HORSEHEADS, N.Y. -- A little adversity did little to derail Great Kills National on Wednesday.
Despite falling behind by three runs in the first, GKN rallied for eight runs between the third and fourth frames and never looked back as it advanced to the Little League NYS All-Star 11s baseball tournament championship round with an 11-5 victory over White Plains at Horseheads Little League.
The Nationals, who received solid, all-around games from outfielder Mike Varriale (three hits, strong defense) and shortstop/pitcher Mike Uccio (three hits, two RBI), need to win just one more game to capture the state crown. The Island squad will get its first opportunity for the title when it meets the winner of the White Plains/Plainview contest on Friday beginning at 4 p.m.
"This team has a lot of experience in big games and even though we fell behind 3-0 early, we didn’t panic,'' said GKN coach Brian McDowell. "We felt we’d eventually get to them and we did a good job chipping away.
"We still have work to do, of course, but winning (in the winners’ bracket final) is huge because now we have our pitching lined up the way we want it. We’re in a good position and we feel when we play our game, we’re the best team up here.''
White Plains got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam unscathed in the top of the first, then scored three times against GKN starter Todd Vieira to grab the early momentum.
Vieira, however, settled down nicely to get into a rhythm the rest of the way. In fact, the three-year All Star retired 11 straight at one point (three 1-2-3 innings) to settled for a 6-hitter over 5 2/3 innings to notch the victory. Mike Uccio slammed the door by getting the final out.
"(Vieira) was masterful after the first inning,'' said McDowell.
And it was just a matter of time before GKN’s bats exploded. The Nationals batted around once in the third and after Uccio’s run-scoring double got them on the scoreboard, Christian Speciale tied the score with a two-run single.
Vieira’s RBI grounder helped give GKN a 5-3 lead after 2 1/2 frames.
After scoring three more times in the fourth (RBI from Ryan Tserlin and Gianni Pasqualone) to take an 8-3 lead, Joseph Raimonda, Uccio and Randy Rivera added late RBI to help provide the final score.
In addition to Varriale and Uccio, Jake McDowell (2 for 2), Tserlin (two hits) and Vieira (two walks) contributed offensively.
GKN also played a strong game defensively. The Nationals, who committed no errors, received strong play from left-fielder Varriale and right-fielder James Westgate.