Paramus Effort Falls Short in Bid for World Series

BRISTOL, Conn. – With the day of rain came winds of change that blew in an untimely direction for the Paramus Little League team.

When right-hander Hiro Mizutani was on the mound, the Pennsylvania state champions foundered. His eligibility expired due to the postponement of the game on Sunday and the Pennsylvanian’s pitching depth carried them home.

Home runs by Wyatt Koch and Tyler McCloskey Monday morning paced Keystone Little League of Clinton County, Pa., to a 5-2 victory over the local lads in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament title game at rain-soaked Breen Field.

Keystone, seeded first in the Mid-Atlantic knockout round, finished its tour of the Little League’s Eastern Region with a 6-0 record. Paramus, the third seed, ended at 3-3.

The Pennsylvania club wasted little time in boarding a bus for Williamsport, Pa., to play in the Little League World Series beginning on Friday. Clinton County is just 25 miles west of Williamsport. For the Paramus faithful, it was a two-hour trek home likely rife with fond memories and back-to-school thoughts.

Paramus manager Frank Smith offered a reasoned response in summing up his team’s tournament effort, but he knew it would take some time for the boys to overcome Monday’s disappointing result.

“When it’s all said and done, the kids obviously are sad. Nobody wants to be one game away and not get there,” he said. “So we told our kids, you win and lose like champions and pros, and they did. When they got to the dugout, they were upset, and I’m not going to say they shouldn’t be.”

The teams played three scoreless innings Sunday morning when play was stopped just short of noon due to intensifying rain. They were not able to restart despite efforts by the Eastern Regional administrators. Just after 9 p.m., administrators announced the game would start again at 10 a.m. the following day.

On Sunday, Mizutani threw three hit-less innings and struck out five. The Paramus offense had four hits and two walks against Pennsylvania ace Alex Garbrick, but couldn’t push a run across.

On Monday, with both Mizutani and number two starter Conor Heim unavailable due to Little League pitch-count regulations, Smith handed the ball to Nick DeNigris (2-1, 4.09 ERA for tournament).

“[Sunday] was frustrating. Today we came out and we were short a little bit of pitching and [Pennsylvania] can hit the heck out of the ball,” Smith said.

Pennsylvania manager Bill Garbrick went with left-hander Landon Breon, who pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless ball in the teams’ first meeting Aug. 6, an 8-4 Pennsylvania win.

“Our pitching depth is certainly one of our strengths,” Manager Garbrick said. “We’ve got four or five guys [in which] we have a ton of confidence in putting on that mound. I think that was a big part of the difference. We had some strength we could throw in there today.”

With the game still scoreless in the home fourth, Pennsylvania went to work.

Talon Falls was hit by a pitch. Breon floated a pop fly to center but miscommunication between the center fielder and shortstop provided Pennsylvania’s first safety of the game. The ball was playable for the center fielder, but the shortstop wound up making an over-the-shoulder attempt.

“They’re 12. That happens,” Smith said. The change on the mound between days, he indicated, forced him to use a lineup that wasn’t Paramus’ strongest.

“After [Sunday], I was forced to make moves that I wouldn’t normally make,” he said. “I had to put a pitcher in that I didn’t expect to pitch and I had to put someone in the outfield I wouldn’t expect to put in the outfield.

“When that happens, it’s not just that you lose your best pitcher, in my opinion the best pitcher in the Region, other moves have to be made to adjust.”

DeNigris got Cole Reeder to pop out but Koch sent a first-pitch fastball on a journey that didn’t stop until it reached the wooded area well beyond the center field fence.

“[Coach Chip Miller] was telling me he needed a base hit here so I gave him a base hit,” Koch said.

The resilient Paramus boys responded in the fifth.

Chris Regalbuto, two-strike hitting against Breon, lashed a base hit to center field. DeNigris also fell behind 0-2 but cracked a two-run homer to draw Paramus within a run at 3-2. DeNigris was sixth among the tournament’s batting leaders (9-for-19, .474) and shared the team leadership in RBI with Regalbuto (6).

Smith had to console DeNigris after he struck out for the game’s final out.

“He’s a great player,” Smith said. “He plays with raw heart. I told him he’d given us home run after home run, hit after hit, inning after inning, play after play. You can’t hang your hat on one play ... Shake your teams and let’s go over there and shake their hands.”

Pennsylvania put it away in the home half. Tyler McCloskey, who made two brilliant plays in center field during the Sunday portion of the game, rode a 1-2 delivery over the center field fence for an insurance run.

Brandon Miller reached first on an infield error, took second on a wild pitch and galloped home from second on Garbrick’s RBI single.

McCloskey, who also serves as Pennsylvania’s closer, got the last out of the fifth. The sixth started with James Rendine reaching on an infield error. Mizutani, who moved to third base on Monday, battled McCloskey for 11 pitches before drawing a walk.

The top of the order came up with the tying run at the plate, but McCluskey retired the side in order to set off Pennsylvania’s post-game party.

“I was a little nervous so I had to reach back and throw strikes,” McCluskey said. “I was still a little nervous on the last pitch but I had to stay focused.”

Paramus negotiated the tournament with Mizutani throwing only 6 2/3 innings due to two circumstances: Aside from the rain delay that limited him to three, he pitched in Paramus’ state championship clincher so he was unable to start the first game of the Mid-Atlantic, the loss to Pennsylvania.

“He’s an exceptional pitcher,” Smith said. “He no-hit a team through three innings that can tag the ball all over the ballpark. They were down a little bit last night but came out ready to play this morning. There was no frustration, nothing other than being ready to play to get to Williamsport today.”