Staten Island's Mid-Island Little League Wins Mid-Atlantic Region With Home Run; Field Set for 60th Little League Baseball World Series
PrintWILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (Aug. 14, 2006) – Despite having the go-ahead
run taken off the scoreboard by a missed step on the bases,
Mid-Island Little League from Staten Island, N.Y., refused to be
denied as Frank Smith hit a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth
inning to defeat Livingston (N.J.) American Little League, 2-1, in
the Mid-Atlantic Region Championship game Monday night at Breen
Field in Bristol, Conn.
Smith’s home run off of Livingston American Little League’s Zach
Gray came after Mid-Island Little League thought it had taken the
lead an inning earlier. Winning pitcher Joe Calabrese singled to
center field with runners on second and third. The base hit gave the
New York state champions a 2-1 lead, but an appeal request by
Livingston American Little League questioned whether the second base
runner had touched third base. The third base umpire ruled he had
not, and the run was disallowed.
In complete-game efforts by both pitchers, Gray (four hits, nine
strikeouts) matched Calabrese (six hits, nine strikeouts) through
three scoreless innings to start the game. Livingston American
Little League’s Nick Ebert broke the deadlock with a solo home run
in the top of the fourth inning.
Mid-Island Little League, 16-2 overall, finished the six-team
tournament with a 5-1 record. The only regional defeat suffered by
the Mid-Atlantic Region winners was an, 8-6, eight-inning loss to
Livingston American Little League.
Teams from New York have appeared in the Little League Baseball
World Series 15 times, winning the world championship twice (1954
and 1964). Mid-Island Little League defeated Liga Pequena Little
League of Monterey, Mexico, 4-0, in the 1964 world championship
game. In that game, Danny Yacarino threw a no-hitter. Little Leagues
from Staten Island had previously reached the World Series
tournament on three occasions (1964, 1985 and 1991).
Mid-Island Little League completes the field for the 2006 Little
League Baseball World Series, which includes Murrayhill Little
League of Beaverton. Ore., Lemont (Ill.) Little League; Portsmouth (N.H.)
Little League; Ahwatukee Little League of Phoenix, Ariz.; Daniel
Boone National Little League of Columbia, Mo.; Whalley Little League
of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada; South Lake Charles Little
League of Lake Charles, La.; Columbus Northern Little League of
Columbus, Ga.; Arabian American Little League of Dhahran, Saudi
Arabia; Brateevo Little League of Moscow, Russia; Cardenales Little
League of Barquisimeto, Lara, Venezuela; Pabao Little League of
Willemstad, Curacao; Matamoros Little League of Taumalipas, Mexico;
Kawaguchi City Little League of Kawaguchi City, Japan; and Saipan
Little League from Saipan, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands
(CNMI).
The Little League Baseball World Series for 11-12-year-olds will be
played in Williamsport, Aug. 18-27. Sixteen teams from around the
world will take part.
ABC will televise the Little League Baseball World Series U.S.
championship game on Aug. 26, at 3:30 p.m. The world championship
game of the Little League Baseball World Series can be seen live on
ABC at 3:30 p.m., on Aug. 27. Twenty-seven other World Series games
will be televised on ESPN or ESPN2 for a total of 29 games on
national television. Eleven World Series games also will be
televised on ESPN Deportes. For the second straight year, all 32
games of the Little League Baseball World Series tournament will be
on television.
For more information on the 2006 Little League Baseball World Series
log on to:
www.littleleagueworldseriesonline.org
Little League Baseball and Softball is the largest organized youth
sports program in the world, with 2.7 million participants in all 50
states and nearly 75 other countries.
