Little League Insider: Massapequa

Showing posts with label Massapequa. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

New York State Tournament Preview

The New York State Tournament begins on Tuesday with a 6-team double elimination bracket. Auburn opens against Horseheads with the winner facing Pearl River. South Shore American opens with Massapequa Coast with the winner facing Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake.

With the way 6-team tournaments are set up, if you play in the first round, you can't blow any of your pitching. It's not worth it. Winning a first round game, and then losing to the bye team sets you back at the beginning of the losers bracket. You have to win the first TWO games if you don't have the bye. The way to do that? Save your pitching for game two. Obviously, if you have the bye, you play to win every game. That's your Little League Insider strategy of the day.

Section 1: Auburn (District 5)
2000-Current History: District titles- 8, Section titles- 2

Auburn is 6-0 in the tournament so far and faced three straight elimination games in the Section 1 tournament because the Section 1 tournament is single-elimination. Don’t ask me why. Auburn last won a Section 1 title in 2010 and made the semifinals out of pool play. Unfortunately, there’s not much info out there right now on Auburn. They’re a big unknown this year.

Section 2: Horseheads (District 6)

2000-Current History: District titles- 6, Section titles- 1

Horseheads has completely rolled over everyone in its path to this point in the tournament except for New Hartford in the Section 2 championship game. Horseheads pulled out a 9-7 victory in that game and has outscored its 11 tournament opponents 138-15 on the road to the state tournament. Mike Limoncelli gets it done on the mound and at the plate. He leads the team in both categories. Eli Schooley tossed a six-inning perfect game during districts with 16 strikeouts. Adam Cook and Tony Burlingame and the rest of the lineup really hit the ball well. This team won the section championship as 10-year olds and finished third in the state.

Section 3: Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake (District 12)

2000-Current History: District titles- 4, Section titles- 1

Burnt Hills is playing in its first 12-year old state tournament, but this particular team isn’t green. BHBL won the Section 3 title both as 11s and 10s. Hunter Valley struck out 12 batters in the sectional championship win over Colonie. Evan Bowers carries the big bat for Burnt Hills.

Section 4: Pearl River (District 18)
2000-Current History: District titles- 2, Section titles- 2

Pearl River won its second section title in three years with an epic 14-13 victory over New Rochelle Central. It was the fourth straight section championship for a team from District 18. In fact, D18 has cleaned up at every level since New York went to six sections. This group doesn't have dominant pitching, but they hit 1-12 and find ways to win all the time. Sean Flaherty and Jon Farley have the most power on the team, and PR isn’t afraid to leg out a few bunt singles.

Section 5: South Shore American (District 24)
2000-Current History: District titles- 7 (incl SSN), Section titles- 4, State titles- 1

South Shore is the most storied LL program in New York and one of the best in the Eastern Region. South Shore has been to the Little League World Series three times and won handfuls of state championships. They have experience and they expect to win. SSA is led by Nick Scala, a big right hander who strikes out about two batters per inning. Scala also has power in his bat. Thomas DiOrio and Mike Ciancio tend to come up with big time hits and South Shore truly relies on a great defense.

Section 6: Massapequa Coast (District 31)
2000-Current History: District titles- 9, Section titles- 4

Massapequa needed extra innings to pull out a Long Island championship, but winning is nothing new for Coast. This group won the Mid-Atlantic title as 10-year olds and took home the Long Island title last year as 11s. They are the first team to ever win three Long Island titles. Nick Collins and Matt Zanfardino are a solid 1-2 punch on the mound, and everyone seems to come through at the plate when necessary. It’s to be expected from a team that has played together for so long during the entire year.

Predictions

South Shore American wins the title over Horseheads with Massapequa Coast taking third.

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Saturday, July 20, 2013

Massapequa Coast Wins Third Straight Long Island Title

Written by John Malone, editor

It took nine innings of heart-stopping baseball, but Massapequa Coast finally did it. The 12-year old all-stars were the first team in Long Island history to win Section 6 titles as 10s, 11s, and 12s.

For all nine innings, Smithtown National refused to just roll over for the favored boys from Coast, but it wasn't enough as Massapequa pulled out a 6-3 victory. After recording just one hit after the fourth inning, Massapequa finally caught the bug. Nick Schneidler reached by error to start the ninth inning and Nick Collins dropped down a bunt single during the ensuing at-bat. The ball was thrown away deep into right field allowing Schneidler to score and Collins to reach third base. Matt Zanfardino drove a line drive into the gap for an RBI-double to add another run. After another error, Mike Moreno hit an RBI-single to give Coast its final tally.

"Hitting is always contagious," Manager Paul DeGiovanni said. "The key was our pitchers keeping us in the game and allowing us to get hot eventually."

One of those key pitchers was Zanfardino who took over in the fifth inning. The imposing right hander allowed a run in his first inning of work but picked up the win with four dominant innings of one run and two-hit ball. He struck out 10 batters including five straight in the fifth and sixth innings.

