Waterford South 11s Lose In Championship Game

Call it the sweep that wasn’t.

Monday, Waterford South’s 10-11-year-old all-star team was defeated by Stonington-Mystic, 12-2, in the District 10 championship game, with the game being stopped in the bottom of the fourth inning because of the mercy rule. For Head Coach William Speller, the team’s inexperience just got the best of them.

“Some of them have never been on this stage before,” Speller said. “And when you throw someone in a stage that they’ve never been into, they aren’t going to really perform in that heat.”

Waterford South had a chance to sweep the Little League District 10 boy’s division, with Waterford South’s 9-10-year-old all-star team and 11-12-year-old all-star team . On Friday, they had a chance to win the championship at home, but lost to Stonington-Mystic 4-0, despite some dominant pitching.

“That was the game, the pitcher throwing a two-hitter with four unearned runs,” Speller said. “You can’t give up a game like that when your pitcher pitches like that and you don’t give him any support.”

But since it was Waterford’s first loss in the tournament, they played Stonington-Mystic again in Mystic on Monday for the championship (Waterford defeated Stonington-Mystic earlier in the tournament). This game was over early, with Stonington-Mystic putting up five runs in the first inning and never looking back.

“(Stonington-Mystic) was on fire,” Speller said. “Everybody. All thirteen of them. Everything we threw at them, they seemed to just crush it. They were the better team today, no doubt about it.”

The Game

Stonington-Mystic came out red-hot to start the game. In the bottom of the first, after a 1-2-3 inning by Waterford in the top of the frame, Jason KiKoyne led things off for Stonington with a marathon at-bat that resulted in a walk.

Then, lightning struck. Twice. Second batter John Marcolina smacked a two-run home run, which was immediately followed with a home run by Tom Tabor.

“Today (Stonington-Mystic) hit the ball, they crushed it,” Speller said. “Every time they hit the ball, it was going out this way, that way. They hit the ball very hard.”

The inning didn’t want to end, with Stonington-Mystic tacking on two more runs on a two-out, two-run double by Cal Jacey. In the bottom of the second inning, Stonington-Mystic threatened again, but Waterford’s Max Adams made a diving catch in right field to save at least two runs.

That only held off the bleeding for so long. In the bottom of the third inning, Marcolina smacked a grand slam – his second home run of the game – to make it 10 to 1. The game ended with one more Stonington-Mystic rally in the fourth to make it 12 to 2, with the mercy rule kicking in.

There were some highlights by Waterford, including Adams great play and the athleticism by center fielder Jamal Brennan. Also Nick Porazzi, who was named Waterford’s MVP of the tournament, regained his composure after a tough pitching outing to smack a home run in the top of the fourth inning.

After the game, Brennan and first baseman/pitcher Noah Speller said the game made them angry, and they were motivated to come back next year. William Speller said this was the first tournament experience for seven kids on the team, and that will pay off next year in the 11-12-year-old tournament.

The 10-11-year-old all-star team had only five players on the team who played on last year's For the remaining seven players, it was their first tournament, Speller said.

“We were bringing a lot of guys that weren’t experienced with this atmosphere,” he said. “But they did gel enough for us to get this far. We worked real hard and I think they are going to be some players next year. It is going to be a big time, hard decision to pick a (11-12-year-old Waterford South) little league all-star team next year.”