West Hartford Little League Wrap-Ups for Week Ending June 10

PLAYOFFS – ROUND 1

AAA:

Mandell JCC Dodgers 9, 2-4-1 Sports Twins 8

This evening's playoff game between the Twins and Dodgers was known well ahead of time to feature two fun to watch and very evenly matched teams.  Many thought the Twins would prevail as they had beaten the Dodgers twice this season, while still others thought the Dodgers would advance to round 2 as they were riding an impressive four game winning streak.

The Twins jumped out with a 1-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to a single and run scored by young Conlan Wilson.  Strong Twins pitching quickly ended a potential 1st inning rally and kept the Dodgers to just one run in the first inning.  The Twins came up in the bottom of the first and manged to get five singles.  Aggressive, head's up Twins base running silenced a previously enthusiastic Dodger Team and crowd as the Twins scored five runs in the bottom of the 1st to put the Dodgers in a position that statistically in 2012 would make many believe the game was over soon after it started. 

The Dodgers chipped away with two runs of their own in the top of the second to narrow the score to 5-3.  A good start to the second inning by young pitcher Jack Newhouse and a strong finish by Liam Wilson helped slow the Twins and kept them to just one run in the bottom of the 2nd to keep the score close at 6-3.  The Dodgers managed to score runs in all six innings (1 in the 1st, 2 in the 2nd, 2 in the 3rd, 2 in the 4th, 2 in the 5th and 2 in the 6th) and got tremendous middle pitching from Liam Wilson and a strong close by Connor Skarzynski to prevail 9-8 over a solid Twins lineup. 

The Dodgers bats, though not as good as they had been in their previous four game winning streak, came alive at the right times.  Liam Wilson had three singles (3-3), Conlan Wilson had two singles (2-2) Sam Stiles had a double and five other Dodgers had hits to help this team earn its first playoff victory.  The Twins had solid pitching throughout the game and had multiple players with two or more hits.  Brendan Marshall was 3-3, Jack Gabinelle was 2-3 and Vincent Nemergut was 2-3. 

The one hard thing to deal with when winning such a big game like this is how you feel for the other team you were competing against.  It's hard to end a team's season, especially a team so well coached and full of great players with good attitudes.  The Dodgers would like to extend another thank you to Jason Farrell, his coaching staff, players and parents for a great game.  23% of our games this year were against the Twins, who proved to be a very good team with a great deal of sportsmanship.  A win like this, against a Team that had previously beaten them twice and now given the Dodgers a five game winning streak, certainly gives the Dodgers a higher level of confidence heading deeper into the playoffs.

California Pizza Kitchen Angels 15 - Retirement Vision LLC Cardinals 8

In a battle of 1st place vs 8th place in rd #1, the underdog Angels never gave up and came from behind to beat the formidable Cardinals and advance to rd #2. The final score was 15-8.

Notables for the Angels include 3 gutty innings pitched by starter Carter O'Keefe (3 K's), followed by 3 solid innings by Brian Puleo (7 K's) in relief for the win.  Brian Brewer wowed the crowd with 5 standout innings at catcher (including teaming with Brian Puleo on two passed ball tagouts at home in the same inning, and a blocked plate tagout at home after a caught pop fly and heads-up relay from Andrew Lemanski to compete a DP).  Angels hitting notables include a  3/4 day from Brian Puleo (2 doubles), 2/3 day from Brian Brewer (double / single), 2/3 day from Big Mike Pechenuk (2 doubles), and a 2/3 day from Justin Hern (2 textbook-worthy bunt singles).

Notables for the Cardinals include 4 stellar innings pitched from Zach Martin (6 K's).  Big Korey Dinowitz had a 3-3 day (slamming 2 doubles and an RBI).  Ryan Howe smacked a wicked triple and had 2 RBI.  Harry Lewis also smoked a big RBI single.

Orioles 12 - Marlins 1

It was a perfect day for baseball and it went perfectly for the Orioles.  For the Marlins, who struggled to put their rallies in place against the strong Orioles starter, Jack Krugman, offensive highlights were Evan Smart’s solid line drive in the first, Owen Roberts 10-pitch battle in the 6th, and Garrett Elliot using base-running savvy to score the lone Marlins run.  Defensively, Max Harris made several unassisted infield put-puts, Mason Dupont had a one-pitch relief appearance in the third and was stingy in the 4th, walking one and giving up just one run after bullets from catcher Bobby Gerity just missed runners at both second and third, and the Marlins ended the 5th inning with authority on an Eric West strike-em-out-chase-em-back to third-and-throw-em-out double play. 

