I like these kind of stories. Perhaps covering little league baseball teams reminds me of my younger days in Alexandria, scouring the outfield, while sporting my Hank Aaron mitt and a maroon #4 Eugene Simpson and Sons uniform. Our Simpson teams only enjoyed limited success -- 7-17 during the two years I played, but these nine and ten year old youngsters from Yorktown, VA enjoyed more success. Here's the story of York American. (From a recent article published in the York County/Poquoson Town Square section of the Daily Press)
The York County American (9-10)
little league team capped a successful season by winning the District 7 championship
in late June and earning a berth to the state championship tournament which
started on July 17 at the Tuckahoe Sports Complex in Richmond.
For manager Nick LaBella and his
team, the road to the state round was relatively smooth. The Americans won
their opening contest, knocking off Northampton 14-6, and followed with a 13-9
win over their county mates from York National. In that game, Austin Reese, Dylan Kizer and Xavier Martin each drove in two
runs.
This led to a semifinal showdown
against Hampton Wythe, a game which brought out the big bats for the Americans,
who blasted their way to a 25-5 win.
For the championship, the Americans drew
a rematch with Northampton, who followed their initial loss to win the next two
games and capture the losers bracket. Hungry for revenge, the challengers
battled tough for four innings and were trailing 1-0 when the skies opened up,
causing a rain delay.
Returning to the field at the
Phoebus complex the next day, the Americans rediscovered their offensive
firepower and pulled away with a 9-2 victory, and the district championship.
David Winer pitched 5 1/3 innings and struck out six to earn the win. Julian La Bella struck out the final two batters and added a two run triple. Connor Castle (RBI single). Seth Porter (RBI single). Xavier Martin (sacrifice fly). Christian Norris (two-run single) each provided clutch hits.
Heading to Richmond, Coach LaBella showed confidence in his
squad.
“We have a real solid team. We’re deep in pitching – seven
quality pitchers. That is the key for us getting to where we want to be. We
field well and are just solid all around.”
The objective of the state tournament was to play well in the
first round of pool play and earn a bid to the single elimination draw.
Unfortunately, the Americans went 1-2 in the pool and did not make the next
round.
In the first matchup, the Americans fell to Broadway 14-4.
Although, they were bloodied, the team remained determined and followed with a
28-3 rout over Coeburn. In the Coeburn game, LaBella (6-6, five runs) and Ryan Scheiderer
(5 for 5, four runs, 4 RBI) stood out as the offensive heroes. Martin and
Porter also added three hits and a pair of runs batted in.
But the victory celebration was short as the Americans were
eliminated in the next game, a tough 8-5 loss to Cave Spring.
Coach LaBella was realistic about
what went wrong. “We committed a lot of errors during the tournament that
directly affected the outcome of each game. But, at 10 years old it happens,” He
also noted the contributions on offense and defense from Blake Boudreaux and
Austin Reese, who went 2-3 in the Coeburn game, while also striking out four in
two innings as a pitcher.
But Coach LaBella retains hope for
next season, if only based on this year’s competition..
“The two teams we lost to (Broadway
and Cave Spring) advanced to the elimination bracket.”
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