North Bellmore-North Merrick U-11 Baseball Defeats Plainview to Remain Undefeated

The North Bellmore-North Merrick Rebels U-11 Williamsport team remained undefeated in the sectional tournament with a 13-5 win over Plainview on Thursday night at the Central Nassau Field in Westbury.

The Rebels remain in a solid first place at 4-0, while Plainview falls to 1-3 in pool play with the loss.

“We came out and fought right from the beginning, and I was very impressed with how they played. We had a couple of mishaps that we had to get through,” Rebels head coach Sam Acri said. “We have Huntington next, who knocked out a tough team in Commack, so we are not taking them lightly.”

Plainview took an early 1-0 lead after Zach Stromberg scored on a fielding error in the first. North Bellmore-North Merrick took a 3-1 lead in the bottom half of the inning on a big three-run home run by Brian Poricelli off of pitcher Sammy Howell.

In the second inning, both Howell and Matthew Butigan picked up RBI singles for Plainview to tie the score at 3-3.

Jack Delaney gave the Rebels the lead right back with an RBI single of his own in the bottom half of the inning.

Plainview tied the score for a second time after pitcher Kevin McCleneghan walked in a run with the bases loaded and no outs after coming in to relieve Michael Proios in the fourth inning. However, McCleneghan responded by retiring the next three batters without surrendering another run.

In the bottom of the fourth, North Bellmore-North Merrick put up seven runs to put the game out of reach. Billy McAdam hit a two-run double, followed by a two-run single by Nick Valeriano. After another pair of runs scored on an error at first, McCleneghan hit an RBI single to cap the rally.

Plainview got a run back in the next inning on an RBI single by Cole Huertas, but it was Poricelli who added the exclamation point for the Rebels with a two-run homer run in the fifth -- his second of the game.

“North Bellmore-North Merrick has ran through every team and it is tough to put up runs against them. We played a complete game against them and fought hard,” Plainview head coach Rich Mango said. “We want to finish strong and hopefully win at the end of this tournament.”

North Bellmore-North Merrick has secured a spot in the finals against an opponent to be determined. In their four games thus far, they have outscored opponents by a 49-6 margin. They will take on Huntington next on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Otsego Park in Dix Hills.

Plainview will match up against North Shore also on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the North Shore Complex in Rocky Point.

The championship game is currently scheduled for Monday, Aug. 1 at 8 p.m. at Otsego Park.