Two Colonie Little League teams are competing in state tournaments this week.
The 11-year-old division all-stars are in the suburbs of Rochester competing for the New York state championship, while the 12-year-old division team is outside Syracuse looking to advance to the Mid-Atlantic Regionals.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” said Michael Martin, manager of the 11-year-old division team. “The kids come hard every day. They practice hard, and they play hard. There’s also a commitment from the parents because we have two practices every day.”
“We know it’s down to six teams (for the state title),” said John Lemperle, coach of the 12-year-old division all-stars. “We’d like to think we have a chance. The nice thing is, none of the teams have been here before, so no one has a distinct advantage.”
The 11-year-old All-Stars rallied to reach the state tournament. Jonathan Richards’ home run in the bottom of the sixth inning gave Colonie a 7-6 victory over Sorensco (East Greenbush) in the last game of a best-of-three series to determine the Section 3 champion. Sorensco won the first game 8-4 in extra innings, while Colonie took the second game 9-5 to force the decisive third game.
“We were surprised when they threw him (Richards) a fastball out over the plate, and he hit it about 270 feet,” said Martin.
“Probably my best one and one of my most memorable ones,” said Richards, who has hit 26 home runs this season, including six during the Sectional tournament.
Pitcher Jaden Waterman picked up the victory in the decisive contest, and he said even though Sorensco was scoring runs off him, he knew his Colonie teammates would pick him up.
“I felt like we would come back and win this game,” said Waterman.
The 12-year-old division all-stars had more drama in the divisional playoffs than they did in the Sectional championship round. After getting through a division that included last year’s 11-year-old state champions, Saratoga American, Colonie swept Kingston American in two games to capture the title and a berth at states.
“We had two groups – a northern and a southern division – and then we had two pools in each division,” said Lemperle. “Getting out of the pool we were in was going to be the big challenge.”
The 11-year-old division all-stars have plenty of pop in their lineup. Besides Richards, Colonie got home runs from Waterman, Tyler Hufland and Matthew Judge during Sectionals. Christopher Martin and Cameron Aery also contributed by consistently getting on base.
“It’s a team effort. Every kid has contributed … and it’s someone different leading us every game,” said coach Martin.
The 12-year-old all-stars also have several power sources in Jakob Lemperle, Jimmy Davis and Colin McDonough.
Colonie’s 12-year-old division team began its pursuit of a state title Monday, July 21, against Wappingers Falls in Cicero. The 11-year-old division all-stars started playing for a state championship Tuesday, July 22, in Penfield.
“It feels good to finally make it (to states),” said Richards.
