the defending state champion. Florida tends to be wide-open in the state finals, however.

Virginia

Virginia is down to its final four now with Tuckahoe American, Fairfax National, West Springfield American, and defending state champion Great Falls. Tuckahoe hasn’t allowed a run in four games now after mercy-ruling Lynchburg in the quarterfinals. Although, West Springfield has been a state champion with this group before.

Texas

Universal Little League of Corpus Christi needed to sweep a double header this morning against powerhouse Midland Northern and they did. Juan Sosa and Jacob Garza each hit home runs in an 11-1 rout during the first game. Garza struck out 14 batters in the second game to pull off the sweep with a 3-0 victory. It was the fourth straight elimination victory in three days.

Hawaii

Central East Maui sits in the driver’s seat for the Hawaii state championship after knocking off Waipio 3-1 in the winners’ bracket final over the weekend despite being outhit 4-3 in the game. Waipio led 1-0 before Rayven Ruiz tied it with a solo home run.

Mississippi

Ocean Springs Little League won its sixth state title in the last 10 years. OSLL is 8-0 in the tournament so far and won the best 2-out-of-3 series with Hattiesburg with a pair of mercy-rule victories. Mitch Murrell hit two home runs in the state title series to lead Ocean Springs. Mississippi is looking for its first trip to Williamsport since Hattiesburg went in 1977.

Northern California

Santa Cruz American jumped out to an 8-0 lead after two innings and held onto a 10-5 win. Javier Lopez blasted a pair of home runs in the victory. SCA will face Belmont Redwood Shores on Wednesday.

Nebraska

Kearney Little League is looking to defending its regional crown and got off to a great start by winning the Nebraska state championship. It’s the third straight trip to Indianapolis for the Midwest Region Tournament for Kearney. Keegan Thurston was dominant on the mound for KLL while striking out 12 in the 3-0 victory over Omaha Keystone. 

State Champions List

Utah- Dixie LL (St. George)
Alabama- Jackson LL

Oklahoma- Tulsa LL
Idaho- Coeur d’Alene LL
Washington- Eastlake LL (Sammamish)
Mississippi- Ocean Springs LL
Nebraska- Kearney LL
Washington, D.C.- Capitol City LL
Texas West- Universal LL (Corpus Christi)
Louisiana- Bossier National LL

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