Sag Harbor, Southampton Minors All-Star Teams Bow Out Of District 36 Tournament

The District 36 Tournament—which eventually leads to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania—came to a close for a pair of local 9- and 10-year-old teams after tough fights. The Sag Harbor All-Stars were the first team to miss out on advancing to the semifinals of the tournament after finishing with a 3-2 record. The teams with the top two records in each pool advanced to the semis, which were played on Sunday. East Hampton and North Shore American were the top two teams from Pool A—the same pool as Sag Harbor and Southampton—while Longwood and North Patchogue/Medford were the top two teams from Pool B. East Hampton and Longwood both advanced to the district championships on Monday. Sag Harbor defeated Southampon, 18-10, at the Bridgehampton Fire Department Field on July 5 to improve to 3-1 and creating an elimination game at North Shore on Friday. North Shore wound up winning the game, 9-5, to advance to the semis. The Southampton All-Stars went 0-5 in the tournament but were competitive in every game they played. Even against undefeated East Hampton on Friday, Southampton trailed by only a run at 3-2 before allowing a few runs in the fourth inning. They wound up losing 12-2. “We were really competitive for a majority of the games. In almost every game, things unraveled in one inning,” Southampton manager Dan McDonnell explained. “They probably played their best game against one of the best teams in the tournament in East Hampton. They were competitive and that’s all we can ask of them.”“We kind of stressed this code of conduct about sportsmanship and treating your opponents and umpires with respect,” he added. “They were good sports all the way until the end.”