East Hampton All-Stars Are Performing Well Early on in District 36 Tournament

East Hampton Little League is more than just a little competitive when it comes to the annual District 36 Tournament, having won multiple titles over the past few seasons. It’s created itself as a league to be watched out for and that continues this summer as play got underway in the respective tournaments last week.

East Hampton has entered a full boat, a pair of baseball teams in the 12-and-under and 10-and-under baseball tournaments as well as a pair of softball teams in the same age groups. It is the only Little League on the South Fork to have that distinction, and president John Grisch, who also manages the 12U baseball All-Stars, said it’s been a huge community effort to get to the point where it can enter such teams.

“I think our Little League program is getting stronger every year,” he said. “Hub 44, which is a brand new, start-of the-art training facility in East Hampton, that the owners of Round Swamp Farm created, has been tremendous for us. It’s a beautiful indoor training facility that our varsity baseball head coach Vinny Alversa runs. I think that’s what’s putting us ahead.”

Grisch’s 12U All-Stars started their tournament, which ultimately leads to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, with a 9-0 victory over Southampton on Thursday, June 22, at the brand new Stephen Hands Path Complex in Wainscott. They followed that up with a 4-3 walk-off victory over East End Little League on Saturday to start pool play with a 2-0 record. Tied, 3-3, going into the bottom of the sixth inning, Scott Abran led off with a double to the warning track in left field. After two outs, a wild pitch moved Abran up to third base, then Colin Grisch sent a base hit to right center field that scored Abran with the game-winning run.

“We’re very excited,” John Grisch said of the first few games of the tournament and looking ahead. “We’re just hoping to get through pool play and move on. We have very high expectations. I think we have a great group of kids.”

This year’s 12U All-Stars include Scott Abran, Finn Alversa, Declan Balnis, Ryan Balnis, Alex Bobek, Jackson Cook, Jake Daniels, Colin Grisch, Rohan Keogh, Cayden Sokol, Aiden Stone and Elias Wojtusiak. The team is managed by John Grisch who is assisted by Scott Abran and Ray Wojtusiak.

Pool play wraps up this week when East Hampton plays Sag Harbor at Bridgehampton Fire Department Field this Thursday, June 29, at 5:45 p.m. then finishes with a game against North Shore American at the Stephen Hands Path Complex this Saturday, July 1, at 10 a.m. The top two teams in each pool advance to the semifinals, which start next week, and the two remaining teams will play for the district title.

The win over Southampton was a bit closer than the final score indicated. East Hampton only led, 6-2, before opening things up in the fourth inning. Griffin Page pitched well, Asa Gosman said, and James Balnis hit a pair of triples and a double. Connor Cashin also pitched well, Gosman said, and the entire team hit and defended their position well.

This year’s 10U baseball All-Stars include James Balnis, Dixon Bennett, Connor Cashin, Marco Danieli, Caelan Ferguson, A.J. Gosman, Jack Helfand, Baron Hildreth, Cooper Meehan, Griffin Page, Robbie Posilloco and Hudson Thomas. They are coached by Asa Gosman, Matt Meehan and Josh Helfand.

The top two teams in the seven-team pool will advance and play for the district championship. East Hampton will play its first home game at the Stephen Hands Path Complex this Thursday, June 29, at 5:45 p.m. against Riverhead, which beat the North Shore National team last week, so Gosman is expecting it to be a well played game from both sides. Two days later on Saturday, East Hampton will host North Patchogue-Medford at 10 a.m., it will host Sag Harbor on July 6 at 5:45 p.m. and then wrap up pool play on July 8 at North Shore American at noon.

Now East Hampton will be looking to set up a rematch with North Shore, which it can do by defeating the winning of ESM/Riverhead this Thursday, June 29, at the Stephen Hands Path Complex at 5:45 p.m. That would create a district championship game against North Shore at Stotzky Memorial Park in Riverhead the very next day at 6 p.m. East Hampton would need to defeat North Shore twice in back-to-back days in order to win the district title; game two of the championship series, if it wins game two, would be Saturday, July 1. The East Hampton squad is the same team that won the district title two years ago as a 10U team.

East Hampton got strong pitching from both Dylan Centalonza and Cameron Tuthill in the first game of the tournament in the win over Moriches Bay, and everyone contributed, manager Steve Centalonza said, with each player getting a hit and scoring at least one run. In the second game, Dylan Centalonza only gave up one hit in four innings, and she, along with Fallon Centalonza, had hits to the outfield. Callie Amicucci, Jackie Geerhreng and Maeve Tupper each had hits as well.

“It’s been a total team effort,” through the first two games, manager Steve Centalonza said. “The defense was outstanding. We made every play in the field.

“Our motto is ‘Play hard, play smart, play together,’ and everyone has really risen to the occasion,” he added.

This year’s 12U softball All-Stars include: Callie Amicucci, Merritt Bistrian-Emptage, Dylan Centalonza, Fallon Centalonza, Cameron Dawson, Ella Field, Jackie Geerhreng, Allison Rade, Evelyn Royal, Brie Steele, Maeve Tupper and Cameron Tuthill, and is managed by Steve Centalonza who is assisted by Jeff Tupper and Justin Geerhreng.

On Sunday, facing some stiffer competition in Riverhead, East Hampton lost, 12-1, at Stotzky Memorial Park in Riverhead.

“There was a big difference in pitching between the first two games,” manager John Cinelli said. “Riverhead was pitching fastballs right down the plate and I think we had the bats on our shoulders a little too much. But the team is working hard and coming together.”

This year’s 10U softball All-Stars include Madeline Abran, Addison Cinelli, Mia Coppola, Avery Dalene, Ava Duryea-Kelly, Audrey Hildreth, Siena Kinney, Ann Peterson, Sage Quackenbush, Evelyn Sanders, Sophia Schuerlein and Charlotte Vickers. The team is managed by John Cinelli who is assisted by Erin Abran and Sean Kinney.

The top two teams in the four-team pool will advance to the district championship. East Hampton hosted its final game of pool play on Wednesday against North Shore.