‘Mr. Cool’ leads Elmora to victory at LLWS

When you say you’re Mr. Cool, well, you better be Mr. Cool when the moment calls for it. Jayden Capindica Mr. Cool.

Capindica’s glove and bat boosted the Elmora Little League of Elizabeth, N.J., to a 6-2 victory on Friday over the Sprague Little League of Salem, Ore., in both teams’ opener at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

With his team down 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth, Capindica dove head-first to snag a blooper just to the left of the pitcher’s mound, then alertly threw to second to double-off a runner. As any great major leaguer would, Capindica immediately followed his slick catch with a sharp at-bat.

Staring at a bases-loaded situation and one out in the top of the fifth, Capindica smoothly lined a single up the middle, driving in Sal Garcia and J.R. Rosado to make it 3-2. All of this came after Capindica stared into the ESPN cameras during player introductions and coolly said, “I’m Jayden Capindica, and I’m Mr. Cool.”

“He’s not cool, like the ‘cool kid,’ ” coach Jairo Labrador said. “He’s cool under pressure. Nothing gets him too high, nothing gets him too low. He’s the perfect kid for that type of situation. There was no doubt in my mind he would step up and do what he did.”

Elmora scored three more times in the fifth, and starter Yadi Mateo and Rosado made the lead hold up. Mateo got the first two outs in the bottom of the fifth before Rosado recorded the final four outs, including three by strikeout.

Labrador never doubted his team would rally.

“We knew we would go down competing,” he said. “That’s what we do.”

Up next for Elmora is a 2 p.m. game on Sunday against Central East Maui Little League of Wailuku, Hawaii — a game that will be televised nationally on ABC.

“I can’t believe that’s going to happen,” Labrador said. “People are going to be tuning in to watch our boys.”

Seems like the perfect stage for Mr. Cool.