Paramus Wins Game 2 of Little League Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament

BRISTOL, Conn. – An opening day defeat did nothing to deter the Paramus Little Leaguers.

While Saturday’s loss to Keystone (Pa.) served as a sample of the competition at the Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament, Sunday’s experience permitted the local lads to savor the flavor of victory.

Chris Regalbuto smacked four hits, including a home run, to spearhead a 17-hit attack Sunday as Paramus inflicted a 13-5 thumping on Northwest Washington (D.C.) in the oppressive humidity at Leon J. Breen Field in Bristol, Connecticut. 

“We told the boys to be confident today, go out there and swing the bats and put up a lot more hits than they were able to [get] yesterday and reduce the number in the error column as well,” said interim manager Jim Rendine, sitting in for Frank Smith who was away on “personal business.”

The Paramus squad cut its defensive mistakes from five to two and the unearned runs allowed from four to one. Winning pitcher Nick DeNigris, now 5-for-8 with four RBI in two games, cited the confidence factor. 

“Yesterday was a tough loss,” he said. “We played hard but came up short.”

Regalbuto said nervousness had nothing to do with Saturday’s setback.

“We were loose for both games but last game we didn’t pull it off,” he said. “This game we knew we had to get a win because Tuesday we have our ace pitcher (Hiro Mizutani) going.”

Paramus (1-1) struck immediately. Brandon Smith rifled a double deep into the left field corner. Regalbuto’s single put runners on the corners and DeNigris drove in the first run with a grounder to second.

Paramus brought station-to-station offense to a new level during an eight-run rally in the second inning in which 13 hitters came to the plate.

Danny Criscione, Jimmy Criscione, James Rendine and starting pitcher Gavin Niland all collected singles for the first run of the inning. Smith reached on an error and the second one scored. 

Regalbuto and DeNigris followed with RBI singles. Wild pitches brought DeNigris and Mike Daniele around to give Paramus a commanding 9-0 advantage. 

Northwest Washington (0-2) scored in the bottom of the frame. Henry Furlong and Spenser Hyun set the table with singles and Furlong scored on a fielders’s choice grounder by Sydney Love-Baker, the only girl playing in the tournament.

Regalbuto launched his round-tripper leading off the fifth inning.

“Right off the bat I knew it was gone,” Regalbuto said. “I wasn’t expecting anything more than a single but it just happened to come.”

He contributed an infield hit toward the three-run sixth.

Niland allowed three singles in two innings of work. DeNigris struck out four in two hitless frames. Eric Waxman and James Rendine finished up.

Brandon Smith had three hits and scored three runs. DiNigris also had three hits and drove in three runs. 

Hyun had two hits and George Anninos drove in two runs for Northwest Washington.

Paramus plays Newark (Del.) National Tuesday and Great Kills American of Staten Island, N.Y. on Wednesday with both games slated for 7 p.m. starts.

 Should the Jersey boys finish among the top four teams in the six-team Mid-Atlantic field after the four-game preliminary round ends, they will advance to the championship round on Friday.