[Updated with Section Championship results, July 22, 2013]
This week, the 10s division girls of Downtown Little League All Stars played hard to get into the Little League Section 5 Championship, the first time a team from Downtown Little League has ever competed in a section championship, according to the team manager Scott Morrison.
The girls won 7-2 against Oceanside Little League, on a Tuesday, July 16 game, giving them the opportunity to battle it out in Section playoffs.
“In just three years since Downtown Little League launched the Minors Fast Pitch Softball Division, Downtown Little League is already fielding the best Minors Softball team in Manhattan, and one of the top teams in the Long Island / New York City area,” wrote Morrison in an email to Downtown Express.
The 9/10 All Star team was dominant in pitching and catching, said Morrison, whose daughter Jamie is the pitcher. The catcher, Rylie Spiegel, was also a solid force on the field along with sister teams on the field: twins Isabella and Anabella Pelaez (3rd base and 1st base); and Ava and Emma Whitman (2nd base and short stop). Twins sisters Bridget and Harriett Albright are also on the team together and rotate to sub as pinch hitters and center fielders.
Mickey Whitman and Douglas Spiegel kept the team’s morale up in spite of the city’s heat wave.
The win propelled them to a Wednesday match with Garden City South at Rath Field in Franklin Square. The girls came out strong against the Western Nassau team, winning 2-0.
There were hugs all around, wrote Morrison, along with players jumping and yelling with excitement. “We all circled up and started chanting Downtown, Downtown, Downtown…..! Then the girls as a team ran across the other side of the field to the parents and D.L.L. fans.”
A night of celebration, featuring pizza of course, was thrown at Harry’s Italian restaurant in Lower Manhattan.
It’s a big deal, said Morrison, because the win put them in the section championships for the first time, and the section winners go to State.
The girls played hard in their game against Staten Island’s South Shore team, on Friday, Jul 19, but were unable to beat their long-established rivals. But Morrison said the girls had a “real fun run.” Keep up the good work, All Stars!
