Instant Replay Wins Stamford Little League Majors Championship

By Gavin Daly.

Stamford American Little League’s season came to a memorable end, crowning a majors champion after an extra-inning dramatic game and a AAA champion who lost only one game all season.

In majors, Instant Replay, led by Emmett Donoghue’s two home runs in his first two at bats and an overall team effort on defense, defeated North Stamford Exchange 4-3 in eight innings in a winner-take-all game. Instant Replay forced the final game by defeating Exchange earlier in the week.

In addition to Donoghue’s two-for-two performance, Instant Replay was led by Jimmy Cosentino who pitched a full battery of 85 pitches while also scoring the winning run in the eighth inning. Kevin Salvatore notched the win by closing out the game in the 8th inning.

The defense was anchored by Vincent Galang, who saved the game with two shoestring catches in the outfield and Chris Gattuso who played solidly in four different positions. Jack Stokes and Walter Reyes contributed to a stalwart defense that let up only three runs in 8 innings.

On offense, Jason Zarrilli’s textbook bunt set the tone for Instant Replay’s team effort, while Robert Glander contributed with a double and Jake Laveris and Joe Pugliese both went two for four, while Pugliese showed tremendous poise at shortstop.

Down for most of the game, Exchange, a tough team all year, came roaring back in the 6th to tie the game and force extra innings.

Exchange’s starting pitcher Joe Pompa, who was a workhorse all season, recorded 5 strikeouts in 5 innings, while Andrew Charkales and Matt Tromba pitched well under pressure in relief in the tight game.

Exchange’s offense was led by Nicholas Montagnese who had three hits and Jeremy Fauci who came through with two hits of his own.

In the younger AAA division, Beldotti Bakery defeated Katchko Construction 11-1, finishing a season that saw the boys in maroon lose only one game all year and notch a 20-1 impressive record.

Jacob Silver threw a complete game, while backed on defense with a good performance from Johnny Frattaroli, Max Beldotti, Daniel Gattuso and Anthony Corelli.

Beldotti’s offense was paced by Aidan McMahon and Joey Pascarella, who each socked two-run doubles, while nearly all the Beldotti boys contributed on offense highlighted by Nick Petrizzi, Jason Bin, Patrick Oliveri and Zack Trudeau.

Katchko, also known as the Green Machine, had a solid effort that was led by Max Katchko, who went two for two with a big hit to left field, and Lance Alswanger-Busch, who was a rock at catcher and had a big hit to center.

On defense, Matthew Goodman had three putouts while anchoring the infield from second base, and Ian Duggan played a very strong first base.

Contributed photo.