A Little League in the shadows of New York City’s skyscrapers is having its moment in the sun.
New Jersey’s Bayonne Central put up a triumphant 12-2 win over New York’s Port Washington in a winner’s bracket game of the Metro regional round of the Little League World Series in Bristol, Conn., on Monday afternoon.
The Garden State greats are now one win away from Williamsport, Pa. and are living off the mantra of shocking the world, assistant coach Jaime Rivera said to the group while mic’d up during the ESPN-televised game.
Bayonne’s dominant performance, which came in four of six innings on a 10-run rule, was highlighted by a stellar day at the plate and on the mound by the coach’s son, Mason Rincon, who drove in a pair of runs and threw for an abundance of goose eggs.
The Long Islanders threatened in the top of the first with a hard-hit double by outfielder Carlo Cafferata that put runners on second and third, but Port couldn’t convert any runs then against starting pitcher Gabe Garcia.
Bayonne’s offensive machine ignited when Rincon hit a two-run homer off Jackson Gorynski in the bottom of the inning that went into the trees behind Leon J. Breen Field.
Third baseman AJ Tapia then drove in another pair off a hard-hit single that made it 4-0.
Port loaded the bases in the second inning, and second baseman Michael Gabriel scored on a wild pitch, which was followed by an RBI single from shortstop Brandon Kien, which cut the lead to 4-2.
Mikey Catuogno took over on the mound for Port in the bottom of the second and gave up a run on a sac fly by left fielder Dex Zimmerman that pushed Bayonne ahead 5-2.
Rincon, who was intentionally walked in his next two at-bats, came on to pitch in the third and threw two no-hit innings with a strikeout.
Bayonne’s center fielder Chase Klimkowski drove in another two runs with a double in the third. Third baseman Joey Dwyer singled in two more runs, and Tapia drove in another on an infield error that brought the lead to 10-2.
Catcher Jeff Bridges put the icing on the cake with a bases-loaded walk-off hit that scored the last two runs, triggering the 12-2 mercy rule in the fourth inning.
Port, which cruised to a 10-3 opening-round win over Lincoln, R.I., will now play a double-elimination game against Darien, Conn. — which Bayonne beat 8-2 — on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
The winner rematches with Bayonne Friday night in the championship game at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
That will be a winner-take-all game, although the NJ squad has not lost a game in the double-elimination tri-state tournament.