"He didn't pitch much for us in the past, but he grew five inches last year," DeGiovanni said. "So it took him a year to grow into his body and now he's comfortable with himself. He was fantastic."

Massapequa took a 2-0 lead in the second inning with leadoff double from Ross Mitton and an infield single from Moreno. After Moreno took second base without a play, both runners were able to score on a wild pitch.

Smithtown got one back in the third with a home run from Hennessy who was also the starting pitcher, but Coast answered in the fourth when Schneidler drove in Eric Treble with an infield hit.

Smithtown continued to battle and scored one in the fourth and one in the fifth to tie the game. Zanfardino and Massapequa never wavered even when Smithtown made spectacular plays. In the sixth, with a runner on second and one out, Zanfardino ripped a line drive up the middle but it was miraculously snagged by Lynch who stepped on the bag for the double play. It was a big momentum shift.

"We've been together since we were eight years old, and this entire team has been together since we won the East Region championship as 10-year olds," DeGiovanni said. "The kids know how to battle and we can find ways to win."

Now, Massapequa Coast heads back to the state tournament in Lockport, NY for the third straight year with their sights set on one more state championships. They open against South Shore American, the New York City champions on Tuesday and they'll be without Zanfardino and Collins (4 IP, 2R, 4H, 6K, 2BB, 1HBP) who both pitched 85 pitches in the Long Island championship.

"We still have our number two pitcher available and my son has been hurt since Memorial Day," DeGiovanni said. "We should have him back this week, so we're still okay with arms."

Either way, Massapequa's resiliency was evident on Friday night despite a lot of pressure.

"This team is very close, nothing really fazes them," DeGiovanni said. "We've brainwashed them with our motto of eleven equals one, and they always pick each other up."

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

As the World Turns: Little League Edition (July 16, 2013)

Written by John Malone, editor

Pennsylvania

We have a couple stops to make in the Keystone state, and it begins with…. Keystone. The team to watch in Pennsylvania proved it some more tonight with a 25-2 victory in the Section 3 championship game. This team scores runs like no other in the country right now. The state tournament should not be as easy. Warwick Twp was the team last year doing that to everyone and they faltered in states. We shall see what Keystone does.

Now, we move onto my pet peeve of all pet peeves. Pool Play. I absolutely hate single-division pool play. In the regionals, they shouldn't have semifinals. It should just be a championship and in every single other level of play it should be outlawed when followed by single elimination. Read previous rants on the subject HERE and HERE to show how long I've been saying this and why. On to 2013… DuBois outscored its opponents in Section 1 47-4 in three games. The other three teams all went 1-2. For some reason, one of those teams deserved to play a championship game. After an injury to the starting catcher and 13 walks, DuBois’ season ended with a 10-8 loss. It’s really a shame. Rant over until the next victim of poor scheduling.

Texas

Sweeny beat perennial Texas East power Lamar National in districts and instantly became a team on the radar. They easily rolled through sectionals and now head to the state tournament. They beat Halletsville 12-2 on Monday night in the championship game. Here’s a team photo for those of you who like to analyze team size.

Georgia

Warner Robins American is back in the state tournament for the millionth time and I’m sure they’re the favorite. They lost in the regional final a season ago and return one player from that team. The coaching staff continues to be very similar year after year. It’s one of the reasons WRALL continues to be so consistent. Everyone wanting to play there is probably another one. Another famous Georgia name is in the tournament and that’s Columbus Northern, the 2006 LLWS champions.

California

Sherman Oaks reached another step towards a berth in the West Regional with an 8-0 victory over Burbank. Noah Taylor didn’t allow a hit through 5 2/3 innings, but couldn’t finish the game due to pitch count. SOLL broke the game open with a big five-run fourth inning fueled by three home runs.

New York

We’re down to the final 12 teams in New York with section finals wrapping up by Friday. The 6-team state tournament begins next week. Auburn won Section 1 with three wins in three days in single elimination. They’ll have nearly 10 days off. Why they needed only three days for sectionals is beyond me.

Horseheads will face New Hartford in the Section 2 final on Wednesday. Horseheads has dominated the entire tournament but trailed 1-0 on Tuesday for the first time. They responded with an 11-2 win. Burnt Hills is the favorite in Section 3, but faces the best program in its section for the title, Colonie. Pearl River is a heavy favorite in the Section 4 championship game which is also Wednesday against New Rochelle Central. In Section 5, South Shore American awaits a challenger for its final on Thursday, and in Long Island’s Section 6, Massapequa Coast dominated pool play and will take its chances in a single elimination final against Smithtown National on Friday. Coast is potentially the state tournament favorite.

Radio Show

As most of you know, we dropped some big news today. We'll be hosting a one-hour radio show about the Little League tournament throughout the country on Sundays at 1pm, starting this week. The show will be available LIVE on WFAS 1230 News/Talk AM radio in New York and LIVE online at www.wfasam.com. They have an iHeart Radio station, and we'll have the recorded shows right here on the blog, so make sure you tune in and give us a call.