9/10 Tournament Team advances to World Series!            (Previous Article: Williston Times 11-1-2002 Back Page Article)

The Williston Park Little League 9/10 year-old Tournament Team continued their magical run this past Saturday/Sunday (November 2^nd/3^rd) by defeating Pelham Parkway from the Bronx in the Diamond Pro’s best 2-of-3 American League Championship Series. Williston Park now advances to the exclusive Diamond Pro’s World Series, which is scheduled to begin on Saturday, November 9^th.

This championship run is a tremendous achievement for the town of Williston Park considering that Williston Park has now reached the World Series in a tournament that included twenty-four of the top 9/10 year-old tournament teams from the NY Metro Area including Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Long Island, and Stamford, CT.

In Game-1 of the championship series on Saturday, Pelham Parkway took an early 2-0 lead and never looked back to shutout Williston Park and give Pelham Parkway a commanding one game lead in the best 2-of-3 series.

In Game-2, Williston Park was in a must-win situation and quickly jumped off to an early 4-0 lead with 1^st inning singles from Danny Martinucci, Chris Serrano, and John Quinn; along with a big double from Casey Cunningham. In the 2^nd and 3^rd inning, Williston Park extended their lead to 6-0 with singles by Matt Lanfair and Matt Goodrich; and RBI singles by Casey Cunningham and Jimmy Bulva. Casey Cunningham then continued to pitch flawlessly; Tommy Ward, Nick Berardi, and Mark Scaringi played excellent defense; and Williston Park tied the series at 1-1 with the 6-0 victory.

With both teams even at one game each in the best 2-of-3 series, Williston Park needed to travel to the Bronx on Sunday to play a tiebreak game on Pelham Parkway’s home field. Pelham started their ace fireballer on the mound, who had pitched a 1-hit shutout in Game-1, and Pelham quickly jumped off to a 1-0 lead in the 1^st inning. With the score 1-0 in the 3^rd, and Pelham’s ace pitching well, Danny Martinucci ripped a single to ignite the Williston Park offense. Martinucci then stole 2^nd base and scored on Casey Cunningham’s double, to tie the game at 1-1. The entire series then changed on the next pitch when Chris Serrano launched a 220-foot home run over the right centerfield fence at Reiss Field to give Williston Park the 3-1 lead. With the Williston Park fans cheering wildly, Pelham removed their ace pitcher and Williston Park then scored 4 more runs, including big hits from Jimmy Bulva, Jimmy Ward, and Peter Aiello, to give Williston Park a commanding 7-1 lead. Pelham then rallied for 3 runs in the 4^th, but Chris Serrano and Casey Cunningham shut down Pelham’s offense in the last two innings to seal the 8-4 championship victory for Williston Park. 

The Williston Park 9/10 Tournament Team is now 29-5 during the 2002 Tournament Season, which includes the Williston Park Mayor’s Trophy Championship, the Glen Cove Mayor’s Trophy Championship, and now the Diamond Pro’s American League Championship and a trip to the Diamond Pro’s World Series!

All Williston Park Little League game information, scheduling, and results can be found at the official web site at www.wpsports.org.

Copyright © 2000-2006    SJS5.com    All Rights Reserved.