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."
Follow along on Twitter: @LittleLeaguePro and @LLWSAllthetime
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...
.JPG)
