The Junior Tigers of Downtown split a pair of crucial games with Greenwich Village Little League and Peter Stuyvesant Little League on Sunday in Central Park. The Tigers, a team of 13 and 14-year olds playing on an MLB-sized diamond, improved their record to 7-2 and all but clinched a berth in the playoffs, which start in two weeks.
In the early game the Tigers faced the Reds of Greenwich Village, the top team in a combined conference of DLL, GVLL, and PSLL. The Reds’ star hurler Luke Santore began in domineering fashion, nailing Downtown’s leadoff hitter Henry Costello on the elbow with the sixth pitch of the outing. Santore went on to strike out seven Tigers with a blazing four-seam fastball and a baffling changeup.
Lee Perry, the starter for Downtown, fell victim to walks and spotty defense in the youthful Tigers infield. Reliever Isaac Simon was a workhorse, throwing 85 pitches and working himself out of jams in every inning. Simon was strong throughout, but tired late, giving up a grand slam to the Village’s James Usher.
The defensive gems of the day for Downtown belonged to second baseman Dylan Pryor and shortstop Perry later in the game.
Downtown’s offense was led by Chris Bauman’s towering triple to left center, an RBI single by Dylan Pryor, and a two-hit performance by catcher Tyler Paige. A late rally by Downtown was snuffed out by a sparkling double play by the Village infield. The final score was 15-3.
In the Tiger’s second match-up of the day, the Yankees of Peter Stuyvesant Little League came up to Central Park to continue a game from May which had been suspended due to field spaces shortages as a 7-7 tie in the 5th inning. The Stuvesant Yankees, needing a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, loaded the bases with no outs against Downtown’s hard throwing righty Jake Kiehl. But Kiehl remained cool, pitching out of the jam with two strikeouts and a popup to first baseman Chris Bauman.
In the bottom of the inning, the Tigers went to work against Stuyvesant’s hurler Kevin Crimmins. Pitcher Kiehl led off with a single up the middle, advanced to third with two outs on a fielders choice and a stolen base, before scoring on Lee Perry’s walk off single
for an 8-7 final score.
