White Plains No-Hits Rye Brook in First Round of District 20 Tournament
The road and dreams of making it to The Little League Series in Williamsport, Penn. this August began on a beautiful Saturday night for the White Plains Little League Team. White Plains played as perfect as the weather on Saturday night in the first round of the New York District 20 Little League Tournament.
White Plains, aided by strong pitching and solid situational hitting, beat Rye Brook at the Gedney Little League Field by the score 10-0 (the game was called in the bottom of the fourth inning because of the 10-run “mercy rule”) Saturday night. Jon Diforio started the games on the mound for White Plains and he had a very clean and strong pitching outing.
Diforio only worked 2 1/3 innings and threw a total of 31 pitches. He was able to retire all seven batters he faced and dispensed of five of them by striking them out. He was replaced in the middle of third inning by Head Coach Jeff Rockwell in order to keep him under the important number of 35 pitches for the night. If Diforio had stayed in the game and surpassed throwing 35 pitches he wouldn’t be able to pitch for his team in their next playoff game, which is Monday night.
“I felt really good. I think I performed good,” said Diforio, who felt confident starting the game on the mound for White Plains. “We had a lot of practice time coming into the game so I think we were confident to win.”
At the plate White Plains pounced on the Rye Brook starting pitcher, who had trouble with his control right from the get go and he made several mistakes in leaving balls in the middle of the plate too often.
After Jose Iglesias of White Plains led off the game with a single and then stole second base, center fielder Matt Aventuro slammed the Rye Brook pitcher’s delivery over the right center field wall. After one inning of play White Plains held a 2-0 advantage.
“I was looking for a strike and something to hit; the kid gave me a pitch on the outside corner and I ripped it,” said Aventuro after the game about his first inning home run.
In the bottom of the second, White Plains played small ball by stroking several singles by catcher Steven Flores, third baseman Rolson Rockwell and Iglesias.
Four wild pitches by Rye Brook’s starting pitcher helped White Plains score three more runs and hold a 5-0 lead after just two innings of play.
White Plains retired Rye Brook 1-2-3 in the top of the third inning thanks to Diforio and his replacement Liam Foster, who started Saturday night’s game at second base. He struck out the first two batters he faced in the top of the third inning.
This game was put out of reach by White Plains in the bottom of the third inning when they were able to put three more runs on the scoreboard, highlighted by Liam Foster’s home run to right center field. Matt Disanto and Jon Diforio both got on base after Foster’s round tripper and went on to score runs to make it 8-0.
Disanto was hit by a pitch and driven home by Diforio’s double. Diforio was able to score on a fielder’s choice play that resulted in Rye Brook’s third baseman making an error.
Coming into the bottom of the fourth White Plains only needed two runs to reach the 10-run mercy rule, which would automatically end the game. Paul Rand began the bottom inning by slamming a double. Matt Aventuro drove him home on a single. Aventuro scored the tenth and final run of the game a few plays later on a wild pitch. He also made a fantastic catch in the top of the fourth inning that resulted in a double play. After he made the phenomenal catch he threw the ball back into second base to double off Rye Brook’s only base runner of the game.
It was a superb combination of pitching and hitting on Saturday night. White Plains pitchers Diforio and Foster combined for four innings of shutout ball and combined to no-hit Rye Brook. Foster’s final pitching line was 1 2/3 innings pitched and three strikeouts.
“We have nine kids who can throw the ball on this team. We knew we were pretty confident coming in. We have had practice every day since spring (season) has been over for two hours a day. They have worked hard. One team, one goal and they showed up to play today,” said White Plains head coach Jeff Rockwell after the win over Rye Brook.
White Plains will play on Monday night against Sherman Park. If they win that game they next play on July 1,if they lose then their next game in June 27. For more information about the tournament you can go to nydistrict20.com.
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