Do or die for SI kids
One last chance to stay alive tonight after tough defeat
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — They’re down, but not out.
Staten Island’s Mid-Island baseball team suffered a tough loss Tuesday night against Hawaii — and now must win Thursday night against Georgia in the consolation bracket in order to stay alive in the Little League World Series.
“Sometimes you need a game like this to kick you in the butt,” said Christine Mendez, mother of Derek Mendez, who got the only hit of the game for Mid-Island, which lost 10-0.
“One game doesn’t define who they are.”
Mid-Island Manager Joe Calabrese was determined not to let the defeat discourage him or his youngsters.
“We played nowhere near our best today,” he said. “Everything kind of snowballed on us. [But] we start a new sheet tomorrow.”
Calabrese told reporters that he felt his team got “rattled” by Hawaii’s power hitters, who put up seven runs in the first two innings, thanks in part to Sean Yamaguchi’s grand-slam home run.
By the end of the third, Mid-Island was already down 9-0.
Calabrese noted how his team was tense before the game.
“They are 13 years old and I think they were intimidated for some reason,” he said.
If Mid-Island can win Thurs- day evening, the team will play Hawaii again in the US-bracket Championship game Saturday. But pitching ace Gregory Bruno, who threw 85 pitches in Sunday’s game, can’t pitch for four full days due to Little League rules and won’t be on the mound Thursday against Georgia.
“Goal is to get to the last game with our guy on the mound,” Calabrese said of Bruno, who would be eligible to pitch Sunday against the winner of the International Championship game.
“We’ll come back and beat them in a championship game,” Calabrese said. “We’re gonna have to play a perfect game to beat them.”