Paramus 12-Year-Olds Win State Tournament Opener

's offense put up more then their fair share of runs on Friday night, but with Hiro Mizutani on the mound, they only needed one.

Mizutani threw 4 2/3 innings of shutout ball on the mound while home runs from Nick DeNigris and Danny Criscione helped boost Paramus' offense in their 12-0 victory against Erial Little League in the opening round of the New Jersey State Final Four Tournament at Monroe Township Little League.

“Our kids were alive, but reserved,” said Paramus manager Frank Smith. “They weren't overly excited. Sometimes you can get overexcited. But our kids were reserved and ready to play.”

Mizutani kept Erial from ever making the game close. He allowed just two hits and four baserunners in the game. He struck out eight batters, including the final two that he faced.

The key for Mizutani was changing speeds on his pitches. The difference in velocity between his fastball and his breaking pitches was large and it kept Erial's hitters off balance. As a result, Erial hit just one ball out of the infield in the game.

“My fastball was really good and I was hitting the corner,” Mizutani said. “The curveball wasn't really good today, it was going towards the right batter's bodies. So I will try to be careful with that.”

Paramus took the lead for good in the game before Mizutani even took the mound. With a man on first and one out, Nick Denigris hit a two-run home run over the left field fence that gave Paramus a quick 2-0 lead. That early home run immediately swung the momentum Paramus' way and they never let up.

“We really hit the ball well and we started off the game with a two-run home run,” Smith said. “When you put up runs real quick, then things change fast.”

Paramus would add three runs in the third inning and another in the fourth to extend their lead to 6-0. The biggest inning came in the fifth, where Paramus got a leadoff home run by Criscione to start things up. This was the beginning of a six-run inning where Paramus sent 11 batters to the plate. The rally truly put the game away as Paramus jumped ahead 12-0 at the end of the inning.

In the final inning, Smith elected to lift Mizutani with two outs to keep him from going over 65 pitches. By keeping his pitch count down, Mizutani only needs three days rest and could pitch in a possible championship game on Tuesday if Paramus gets to that point.

“When you're playing a short tournament, you have to keep your pitching tight,” Smith said. “We were able to get enough runs in the last inning that we were comfortable to take him out after 65 pitches. So those runs really made a big difference.

Conor Heim relieved Mizutani and needed just two pitches to get Erial's Cross Sarne to ground out to end the game and seal the win for Paramus.

Paramus will now play Holbrook Little League on Saturday at 8 p.m. with the winner advancing to Monday's championship game. Holbrook also won on Friday, defeating Livingston American Little League 8-1. Smith hopes that Paramus can carry over their play from Friday into Saturday.

“We had a nice relaxed day today,” Smith said. “We were going to have practice, but then decided to give the kids off, just do our normal hitting routine and then go right out to the field. So it's going to be the same type of mentality tomorrow, the same routine and hope they come out and play the same way they did today.”

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