9/10 Tournament Team advances to 10-0 and Clinches 1^st Place!        (Previous Article: Williston Times 10-4-2002 Back Page Article)

The Williston Park Little League 9/10 year-old Tournament Team continued their drive for another championship this past Saturday (October 5^th) by defeating a very strong North Riverdale team from the Bronx. North Riverdale arrived at Kelleher Field early Saturday morning with hopes of taking 1^st Place from Williston Park in the 24-team 2002 Diamond Pro’s Fall 9/10 Tournament.

In the first game of the doubleheader, the game was scoreless entering the bottom of the 4^th inning. Casey Cunningham then led off with a line-drive single and Chris Serrano quickly followed with a two-run home run over the leftfield fence, to give Williston Park the 2-0 lead. North Riverdale then went down 1-2-3 in each of the last two innings to seal the victory for Williston Park. The game also included three very nice defensive plays in the outfield by Jimmy Bulva in the 1^st, Peter Aiello in the 5^th, and Matt Lanfair in the 6^th, to complement the 13-strikeout pitching performance by Chris Serrano.

In the second game, Williston Park jumped off to a quick 2-0 lead in the 1^st and advanced their lead to 4-0 in the 3^rd, with back-to-back singles by Casey Cunningham and Chris Serrano, followed by a 2-RBI single by Matt Goodrich. North Riverdale tightened the score to 4-2 in the 4^th, but Williston Park quickly responded with two runs in the 5^th, on back-to-back doubles by Casey Cunningham and Chris Serrano. Williston Park then closed out the 7-2 victory with two runs in the 6^th, on a double by Jimmy Bulva, and RBI singles from Peter Aiello and Mark Scaringi. The game also featured the fine pitching of Casey Cunningham and the flawless defense of Danny Martinucci, John Quinn, Jimmy Ward, and Tommy Ward.

The two wins against North Riverdale advanced the Williston Park 9/10 Tournament Team to 10-0 in the Diamond Pros Fall Tournament and clinched 1^st Place. The team will now advance into the Playoffs, which are tentatively scheduled to start Saturday, October 26^th.

Williston Park Little League has a special group of 9-and-10 year-old boys playing travel tournament baseball. In Fall 2001, the team advanced to the 2001 Diamond Pro’s Fall World Series. In Summer 2002, they took the 2002 Williston Park Mayor’s Trophy and the 2002 Glen Cove Mayor’s Trophy. And now, in Fall 2002, the same core group of boys has clinched 1^st Place and made the Playoffs in the 2002 Diamond Pro’s Fall Tournament. Since late-August 2001, the team has 38 victories against the best 9-and-10 year-olds from Long Island, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, Westchester, and as far away as Stamford, Connecticut.

All Williston Park Little League game information, scheduling, and results can be found at the official web site at www.wpsports.org.

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