New Rochelle Little League Falls One Out Short of State Championship Round

Contributed by Jonas Leibowitz
The New Rochelle Little League Central 12U team was forced to win five games in five days in order to advance to the NYS Championship round. 

Using five different starting pitchers and hitting home runs at an unprecedented rate, the team emerged as one of the favorites to capture the NYS crown.  Less than 24 hours after surviving the 2 game District 21 lower Westchester championship against the New Rochelle Little League Pacific 12U team , New Rochelle Central faced a Croton squad that won the Northern Westchester district.

Croton used four pitchers, each bigger than the previous one to shut down New Rochelle 7-2 in the opening game of the NYS Section 4 tournament.   After a day off, the streak began. 

In a 7-4 victory over Middletown, Jayson Rodopoulus nearly pitched a complete game. Johnnie Rodopoulus hit a home run and had 3 RBIs and Jack Bruckner had 3 hits, a home run and three RBIs.  

The next night the team played the mid-Westchester champ Harrison, whose coaches were assisted in the dugout by Yankee manager Joe Girardi. In a hitting display that was to last for four consecutive nights the teams began to hit in bunches. Jayson Rodopoulus went five for five with 3 home runs, a double and 9 RBIs. Johnnie Rodopoulus had 3 hits and Ryan Diaz nearly pitched a complete game while getting 2 hits in the 15-5 win.   

Next up was Fishkill. New Rochelle scored 8 runs in both the second and third inning in the 19-3 victory, Johnnie Rodopoulus pitched a complete game and had 4 hits and a home run.  Tyler Bradshaw hit a grandslam and Jayson Rodopoulus had a home run and 4 RBIs.  Tyler Fulco and Ryan Diaz each had 2 RBIs and Jack Bruckner had two hits.   

New Rochelle advanced to the championship round against the undefeated Rockland champs, Pearl River. Jack Bruckner pitched a complete game and the hitting continued. Johnnie Rodopoulus hit 2 home runs and Jayson Rodopoulus and Tyler Bradshaw homered again. Steven Ryder and Duke Gomez each had 2 hits and 2 runs scored.   

This set up the winner take all final game in the NYS Section 4 championship against Pearl River. Steven Ryder pitched into the 5th inning and the hitting contined. Using 6 home runs from Jack Bruckner, Ceasar Choflet, Ryan Diaz, Jayson Rodopoulus (2) and Johnnie Rodopoulus, New Rochelle jumped out to a 13-4 lead. With 3 outs left the game looked over and New Rochelle Little League seemed unstoppable.

Pearl River then pieced together 2 walks, 2 errors and five consecutive singles. With two outs and New Rochelle holding on to a 13-10 lead. Pearl river hit a grand slam and advanced to the NYS Championship round with the other 5 NYS sectional winners.

The NYS champ advances to the Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament whose winner enters the Little League World Series.   

Contributing to the offensive outburst and defensive play were Connor Bradshaw, Anthony Fama, Daniel Grant and Charlie Ryan. The team was coached by Luis Goncalves, Stephen Caruso and Mike Freeman. This was second consecutive year New Rochelle Little League sent a 12U team to the sectional round.