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North Stamford Little League opened its season Saturday without a hitch. During the opening day ceremonies, it 2010 12-Year Old All Star and 11-Year Old All Star teams were recognized for winning the District 1 Championships.
Michael Beluk, a former president of the league who is still active and always at the field, was given a trophy for his dedication and devotion. Doug Horn, Lt. Jim Matheny, Frank Spoto and Steve Dawson received Volunteer of the Year awards. Mayor Michael Pavia acknowledged the league's devotion to the players and threw out the first pitch after the ceremonies.
North Stamford had a total of eight games over the weekend. Thanks to the city of Stamford's Park Maintenance Division, the field was completely redone and ready for play.
In the first game played Saturday, Rhett Hoskinson pitched four innings of no-hit ball, striking out 10 batters as First County Bank beat Viking Construction. Alex Mella led First County's offense with two hits, three runs and three RBIs. Logan Healy and Cooper Healy each scored twice, while Chris Cordone and JP Mella each had a double. Connor Smith came up with a catch in right field to preserve the no-hitter. For Viking, Sam Spingola pitched three strong innings in relief and Nick Lombardi made two nice catches in centerfield.
In the second game, John Treif hit a walk-off two-run single for County TV as it beat Unity in a back-and-forth contest. Ryan Cahill pitched well and provided big hits for Unity as did Simon Uka. Unity offense was led by Colin Callahan and Colten Katcher to back the pitching of Michael Grafstein and Anthony Socci.
The third game was tight with Instant Replay beating Soundview. Telly Colarossi pitched well for four innings and Ryan Long and Mark Murphy closed out with an inning each. Mark Murphy went two for three to lead the batting for Instant Replay. John Farrell went 85 pitches for Soundview and did well. Justic Lacasio and Austin Pellie had excellent bats in the losing effort.
In the final game Saturday, Italian Center had an amazing start by beating North Stamford Exchange. Italian Center's Grant Stone threw a no-hitter for Italian Center. Great pitching also came from Grant Purpura from North Stamford Exchange. Neither pitcher had given up a single hit entering the fourth inning until rookie Brian Noone scored the only run of the game. Stone needed no other run support in his dominant performance as he allowed only one baserunner in a complete-game no-hitter.
The second day of opening weekend was just as exciting with Soundview fighting off a valiant comeback attempt from Unity for the win in the first game. Matt Rutherford and Luca Brillo pitched for Soundview and never relinquished the lead. The Soundview bats were working hard led by Austin Pelli, Bobby Zmarzlak, John Farrell and Justin LoCasio, who hit his first home run of the season.
The second game brought a match-up between Instant Replay and North Stamford Exchange that ran into extra innings. Instant Replay pulled off a win from a five-run deficit. Matt Yang and Ryan Long led the offense with their first home runs, and Telly Colarossi turned two double plays to help the defense. The mound was strong with Mark Murphy starting and Ryan Long closing it out. Hunter Semmel was strong for three innings on the mound and a three-run home run. Noah Skaug and Grant Purpura also brought good offense to the losing effort.
Third game of the day was a match-up between Italian Center and Viking Construction with Italian Center pulling off the win. Ryan Lubowitz pitched a complete game for the Italian Center and Grant Stone hit a three-run home run. Timely hitting also came from Lubowitz, Jordan Benzacon, Danny Miller and Brian Noone.
The final game was between County TV and First County Bank with County TV coming away with the win. Jason Bria and Thomas Chiappetta pitched and hit well for County TV to pull away with the victory over First County Bank. Also supplying the offense for County TV was Christopher Chiappetta and Joey Kavulich. First County was led by Jack Meizels, Logan Healy and Cooper Healy.
Send your Little League results and a picture to trenner@mainstreetconnect.us.
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