New England Region Preview

Tournament History: Since New England split with the Mid-Atlantic region, Massachusetts has excelled winning four regional championships in the last 11 years. Rhode Island’s Cinderella run to the title last year gave the Bay State its third trip to the World Series to trail Mass, and Connecticut has won the regional championship twice in that time. New Hampshire and Maine each have one title and Vermont is the lone team in the region without a championship. Vermont has never reached the Little League World Series, in fact.

2012 Team Pedigree: Fairfield American (CT) didn’t have much of a history before 2010. Now? They have a Little League World Series appearance and a third straight state championship. It’s the first time in state history actually. This group has won three state championships on their own as 10’s, 11’s, and now 12’s. In 2010, this group won the entire East Region as 10-year olds up in Cranston, Rhode Island.

Bedford (NH) just won its eighth state championship and first since 2005. Bedford won the entire East region in 1993 and has a good history in the regionals. Overall, Bedford is 15-6 all-time in the East/New England region. That’s excellent. South Burlington (VT) has won three state championships, all in the last ten years. They’re only 3-7 overall, but in 2001 advanced all the way to the New England regional championship after sneaking into the semis at 1-3 and upsetting undefeated Yalesville, CT.

Coventry American (NH), Scarborough (ME), and Wellesley South (MA) all won their first state championships this year. Coventry won Rhode Island’s 11-year old championship last year and Scarborough has won the Maine title each year so far with this group (10s, 11s, and 12s). Wellesley made the state final four last year as 12-year olds with four 11’s on the team. That group is back and led WSLL to the state title.

Team Previews

Bedford, NH (7-0): Any talk of Bedford starts with Grant Lavigne who I dubbed “The Little League Barry Bonds.” Lavigne is 17-for-19 in the tournament so far with 11 homeruns and 11 walks (most of which are of the intentional variety). If you think he’s the whole team though, you’re wrong. The team is hitting .449 overall with 23 total homeruns. At least seven players have hit homeruns in the seven games leading up to the regional. Timmy Saltzman is one of the team’s top starters and fired a complete game 2-hitter in the state championship game. Lavigne is a capable #2 starter. Alec Burns is another hitter to watch.

South Burlington, VT (11-0): South Burlington won the state championship as 10-year olds and easily defended their crown as 12’s. Eamon Sheridan is a dominant number one pitcher and also one of the team’s best hitters. South Burlington’s power travels up and down the lineup as nine different players have taken Vermont pitchers deep.

Fairfield American, CT (13-1): This group of 12-year olds has won a regional championship and three state championships. They’ve only lost two games in three years. After sweeping the state championship series 10-0 and 8-0, FALL is feeling good. Everyone on the team has homerun power, and the most surprising is diminutive third baseman Kevin Oricoli. “KO” has three homeruns since the sectionals began and is swinging a great bat. The team’s best player though is catcher Biaggio Paoletta. The Italian Stallion has four homeruns since the section 1 tournament and is a fantastic athlete. He might be the best catcher I’ve seen this year behind the dish. Pitching is Fairfield’s forte led by another diminutive star, Ryan Muery. Muery has 46 strikeouts in his last 23 innings pitched and has only allowed two runs. Watch out for pitcher/hitters Will Lucas and Matt Kubel.

Coventry American, RI (8-0): Coventry didn’t run wild through the state of Rhode Island, but coming through the Bay State unblemished is certainly something to behold especially with the pitch count rules now. Pitching seems to be Coventry’s method of winning. In the state finals, Coventry gave up just five runs in its three games. Look for Jarrad Grossguth to lead the way at the plate along with Quentin Rearden. Manny Bjorklund and Grossguth are the fireballers for Coventry.

Scarborough, ME (8-0): Scarborough has dominated the state of Maine for three years in a row and is looking to put a nice run together in Bristol. Scarborough has power through the lineup and is led by Jared Brooks on the mound along with Connor Kelly. Zoltan Panyi has some big-time power as well.

