Rye Little League 12U’s dream summer of baseball came to an unfortunate end Friday afternoon in Rochester, NY. Colonie (Albany) soundly defeated Rye to finish their round robin undefeated at 3-0.
The loss pushed Rye into a tie for 2nd place with Rotterdam-Carman (to whom they lost 3-2) and East Meadow (who they beat 9-6) but Rotterdam advanced to the State semi-finals based on tiebreaker rules.
The sting of today’s loss will surely be replaced by the memories of the Team’s exciting march toward a rare District 20 title, in which they defeated local teams from strong baseball towns like Harrison, Sherman Park and White Plains.
Even more memorable was the Team’s epic upset of reigning NY State Champion Stony Point in two heart-stopping late-inning comeback 3-2 and 5-2 victories, to win Rye’s first ever Section Championship banner, which will no doubt be proudly hung at Disbrow Park’s Grainger Little League field next year.
The 13 boys that led Rye to its first ever NY State Little League Tournament appearance are: Charlie Brady, Luke Davies, Patrick Doyle, Paul Heintz, Jack MacFarlane, Luke McKay, Jamie Morris, Luke Ontaneda, Aidan Pymm, Charlie Rodilosso, Luke Scully, Sam Scully, and Parker Woods. Each of these boys put forth 100% effort in their preparation for the tournament. In addition, they all performed admirably under the intense pressure that is widely recognized at Little League in general, but rarely experienced at the level these young men played at this summer. Proud and dedicated Coaches for the Team were Dan Brady, Terry Morris Fran Rodilosso and Jeff Woods.
