Sag Harbor All-Stars Are Leaving Their Mark in District 36 Tournament

Sag Harbor Little League continues to impress.

The smallest league east of William Floyd Parkway has already qualified one team for the District 36 Tournament playoffs, with the 12-and-under baseball All-Stars grabbing the second and final spot in Pool A. Meanwhile, the 10-and-under baseball All-Stars are poised to advance as well, starting off their pool play 4-0 with two more games to be played this week.

Minors Baseball

Led by Athletes

Sag Harbor’s 10U squad improved to 4-0 after its 6-2 victory over Riverhead at the Bridgehampton Fire Department Field on Saturday. The team took advantage of some wild pitches and passed balls to take an early lead in the first inning and incrementally added to its lead throughout the game. Jace Birdsall pitched well in relief, then J.B. Ziglar closed things out cleanly in the sixth.

Sag Harbor manager Ben Gregor said after Saturday’s victory that it’s nice to have players who have put baseball first in their order of sports that they play, while having athletes that have joined to help the team in various roles.

“We have a solid squad,” he said. “We’re very fortunate with the kids that we have this year. They’re all baseball-minded kids. A handful of them do play travel, which helps so they’re into the game. Probably have four of the best kids that I’ve had on both sides of the ball, whether they’re hitting or pitching or catching.

“And the rest of the kids are right there,” he continued. “Enzo Mazzeo always has the flare for the big hit. He’s come through countless times for us. Rowan Dodds, is another one that’s come a really long way with the game. And then we have some new kids. Brandon Yepez has never played before, this is his first year. He put a ball in play today that put a run up for us. Reese [Keller], who is normally a third baseman, played the outfield for us well. Grady Craig, an All-Star hockey player, has come over to help his buddies on the baseball field. It’s been a great ride.”

While things are looking up for his team, Gregor is not one to put the cart before the horse. The team’s next two upcoming games are against two very talented teams in East Hampton, which Sag Harbor plays at the Stephen Hands Path Sports Complex in Wainscott this Thursday, July 6, at 5:45 p.m., followed by North Patchogue-Medford, which is also currently undefeated, on Saturday in Bridgehampton at 10 a.m. To make him feel more at ease, Gregor said he’d like to at least win one of those games before making any plans for the playoffs.

“I don’t look too much into the future,” he said. “We take it game by game, and then where we got to be is where we got to be. But I got a good group of kids here, for sure.”

This year’s 10U All-Stars include: Jace Birdsall, Van Chiarello, Grady Craig, Rowan Dodds, Evan Goldstein, Henry Gregor, Ryder Hoffman, Reece Keller, Enzo Mazzeo, Frank Sokolowski, Brandon Yepez Cordova and J.B. Ziglar. The team is coached by Ben Gregor, Ike Birdsall and Mike Chiarello.

Majors Baseball

Comes up Big

In a win-and-in situation, the Sag Harbor 12U baseball All-Stars came through with an 8-3 victory over neighboring Southampton on Saturday at the Bridgehampton Fire Department field to advance to the District 36 playoffs. The victory evened Sag Harbor’s record to 2-2, identical to that of Southampton, but Sag Harbor advanced based on head-to-head decisions. There was a thought that run differential might be the deciding factor — if that was the case Southampton would have advanced — but district officials confirmed the Little League rules that head-to-head records are the first deciding factor for tiebreakers.

Sag Harbor fell behind, 3-1, early on Saturday before breaking open the game with six runs in the third inning, many of which were scored off errors, but manager Brent Greene said that a lot of the team’s success in this year’s tournament has been based around the ability of the offense to put the ball in play.

“One of the biggest things for our offense is that our kids have been seeing the ball well and putting the ball in play, putting pressure consistently on the other team’s defense to force them to make the plays in the field,” he said. “If you look at a lot of our scores, we’ve been able to score runs consistently throughout the tournament by doing that and personally I think that’s what makes us such a dangerous team.”

Sag Harbor was not intimidated whatsoever by the 6-foot Wesley Warner, Southampton’s starting pitcher, and Greene said that probably has a lot to do with many of his players having faced him twice before during the regular season. Sag Harbor’s own starting pitcher, Thomas Perri, settled in nicely after giving up the early runs. He wound up pitching into the fifth inning.

“Wesley is a great pitcher. He has good control and good speed,” Greene said. “I just think our kids have developed more confidence at the plate and one of our messages has been swing the bat, take a chance and put the ball in play. But, personally, I’ve known Wesley for a while now. I know his older brother and his family. He’s a fantastic pitcher and was really locating his pitches well. We’re just getting really good production our of our lineup lately.

“Thomas settled in nicely. He’s another pitcher like Wesley who has good control and good velocity,” Greene continued. “There are a lot of kids who have great velocity, but no control — and that’s something I don’t like. I want pitchers who throw strikes. Unless it’s the College World Series or something, I don’t really want to see a good pitcher’s dual at the Little League level. I like to see some action. I like to see the ball put in play and forcing the fielders to make the plays. And you’ll typically see me, if an opposing player makes a great play, I’ll be the first one out there to congratulate them and shake their hand. But at the end of the day, we’re supposed to be teaching the game to these kids, so I like to see those plays in the field, the kids swinging the bats and the kids running the bases.”

Greene’s thoughts very much go hand-in-hand with how he thinks his team will fare in the playoffs. He noted that this is the first time Sag Harbor’s Majors All-Stars have reached the playoffs in quite awhile.

“I wouldn’t be a very good coach if I didn’t think our chances of winning this week were very strong, so I’m confident in our team,” he said. “If we continue to be aggressive at the plate, if we make the defensive plays, put the ball in play and get on base, I think we’ve got a good chance to beat anyone. If we’re not getting around on a pitcher because their velocity tends to be a little high and we’re not getting on base, that tends to have a negative effect on our team. So we’re going to try to continue to be as aggressive as we can, and if we can do that, like I said, I think we can play with anyone. Our kids are good defensive players. We’ve got great athletes at every position. I don’t know a lot about Riverhead at this point. They’re a bigger district that probably has a great pool of players to choose from, but I think we can play with them.”

The team consists of 12 players: Cole Baxter, Anthony Cappiello, Aiden D’Angelo, Matthew Dehler, Cade Fisher, Ashton Greene, Blaise Marienfeld, Cameron Mitchell, Michaël Perodin, Thomas Perri, Tyce Russo and Jaxson Schumann. The assistant coaches are Keith Schumann and Bruce Marienfeld.