St. James/Smithtown gets 6-1 win over Connecticut in Little League World Series Metro Region Tournament
BRISTOL, Conn. — The St. James/Smithtown 12U baseball team is one win away from the big dance.
Ryan Delgado went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and struck out five in 3 2⁄3 innings and Jeremy Katz went 2-for-2 with two doubles, a walk and three RBIs to lead St. James/Smithtown to a 6-1 win over Fairfield National (Connecticut) in its second game of the Little League World Series Metro Region Tournament Monday afternoon at Breen Field.
The Bulls advance to Friday’s championship game, where they will face the winner of Wednesday’s elimination game between Fairfield National/Jackson Holbrook (New Jersey). Friday’s game is set for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN. The winner advances to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
“All we have to do is win one more game and we’re there,” Delgado said.
St. James/Smithtown struck early. Kevin Moran hit a one-out single in the top of the first and scored on Katz’s double to the leftfield wall. In the second, Eric Hanson worked a leadoff walk and scored on a two-out double to right-centerfield by Lucas Kostas. Delgado helped his own cause in the third with a two-out single to plate Moran and extend the lead to 3-0.
Spanning the first three innings of Monday’s game and the final five innings of Saturday’s 18-0 win over Burrillville (Rhode Island), St. James/Smithtown scored at least one run in eight consecutive innings.
“Once we get going and then we just tack one, two, three runs on and Ryan is going and I knew that I had Kevin in my back pocket if I needed him, I felt good with the three runs,” manager Scott Santelli said.
After Saturday’s win, Santelli said it was likely that Moran would start Monday’s game. Santelli went back and forth on the decision but ultimately decided to have Delgado take the mound.
“Something just told me to go with Ryan,” Santelli said. “It was a hunch, it was a gut feel. When [assistant tournament director Delaney Joyce] gave me the lineup card two hours before the game, I said, ‘I still have time to change my mind right?’ ”
“I found out like an hour before the game,” Delgado said. “I felt confident that I was going to do well. My arm felt great and my command was great.”
Delgado allowed just one baserunner through the first three innings but ran into trouble in the fourth. He was replaced by Moran with two outs and two runners on. After a run scored on an error, Moran induced a ground ball to shortstop Andrew Barbato, who fired to Dominic Ciminiello at second base for the final out of the inning.
“It felt really good to get out of that inning with only one run and have my team come tack on three more,” Moran said.
St. James/Smithtown got back on the attack in the fifth as Chase Saxon and Moran started a two-out rally with back-to-back walks. Katz continued his hot hitting with a double off the glove of the diving Ben Herbst in rightfield to drive in two runs. Delgado followed with a single to left to plate Katz for the final run of the game.
Katz, who said he struggled at the plate in the state tournament before his two-homer state championship game, has been on fire at the plate. He is 4-for-5 with six RBIs this tournament.
“Everything feels relaxed and calm,” Katz said. “I think I was just uppercutting a little bit when I was struggling. So I just put my hands a little higher in my stance. I’m coming down on the ball a lot more and the ball has been jumping off the bat more.”
With three days until the championship game, St. James/Smithtown will have all of its pitchers available and Katz will take the mound. The only uncertainty is how the team will spend the next three days, though the players seem to have Wiffle ball on their minds.
“I don’t have to worry about a pitch count,” Santelli said. “It makes my decision easy. I have an easy three days, I know Jeremy is going to be starting and I still got Ryan and Kevin ready to go. We’re fully loaded and ready to go.”
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
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