Williston Times 8-16-2002

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Williston Park 9/10 Tournament Team advances to Williston Park & Glen Cove Championship Games (8/16/2002 Williston Times)

The magical run continues! Behind the one-hit, 11-strikeout pitching performance of Chris Serrano, the Williston Park 9/10 Tournament Team defeated last-year’s defending champion Merillon 8-1 on Saturday morning (August 10^th) to advance to the 2002 Williston Park Mayors Trophy Championship Game. The team then traveled to Glen Cove on Saturday afternoon and got great pitching from Casey Cunningham to defeat Bayville 11-1 to finish in 1^st Place in the Glen Cove Mayor’s Trophy Tournament with the team now advancing to the Glen Cove Championship [Game].

The Williston Park 9/10 Tournament Team started the week with the daunting task of having to play 5 important games during the week. They had a 3-1 record in the Glen Cove Mayor’s Trophy Tournament and needed to win their final 3 games against Glen Cove, Levittown, and Bayville to advance to the Glen Cove Championship Series, while at the same time, needing to play strong against Albertson-Herricks and Merillon to remain undefeated in the Williston Park Mayor’s Trophy Tournament. To further compound the situation, three of the team’s key players were away on vacation.

The week started with a big game against the strong Glen Cove team on Glen Cove’s home field. Williston Park jumped off to a strong start in the 1^st inning with a lead-off bunt single by Matt Lanfair, a single to right by Casey Cunningham, a two-RBI triple by Chris Serrano, and a sacrifice fly by Matt Goodrich, to take a 3-0 lead. In the 2^nd inning, Rich Doyle singled and scored on John Quinn’s single to advance the lead to 4-0, and the team closed out the win with two runs in the 6^th inning to defeat Glen Cove 6-0. The combined 2-hit shutout by Chris Serrano and Casey Cunningham moved Williston Park to 4-1 in the Glen Cove Tournament.

The second game of the week was against Albertson-Herricks. The game started out slowly with a scoreless 1^st inning but then John Urbank, Jimmy Bulva, Rich Doyle, Danny Martinucci, and Mark Scaringi all reached base safely in the 2^nd and Casey Cunningham cleared the bases with a double, to give Williston Park the 5-0 lead. Williston Park then scored 5 more times in the 3^rd inning, and finished off the game in the 6^th with singles by Chris Serrano, Jimmy Bulva, Rich Doyle, and Danny Martinucci to win 14-3. The game featured the strong pitching of Casey Cunningham and Danny Martinucci, with the team then advancing to the semi-final game of the Williston Park Tournament.

The third game of the week was against Levittown, who entered the game with a 5-1 record. Williston Park entered the game with a 4-1 record and needed to defeat Levittown to have any chance of advancing in Glen Cove. What further complicated the situation was that Williston Park entered the game missing four key players. With John Quinn coming back 150 miles from mid-vacation to fill out the starting nine, Williston Park jumped off to a great start. Matt Lanfair led off the 1^st inning with a bunt single, which was quickly followed by singles by Danny Martinucci and Casey Cunningham, followed by a 3-run home-run by Chris Serrano, and then John Urbank closed out the 5-run 1^st inning with a big double to left. Williston Park then added 4 runs in the 2^nd, and 2 runs in the 3^rdto finish off Levittown 11-0 and remain alive in the Championship hunt in Glen Cove.

The fourth big game of the week was against Merillon on Saturday morning with the game starting out slowly with a scoreless 1^st. Chris Serrano then led off the 2^nd with a walk and later scored on John Quinn’s RBI-single to give Williston Park a 1-0 lead. Williston Park then scored 3 runs in the 3^rd, with big hits from Matt Lanfair and Casey Cunningham, added 3 more runs in the 4^th, with timely hits from Danny Martinucci and Rich Doyle, and closed out the 8-1 win with a sacrifice fly that scored Kevin Fearon in the 5^th. The win advanced Williston Park to the Williston Park Championship Game against the winner of the August 14^th Mayors Trophy game at Kelleher Field.

Right after the big win against Merillon, the team then traveled to Glen Cove to attempt to finish out the week undefeated. Prior to the Bayville game, the Williston Park coaching staff and parents scrambled to tarp the dugout area and protect the players from the sweltering heat. The game then started with leadoff walks by Matt Lanfair and Danny Martinucci; timely hits by John Quinn, Jimmy Bulva, and John Urbank; and Williston Park was off to a quick 4-0 lead. The team then scored another run in the 2^ndand ended the long day with 6 runs in the 6^th on triples by Danny Martinucci, Chris Serrano, and Jimmy Bulva, and another timely double by John Urbank. The game (and long day) ended with Williston Park defeating Bayville 11-1 and clinching a spot in the Glen Cove Championship Series. After the game, the team celebrated the undefeated week and 1^st Place Glen Cove finish by dumping the ice-cold water-cooler on Coach Serrano.

Williston Park finished the week 5-0, by a combined score of 50-5, and has advanced to the Glen Cove Championship Series, tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, August 14^th, and the Williston Park Mayor’s Trophy Championship Game, tentatively scheduled for [Monday, August 19^th].

[The Williston Park Little League is proud to have a special 9/10 year-old 2002 Tournament Team that consists of Jimmy Bulva (RF, 1B), Casey Cunningham (P, SS), Rich Doyle (LF, 3B), Kevin Fearon (RF), Matt Goodrich (1B), Matt Lanfair (CF, C), Danny Martinucci (2B, P), John Quigg (C), John Quinn (CF, 2B), Mark Scaringi (LF), Chris Serrano (P, SS) and John Urbank (3B). The team is managed by Steve Serrano and coached by Lou Lanfair, Jim Cunningham, and Jim Bulva.]

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

* Editors Note: Brackets [] denote revisions since article was submitted 5 days prior to publication in the Williston Times. Also, the team defeated Plainedge 12-1 on 8/14 to advance to 16-team Glen Cove Mayor's Trophy Championship Game on Sunday, August 25th.