Staten Island South Shore Little League has comeback before on their road to the Little League World Series, and on Saturday afternoon they did it again to rally back for a 6-3 win over South Dakota Sioux Falls.
The win helped move Staten Island to the next round of the Little League World Series elimination bracket and a date with Great Lakes champion Hinsdale, Illinois on Sunday morning at 9 a.m.
It was the bat and base running of Vincent Ruggerio that kick-started a four-run fourth inning that catapulted Staten Island safely into the lead, after they mustered just one run in their first game in Williamsport, Pa. on Thursday.
Ruggerio hit a screaming liner to center field to get on base and then a Stephen Grippo single set up a dramatic play at the plate.
Ruggerio decided to try and score from first on the hit and the throw from centerfielder Manny Kortan reached the plate, but catcher Kinnick Noble appeared to not have the ball controlled in his glove and the Staten Island infielder was ruled safe.
A video review confirmed the call on the field and changed the course of the game.
Nicholas McLean singled to center to score Grippo on the next at-bat to give Staten Island the lead and an RBI double by Peter Giaccio drove in their third run of the game.
Chace Curro’s single to left field made it a 4-1 game.
South Dakota managed to get a run back in the top of the fifth, but the Staten Islanders added two more runs in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a Dean Scarangello double and a Dylan DeGaeta groundball single to increase their lead to 6-2.
They added a third run on a Noble single in the sixth.
Staten Island starter Jake Romero nearly threw a complete game, giving up three runs on two hits and striking out six batters in the process.
Ruggerio took over for Romero after he walked the first batter of the sixth inning and struck out three batters.
Romero showed he could shake off a rough start to the game after walking the first batter of the afternoon, hitting the next and then walking another to load the bases.
Despite the clear frustration on his face after the third batter had gotten on, Romero settled in to strike out South Dakota’s Luke Fenton in four pitches for the first out.
The Staten Island pitcher got Kortan to pop out in foul territory in the next at-bat – helped by a heads-up catch by Giaccio – and Romero got out of the bases-loaded jam by getting Agust Vortherms to strike out swinging.
Romero retired six of the next seven batters he faced before South Dakota drove in a run in the top of of the fourth to take a 1-0 lead briefly before Staten Island’s offensive onslaught.
Staten Island keeps its Little League World Series dreams alive with the win along with the hopes of the five boroughs.
They will still need to win four more games to claim the U.S championship.
The last time a team from New York City won the Little League World Series was back in 1964, which also happened to be a team from Staten Island.