Undefeated Colonie heads to Bristol for Mid-Atlantic Regional
COLONIE, NY >> You can officially refer to the Colonie 10-12 year-old all-stars as “Team New York.” On Friday, they departed Cook Park once again.
Their destination: Bristol, CT. They will be competing in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament, playing for the right to go to the Little League World Series.
“It means a lot. I feel like we’ve been working our whole entire lives to be able to play here, to be able to get this chance,” said Tyler Bilka, a Colonie pitcher and infielder. “We’ve been practicing a lot, putting in a lot of work, every week, every month, for a long time.”
“They’ve all been talking about it. They’re excited. I think Bristol was the big one for them because this program has made it to Bristol before in 2014,” added team manager Rich Hillicoss. “They had a really, really good team, but since then it’s been awhile.”
On Friday, the Colonie kids heard some speeches from their coaches and one another during their pep-rally sendoff at Cook Park. They also got some interview practice in front of the camera, with the Mid-Atlantic games set to be aired on ESPN+ and ESPN.
The tournament officially begins on Sunday August 8, with Colonie scheduled for a bye in the first round of the double-elimination bracket. They are scheduled to play the winner of Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. on Monday, August 9 at 4 p.m.
On top of the first round bye,
the top two of the six teams competing in the Mid-Atlantic regional will advance to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.
“We’ve been talking about it a lot because it’s always a tough road in regionals, to get through these teams. We’re playing the best team in New Jersey, the best team in Pennsylvania, some incredibly strong teams. With our current situation, it’s a great goal to have, knowing that if we win our first two games, we advance. That’s because they’re allowing two teams, so the runner-up and the champion get the chance to go to Williamsport this year,” Hillicoss said. “More importantly, we have a bye going into the tournament, where we skip the first round. This jumps our chances even more, because we don’t have to play that first game. Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. play each other and we play the winner the next day.”
The Colonie boys have run the table in their first sixteen games of the Little League tournament, going 16-0. They swept their four District 14 pool play games and then won the three games it took to win the district title.
The Section 2 — South championship was split into two best-of-three series. They swept Hudson in the semifinals and swept LaGrange in the finals, advancing to the NYS tournament.
“These kids have been working hard together since they were six/seven years old,” Hillicoss said. “They’ve been playing together a long time and they’ve played a lot of different games, outside of the area, out in Rochester, down in Maryland. Some of the kids also played in Cooperstown in a woodbat tournament and that really helped our kids see some great pitching and really good hitting. It really strengthened us as a team, doing all that moving around.”
When states began, it was more of the same. Colonie went 3-0 in state pool play and went on to win the state title against Rotterdam-Carman, 11-4.
“There was a lot of talk about the Staten Island teams, South Shore and Mid-Island, and how they’re going to run the tournament. So you get in here and you see them and I think that really leveled the playing field,” Hillicoss said after the completion of states. “When we came into states, we thought we were going to see the same type of pitching that we see around the Capital Region. A lot of other towns around the area have great programs with really competitive baseball. Playing outside in other areas, we see how strong the Capital Region is. Clifton Park, North Colonie, they don’t play Little League, but they have very strong teams.”
“We did, we expected it to be a lot closer than it was. You listen to a lot of the hype, you see all the posts about other teams, but you don’t know the teams until you actually see them.”
Overall in their 16 games, Colonie has scored a grand total of 189 runs. Their pitchers have allowed just 21 runs, good for a +168 run differential. They have a 1.27 ERA as a team over that span.
“The most important thing is that every one of these kids contributes something to this team,” Hillicoss said. “You got kids that might not hit as well, kids that might not pitch as well, but each and every one brings one, two, three things to the field that gets us to where we are. Every one of them is an outstanding team player, they have a lot of heart, a lot of drive and they never give up.”
Offensively, Bilka has been one of the hottest bats, leading the team with six home runs. Steven Thomas is close behind with five. As a team, seven Colonie players have combined for 20 home runs.
That 16-0 record is something that Colonie takes a lot of pride in. It is something that will surely be put to the test in Bristol.
“I think they love that they haven’t lost yet. One of our biggest drivers, before All-Stars began, was errors, not allowing errors. No errors, no errors, no errors. We’ll win a game 16-1, 110, whatever it is, but in the huddle after the game, I’ll get a kid that goes, but we had errors or we didn’t have any errors, so they’re more focused and motivated on that side of the game,” Hillicoss explained. “I think we’re going to match up well in the regional and I think the boys play better when they’re given a challenge of a really, really strong team.”
“Being able to play good defense, making the plays in the field, that’s going to be very important,” Bilka added, who has played for Hillicoss since he was four years old. “Our pitchers throw strikes and when we make the plays and make the throws they have to work less and that’s how we’re going to win games.”
While Hillicoss and his assistant coaches, Geoff Frazier and Chris Dannehy, will try to have their players focused on the game in front of them, they will start to hear more and more talk about Williamsport and the Little League World Series, considering they’re just two wins away.
“It’s a very strong motivational factor, but I am keeping them in check. We’re going to be seeing better competition in regionals and I’m letting them know that they’re not going to be able to just roll through, striking everybody out. The ball will get hit, the ball will get hit hard and that our defense is going to have to be the strongest part of our game. I think that’s gotten overlooked to this point so far because of our hitting and pitching and I’m looking forward to us getting a chance to show it.”
This year, Little League decided not to include international teams in the World Series, due to travel restrictions and safety protocols regarding COVID-19.
In order to keep the number of teams participating in the World Series at 16, the top two teams from each United States region will receive an invitation to the tournament.
Each player will go to Bristol independently, but once they arrive, they will be inserted into a pod, just amongst their teammates and coaches. There won’t be any other physical interaction from that point on outside their pod. Whichever teams advance to the World Series will then be put on a charter bus to Williamsport.
During the regional, the earlier tournament games will be on ESPN+, later moving to ESPN.