The East Hampton Little League 10-and-under softball team’s run ended last week in the Section 4 Tournament.
After getting off to a great start, defeating Sayville, 6-5, on July 8 at Stotzky Park in Riverhead, East Hampton lost the very next day, 14-1, to eventual sectional champion Bethpage in Islip. The 10U All-Stars then lost a close 5-4 game to the same Sayville team that it had defeated just days prior, but this time on Sayville’s home field on July 10, ending their run in the double-elimination tournament.
East Hampton manager Erin Abran said it was certainly a great run for her young team. After winning a district title the week prior, the girls were able to be semifinalists in the sectional tournament.
“They were amazing,” she said. “And we told them to keep their heads up high even though they were all sad to see their run end. There was a special connection with these girls and their families throughout this run. Nothing but positivity, even with some unfortunate things that we didn’t agree with, but they didn’t let it get to their heads. They battled. And even though we don’t have any more games together, we have had some get-togethers since that last game, and we’ll probably have more, being that we have so many relationships in sports.”
Abran said that one of the unfortunate things she alluded to was the fact that her team had to make one-and-a-half hour drives for the consecutive days last week. East Hampton residents are accustomed to having to make long drives for any type of sporting event, but what got Abran and her team a little miffed was that their final game in Sayville was supposed to be played at a neutral site, and it wasn’t, Abran said. She brought the issue up with the District 36 director who said that game locations are predetermined before teams make the sectional tournament, so that person assured Abran there wasn’t any wrongdoing. Still, Abran said, with Sayville playing in the game, it should have been moved.
Then there was the actual game to be played. East Hampton fell behind, 4-0, to Sayville only to come all the way back to tie it up. Sayville scored another run to grab a late 5-4 lead, but in one of the last innings, Novella Dunham walked to get on base, then stole second base. As she slid into the bag it popped off its secured area, and as she went to stand up, the Sayville player kept her tag on her and the umpire called her out for being off the bag. East Hampton went from having a runner on second base with no outs to having one out with no runners on, changing the complexity of the inning and therefore the game.
Abran said that most of this year’s 10U team is making the jump up to 12U next year, so the hope is that the girls will continue to work on their game throughout the offseason to make another run next summer.
“We’ve got to keep working in the offseason, get into [Hub 44] and take advantage of that,” she said. “They’ve got it, they’re good, but they’ve got to keep growing.”
This year’s District 36 Champion 10U All-Stars included Madeline Abran, Blakely Ball, Avery Dalene, Novella Dunham, Maya Eckardt, Natalia O’Brien, Kenzie O’Connell, Ann Peterson, Vera Ryan, Evelyn Sanders, Sophia Schuerlein, Charlotte Vickers and Maggie Shea. The team was managed by Erin Abran, who was assisted by Mylan Eckardt and Kyle O’Connell.
