Little League Insider: New York

Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Tuesday's National Little League Roundup

Action continues across the country as we inch closer and closer to the regionals which start at the end of next week. I can't believe its this far into the tournament already. I saw yet another classic game, this time in Connecticut. I think my streak is up to four or five now across three states in the last five or six days.

Delaware

M-O-T Little League continued its District 1 dominance, but not in dominating fashion. After dropping an 8-7 decision to Camden-Wyoming on Monday, MOT needed another high-scoring affair to finally lock down the district title with a 9-8 win. John Fritz blasted two home runs for the champions and Luke Wooten pitched a solid four innings. MOT led 9-3 heading into the sixth when Camden-Wyoming stormed back. The 3-team state tournament begins on Thursday.

Ohio

Hamilton West Side, the four-time defending state champion, is going to need to take the harder road if it wants to be the five-time champion. New Albany Little League shocked West Side with a walk-off home run by Ben Smith. New Albany led 7-5 in the fifth inning when West Side's Caleb Owens blasted a grand slam to give the champs a 9-7 lead. In the sixth, Parker Thompson hit a two-run shot to tie the game, and then Smith ended it with another two-run home run. New Albany will await the losers bracket champion in the Ohio state championship game.

Connecticut
Westport, a big favorite in Connecticut due to its pitching strength, needed extra innings to take out a really tough Bristol Edgewood squad in the Section 1 championship game. You can read about that story HERE.

On the other side of the state, Coginchaug forced the "if" game in Section 2 with a 12-3 demolition of South Windsor American. Coginchaug blasted four home runs including two off the bat of T.J. Vallone. John John Jose struck out 10 in the victory for Coginchaug and threw the maximum amount of pitches making him ineligible for Game 1 in the CT state finals. South Windsor, who has relied on its starting pitching in the Section 2 tournament, will try and come back with a victory tomorrow.

South Dakota
Rapid City Timberline won the North Dakota/South Dakota state championship with a 3-1 victory over city rival Harney. It's Timberline's first trip to the regional since 1997. Timberline scored all three runs in the first inning and relied on starter Carter Stonecipher to pick up the win. Tyson Elliott recorded the save.

Maryland

Berlin, the state title favorite, moved into prime position after a 2-0 victory over Conococheague in the winners bracket final. Ryan Duncan had an RBI and Tristen McDonough scored a run. McDonough also closed the game out with an overpowering fastball. As in... hardest in the East region type fastball. Hayden Snelsire tossed five shutout innings for Berlin. Conococheague will face Brunswick in the losers bracket final.

Indiana

Hagerstown hasn't advanced to the Indiana state tournament in 15 years. Now, they're making the most of it. Hagerstown used four different pitchers to knock off Valpo American, 7-4, in the winner's bracket final of Pool A. Hagerstown now advances to the single elimination semifinals and will await the winner of Pool B's losers bracket. Dyer and Terre Haute North played in the winners bracket final on the other side.

Valpo American will face Jeff/GRC, a 9-1 winner over Elwood, in the quarterfinals. Jack Ellis struck out nine in the victory.

New York

In the first round of the state tournament, South Shore American blasted former 10-year old state champ, Massapequa Coast, 13-0. Horseheads also beat up on their opponent, Auburn, with an 8-0 victory.

Georgia

Columbus Northern and Warner Robins American each won their respective pools in the Georgia state tournament, setting up a potential collision course in the state championship game. Northern won the 2006 Little League World Series and WRALL won the whole thing in 2007. Austin Hicks jacked two home runs and picked up the win for Northern on Tuesday. Warner Robins hit four home runs today in another rout. They outscored their pool opponents 44-4 in four games.

Texas
Pearland Maroon knocked off Sweeny 9-6 to win the Texas East state championship and advance to the Southwest Regional.

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
Texas East- Pearland Maroon LL
South Dakota- Rapid City Timberline

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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.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Little League Roundup (July 18, 2013)

Written by John Malone, editor

Note: This is the third of three blogs today, make sure you read them all
With a lot state tournaments starting around the country this weekend, sections are starting to wrap up in the East. Others are in the break between tournaments resting up. Here’s tonight’s edition of Little League Roundup.

New York

Five of the six sections are set now after Pearl River finished off one of the most amazing comebacks these eyes have ever seen. PRLL rallied for 10 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and knocked off a really really good New Rochelle Central team, 14-13. You can read a full game article HERE.

Pearl River changed their lineup today for the first time and moved its three hitter, Sean Flaherty, into the two-hole. The move ended up working perfectly for Pearl River. As good Little League minds know, you want your best hitter leading off or batting second at worst in Little League. There are not enough at-bats and you DO NOT want to be stuck with your “guy” on deck. Great move by Pearl River.