The Marlins wish the Orioles good luck the rest of the way.  For the Orioles, Jack Krugman was the first Orioles pitcher all year to make it through 5 and pitch in the sixth.  After a stellar performance, Jack got the first Marlin out in the sixth and just simply ran out of pitches.  He left the mound to thundering applause knowing no Marlin crossed the plate on his watch.  Tommy Sullivan came in to shut the door and 15 strong pitches later the game was over.  Tommy also helped the team out with a double and a triple when at bat.  Shaun McNamara got a hit every time at bat, leading the day with 3.  The jet set Josh Leshem got off a plane at Bradley and joined the game in the second inning a mere 40 minutes after disembarking - that's commitment.  Michael Ocasio got on in the second with the team's first bunt single of the year.  The Orioles thank the Marlins for the hard-fought battle and wish them luck next year.

MINORS:

New York Life Insurance Cubs 9 - Moe's Southwest Grill Twins 8

In the first round of playoffs, the Cubs and Twins fought a hard battle with the Cubs barely holding their lead to win 9-8.  For the Twins, Ian Brucell pitched 2 innings and struck out 5.  He also scored 3 times in the game.  James Renda and Ethan Speranza each had two hits and an RBI.

The Cubs' pitching, under Ben Brockway, Patrick Schwab, Jack Seemueller, Cameron Belo, and Will Gaumer, was key to their victory.  Ben Brockway struck out all 3 batters in the second inning and had a double.  Will Gaumer had an important 2 RBI double, giving his team the lead to keep in the third inning.  Aggressive base running by Patrick Schwab, Hannah Duzy, Aidan Dorian were key all with stolen bases home.  Every player on each team made this a terrific game!

Harry Bishops Corner Pizza Rangers 9 - Pediatric Dermatology of New England Phillies 8

At any level, involving any 2 teams, baseball simply does not get better than what was played today at UCONN. Two talented and resilient teams fought to the last pitch, with the Rangers edging the Phillies 9-8 in the opening round of the Minor League playoffs.

The Rangers jumped on the Phillies early, blasting there way to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first. The Rangers big hit in the inning came from Joey Lemieux (2 hits, 2rbi and 2 runs), who hit a ball that entered Bradley air space and landed him on third, and that was followed by consecutive singles from the Olechna brothers (the twins combined for 3 hits, 2 runs and 2 rbi).

The Phillies were stymied early by Ranger starting pitcher Connor Olechna (1 2/3 innings, 3K’s), and heat throwing Joey Lemieux came in to close the second with a K and work a 1-2-3 3rd. Connor also added one of the most heads up defensive plays of the season, alertly covering first from his pitching position on a ground ball to the first baseman.

The Rangers offense was held at bay for the rest of the game by outstanding pitching from the Phils Calvin Feulner and Matt Nemergut, who combined for 4 innings of 10 strikeout pitching. However, the Rangers built their lead to 8-1 with aggressive base running, notching 3 steals of home (JT Mcnamara, Connor Olechna, Jason Vitelli) as the game moved to the bottom of the 4th.

As any parent of a Phillies player knows, this team starts to hit best when 2 conditions are met: 1) Late in the game 2) Trailing the opposition. Enter the bottom of the 4th. As if on queue, the Phillies bats came alive, led by Ryan Lafferty’s (2 hits, run, rbi) rbi double, Koby Schwartz’s (2 hits, run, rbi) hustle single, and Noah LaPlante’s RBI base knock to push across the 5th run of the inning. Hello, 8-6.

With the score 9-6 Rangers heading to the bottom of the 6th, the Phillies had them right where they wanted them! Back-to-back RBI singles from Calvin Feulner and Andrew Chang cut the lead to one, and Chang quickly stole second. The Rangers then brought in closer Charlie Trunik, as teammates hummed “Enter Sandman”, who quickly got a strikeout and fielded a come backer cleanly for the final out of the game.