Paramus Suffers Loss in Little League Regional Tourney Opener

BRISTOL, Conn. – Paramus did not get off on the right foot in its bid for a Little League World Series crown, suffering an 8-4 loss to Keystone Little League in the opening round of the Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament at Breen field in Bristol, Connecticut on Saturday evening.

A flurry of Paramus errors and a formidable opponent held the New Jersey state champions at bay, but the locals will get a chance to get on the winning track when they face Northwest Washington from the District of Columbia on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Apparently, the long trip from Clinton County in central Pennsylvania did nothing to short-circuit Keystone’s power or their penchant for playing opportunistic baseball.

Keystone took advantage of the Paramus miscues and blasted three home runs to set the tempo.

Paramus, making its first trip to the Little League Eastern Regionals, trailed 4-0 after one inning, but rallied within a run in the third. That’s when the Keystone boys brought out their power game.

Paramus threatened in the first inning, loading the bases on a walk, an error and a single by Nick DeNigris, but Keystone’s Alex Garbrick pitched out of the jam with two strikeouts and a tapper to the mound. Garbick yielded one earned run on four hits and three walks, striking out eight.

“Normally if you get that momentum, things change quickly,” Paramus manager Frank Smith said. “They’re young. They’re 12-year-olds. They picked up four in the first and it took us three innings to get back in the game.

“I’ve got to credit [Garbrick]. He mixed it up. He threw good high fastballs to my number four guy (Mike Daniele) and number five guy (pitcher Conor Heim) and got them both.”

Keystone scored four unearned runs off Heim in the bottom of the inning, courtesy of two Paramus errors. A two-run single by Mitch Smith was the major blow.

“I knew this was a great team,” Smith said. “I went with my number two guy (Heim). He didn’t quite have his best today and we let him down defensively. If we don’t have that first inning, maybe things change.”

Paramus closed the gap in the third inning with three unearned runs.

Consecutive Keystone miscues enabled Brandon Smith and Chris Regalbuto to reach. They moved up on a passed ball and raced home on a two-run single by DeNigris.

But the Keystone bats had too much pop for Paramus.

“Two belt-high, middle-of-the-plate fastballs,” Smith said. “He had trouble hitting the corners consistently, which is why we had to try and stay away from throwing too many. He just didn’t have the fastball so he kept throwing offspeed and changeups.”

Paramus scored a lone tally in the fifth. Daniele belted a leadoff double, took third on a one-out grounder to first by Danny Criscione and scored on a single by James Criscione.

“They didn’t get all the way back in the game but they didn’t give up,” Smith said. “They fought back and tried to work the counts and it paid off. They just didn’t have enough to overcome all those home runs.”