New York City wrapped up its first-ever double elimination section tournament today when South Shore American of Staten Island (one of the most storied programs in the country) rallied to beat Franklin Square 10-7. Thomas DiOrio homered and picked up the win in relief after SSA trailed 4-0 early. Hulking Nick Scala, South Shore’s pitching ace would’ve been available for the “if” game. He also homered.

New Jersey

Wayne National won the Section 1 championship behind six home runs including two from winning pitcher Dominic Cancellieri. You can read a full game story right HERE.

In Section 3, Toms River East American (three-time LLWS participants and one-time champion) put on another hitting display that could rival the 1927 Yankees. TREA beat South Wall 19-5 and has now scored 59 runs in the four games of the Section 3 tournament. Toms River East has hit 16 home runs in the sections. However, TREA has the toughest test of all now, knocking off state title favorite Nottingham…twice.

Connecticut

CT’s District 2 has been locked down by Fairfield American for a few years now. FALL has won three straight CT state championships in the 12-year old division and went to Williamsport twice. Their cross-town rival, Fairfield National, won the state title as 11-year olds last year, but Westport decided to break up the party.

Westport won the championship last week and is now primed as the state tournament favorite after beating Bristol Edgewood 8-0 in the Section 1 tournament. Edgewood scored 23 runs on Wednesday to open the tournament, but couldn’t muster a hit off of Westport pitcher Chad Knight who also struck out 13 batters. What’s the impressive thing about that feat? Harry Azadian had a no-hitter through 5+ innings in Westport’s last game.

Washington D.C.

While the District of Columbia has six teams in its tournament now, it’s truly a three-team race between perennial power Capitol City, recent champion Northwest Washington, and newcomer Capitol Hill. With just one game left in the round-robin pool play, Capitol City has restored order and is in the driver’s seat. Cap City didn’t allow a run to either Capitol Hill or Northwest Washington in its two victories against the other contenders. In fact, Cap City didn’t allow a runner to reach second base in either game. Against Northwest Washington, Robert Reynolds was perfect through 5 1/3 innings including 13 strikeouts. His relief didn’t allow a runner either to combine on the perfect game.

Arizona

The Arizona state tournament kicked off on Thursday and some of the tradional powers picked up big wins in the opening round. Chandler National South beat Casa Grande 18-8, Canyon del Oro beat West Flagstaff 16-6, and Arrowhead beat Mountain View 16-5.

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.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Which Version of the Little League East Regional Tournament Was Best?

Little League expanded the World Series participants from 8 to 16 total back in 2001 giving twice as many teams the Williamsport experience. 2001 happens to be the first year I traveled to Bristol, Connecticut for the Mid-Atlantic and New England region tournaments. Together, it’s still known as the East Region tournament despite two teams advancing.

In the past 11 years, there have been some amazing baseball games, teams, and talent. The best year, in my opinion, was 2006. Portsmouth, New Hampshire won the New England region and Mid-Island LL from Staten Island won the Mid-Atlantic region that year, but the story lies in the talent of almost every team that made it to Bristol. After a couple days of the tournament, most people can get a feel for who the best team or best couple teams are. Good years have three teams worthy of the championship, and great years have four. In 2006, the New England region had FIVE teams that would’ve been a great representative for the LLWS. The Mid-Atlantic was no slouch either with a couple great teams and a one of the best pitchers I’ve ever seen.

I’m known for always sitting on my blanket in the third base bleachers and also keeping a notebook with the scorecard for every single game in Bristol. Referring to my 2006 notebook, here’s the picture I can paint for you about that great year.

The first game of the tournament was a Mid-Atlantic pool play game between Capitol City Little League and South Caroline, Maryland. Coming into the tournament, Maryland’s Brandon Nelson had a reputation of being a power pitcher. This was an understatement. Using a radar gun at the field, Nelson was clocked as high as 78 MPH and consistently threw 73-75 MPH. He tossed a complete game shutout giving up one hit, striking out 17, and walking just one batter. It was remarkable. South Caroline won 4-0.

Peabody Western, Massachusetts blew out Yarmouth, Maine 15-0 in the next game. They smacked six homeruns including three in a row at one point. Their top pitcher, Sean Glabicky, also topped 70 MPH. He struck out eight in just three innings. In Game 3, New York was down 9-4 to Naamans, Delaware in the fifth inning before storming back to win 10-9 behind a grand slam from 11-year old Chris Goetz. The day didn’t slow down at all in the night cap. Glastonbury American, Connecticut beat Lincoln, RI 4-3 in seven innings behind a walkoff homerun from Steve Michalek. Michalek also struck out 14 in six innings.