Wellesley South, MA (13-1): Wellesley won Massachusetts for the first time coming out of a tough district and walking off with a come-from-behind victory in the state championship game. Wellesley reached the state final four in 2011 but went winless during pool play. Four players from that team had enough experience to lead their team to a championship in 2012. Billy Seidl is the unquestioned leader of the team. He hits homeruns in bunches and is one of the best pitchers in the state. Kaeden Bentley is the team’s other go-to starter and T.J. Maley is one of the team’s hottest hitters right now.

Projected Records

Connecticut 4-0

Rhode Island 3-1

New Hampshire 2-2

Massachusetts 2-2

Maine 1-3

Vermont 0-4

Semifinals: Connecticut over Massachusetts 7-2, New Hampshire over Rhode Island 4-3

Final: Connecticut 10, New Hampshire 5

Never Count Out a Champion

Fairfield American Little League in Fairfield, Connecticut has put together one of the more historic runs in recent Little League history. In 2010, Fairfield American won the New England championship and advanced to Williamsport for the World Series. While the 12-year olds were doing that, the 11-year olds won the state championship as well. While the 11 and 12-year olds were winning state championships, the 10-year olds copied the feat and advanced to the first 10-year old East region tournament... they went undefeated and won it all including a victory over Mid-Atlantic champion, Commack South, New York. It was an incredible summer for Fairfield American to say the least.

They weren't finished in 2011 though. Both the 10s and 11s moved up a year in 2011 and continued winning. The 11-year olds won the state championship again (this time without a regional to shoot for), and the 12-year olds won another state championship and went to the New England regional semifinals.

Enter the present.

The original 10-year old East Region champions are now 12 and shooting for Williamsport themselves. They have two state titles already under their belt. Another state title would mean the first 3-peat in Connecticut history at the 12-year old level. The Fairfield Americans easily won their district championship and beat one of the best pitchers in the state to open CT Section 1 pool play in a 13-0 mercy rule victory over Yalesville.

On Friday night, they faced Wilton, the district 1 champion. Wilton dropped a tough 9-8 opener to Seymour in the Section 1 tournament and another loss would be backbreaking. Facing the behemoths known as Fairfield American is not a recipe for success. Wilton would not go quietly however. Billy Black, Wilton's starter, shut down the fearsome hitters from Fairfield for four innings and Wilton hit two solo homeruns early to hold a 2-0 lead. In the fifth inning, Wilton loaded the bases with nobody out, but back to back fielders choices held Wilton to two runs. An infield single finally gave Wilton a big insurance run before a mammoth grand slam seemingly put the game out of reach with a 7-0 lead. Fairfield was shocked, the crowd was shocked, I was shocked.

In the bottom of the fifth, Fairfield's tough bottom of the order continued to stay hot. Back-to-back homeruns by the seven and eight hitters to lead off the inning gave Fairfield American some life. A couple more hits and a passed ball put runners on second and third with still nobody out and Biaggio Paoletta at the plate. Paoletta roped a line drive up the middle...this should score two, right? No. The ball was snagged by Wilton's second basemen who easily doubled up the runner at second for a double play. Fairfield hit another single scoring their third run, but the rally was killed. Wilton led 7-3 heading into the 6th inning.

After a quick top of the 6th, Fairfield American came to the plate down four runs. Once again, the hits came from up and down the lineup, but Fairfield found themselves down to their final out facing a 7-4 deficit now. With one on, leadoff batter Ryan Muery worked an impressive at-bat and fouled off a handful of tough pitches. The diminutive spark plug finally worked a walk after a taking a tough ball four to bring Paoletta up as the tying run. Paoletta worked a full count of his own before he drove a fastball to deep left field for a game-tying three-run homerun. Fairfield American had erased a 7-run deficit in two innings.

Matt Kubel who threw a perfect pair of innings in relief for Fairfield American shut Wilton down again in the seventh setting up a potential walk-off homerun for Fairfield. I don't think there was a doubt from anyone at the Southington South complex. It was inevitable. Michael Ghiorzi led off the inning by crushing another no-doubter homerun to keep Fairfield American undefeated and still kings of Connecticut with an 8-7 extra-inning victory.

Fairfield American has hit seven homeruns in two days by seven different players. The train keeps rolling towards Bristol and maybe Williamsport.