After one of the craziest days of games ever, it didn’t stop on day two. Portsmouth, NH and Colchester, VT had their first of two battles and Jordan Bean put his hat in the ring for best pitcher in the region. Bean threw a complete game 1-hiter with all outs via strikeout, 18 of them in total. Vermont’s Josh Place did a valiant job matching Bean zero for zero after giving up a first inning run.

On day three, Massachusetts and Rhode Island battled, and RI (now 0-2) was in yet another extra-inning game. This time they came out on the right end of it when Ryan O’Dell blasted a tenth-inning homerun to walkoff with a 3-1 victory. If ten innings and four runs were too much pitching for you, New York played another barnburner, this time beating Maryland 20-10 with 20 hits. Vermont continued its pitching prowess with a shutout of Connecticut and blasted three homeruns in the first inning to prove they were the best Vermont team in history, quite possibly.

Maryland got back in the win column with Nelson on the mound as hit fired off 14 more strikeouts, but gave up his first run. He had 31 strikeouts in 12 innings at that point. Colchester continued to pitch well, but lost another tough one, this time to Massachusetts. Glabicky struck out ten in a complete game 1-hitter and Matt Tehan and Ryan Church hit back-to-back homeruns in the fourth to do all the scoring.

Lincoln, Rhode Island finished pool play 1-3 and out of contention despite going to extra innings three times. The third and final time was against New Hampshire. It was 1-1 through six and yet another pitcher’s duel. Bean gave up an unearned run in the sixth and struck out 14 batters. He had 32 strikeouts in 12 innings. O’Dell struck out 10 batters in six innings before Portsmouth unloaded in the seventh inning off Rhode Island’s relievers.

Back in the Mid-Atlantic, Livingston American, New Jersey was proving to be the best team in the region and bolstered that claim with ANOTHER extra inning game. New Jersey beat New York 8-6 in seven innings giving them an unblemished record heading into the semifinals. The loss by New York forced them to have to face Nelson in the semifinals.

New Jersey felt all but assured the regional championship with the semifinals matchups. Nelson and Maryland should take care of New York, the second best team in the region, and then they could easily handle Maryland’s weak back end pitching. Not so fast. Nelson led off the semifinals with a long homerun, and didn’t allow a hit for five innings. Down 1-0 in the sixth against the most dominant pitcher in the region, New York squeezed two hits off Nelson to score the game-tying run. Nelson finished with 14 strikeouts in six innings, but was done for the day due to the six inning pitch rule. 11-year old Chris Goetz did his part for New York by not allowing another hit after the Nelson homerun (intentionally walking Nelson twice in the process). He struck out 12. In the bottom of the seventh though, Matt Davis belted a walk-off homerun to shock Maryland and enter the Mid-Atlantic championship game.

The game that followed is responsible for many rule changes in Little League, specifically, the fact that a mandatory play violation doesn’t result in a forfeit anymore.

Vermont, which hadn’t hit well for most of the tournament, blasted three homeruns against New Hampshire and took a 9-7 lead into the sixth and final inning. The Vermont manager realized that he hadn’t put in a sub, so he did the only thing he could do to try and make sure his team had a chance to play in the championship. He instructed his players to walk everyone on New Hampshire. This would allow New Hampshire to tie the game and give Vermont a chance to get their player in the game.

New Hampshire recognized the problem obviously and their manager instructed his players to swing at the balls which were purposely being thrown the backstop. Players on the field were crying, nobody knew what to do. It was a mess. Little League got involved. Told the managers they were making a mockery of the game and Vermont forfeited a game they were winning in the sixth inning. New Hampshire went on to the World Series behind 13 more strikeouts from Jordan Bean and another shutout. He had 45 strikeouts in 18 innings during the tournament. He finished the entire tournament run leading to Williamsport with 91 strikeouts in 40 innings. In Williamsport he added 26 more strikeouts in 12 innings for a grand total of 125 strikeouts in 52 innings.

Back in the Mid-Atlantic, New Jersey and New York played another game for the ages this time in the regional championship. New Jersey took a 1-0 lead when 11-year old Nick Ebert blasted a solo homerun in the fourth inning, but New York got the run back in the fifth on an error. In the bottom of the sixth with the score still tied 1-1, Frank Smith drove a walk-off homerun and sent Mid-Island Little League to the World Series. It was the second walk-off homerun in a row for New York.

I’m not sure the drama of the games, the quality of the pitching, or the overall talent on the field can ever be topped in Bristol again, but no matter what I’ll never forget those ten days in 2006.