Sinoway offense too much for Orange

NORTH HAVEN—The Max Sinoway Little League All-Stars defeated Orange 8-4 in a District 4 semifinal game Thursday night.

Max Sinoway, out of North Haven, has been running through the district tournament, outscoring opponents 78-13 in seven wins. It will play for the District 4 Championship on Saturday at Ralph Clarkson Field in Milford at 4 p.m. against Lou Gehrig (Milford).

After winning its quarterfinal game 19-0 against North Branford on Monday night, the team continued its dominance to advance to the final.

“There are a lot of key contributors to this team” Max Sinoway manager Mark Kornacki said.

“There are 14 All-Stars on this team so everyone is pitching in. It is a full team effort.”

The offense was fueled by the top of the order. Leadoff hitter Steve Vincent (2-for-4 with two doubles and a walk), Jayden Novak (3-4 with two walks) and Tyler Harger (3-3 with a walk) reached base safely 12 times in 16 plate appearances.

Earning the win was starting pitcher Steve Vincent, who allowed one run and struck out six in 2 2⁄3 innings. He was assisted in relief by Dante Valez (2IP, 2Ks) and Jake Pomitcher

(1.1 IP, 2Ks). All three pitchers will be available for the championship game.

Max Sinoway’s bats struck early with a threerun first inning where all nine batters came up to the plate. The first three batters reached base on two walks and a single. Cleanup hitter Max Cargan drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly to center field, while the other two runs were driven in by Dom Desimone on a hit by pitch and Tyler Kornacki on a walk.

In the bottom half of the inning, Brian Kiska got Orange on the scoreboard with a first-pitch leadoff home run to dead center field to reduce the deficit to 3-1. Vincent bounced back from the leadoff home run, retiring the next three batters in order.

Vincent led off the top of the second inning with a double and came around to score on an RBI single by Novak to retain the threerun lead.

With no outs in the inning, Orange turned to its bullpen with Derek Vuolo, who finished the inning without any added damage.

Vincent cruised through the second inning on the mound as he struck out the side, registering his fifth consecutive strikeout.

In both the third and fourth innings, Max Sinoway loaded the bases as Orange’s defense prevailed with an outfield assist in the third and a double play in the fourth to keep the score at 4-1.

In the top of the fifth Orange’s defense waivered, after allowing consecutive singles the team made back-to-back errors, enabling Max Sinoway to score four unearned runs and push its lead to 8-1.

Orange clawed back in the bottom half of the inning with a leadoff single followed by a clutch twoout RBI single by Kiska and a two-run home run by Cam Delvecchio to bring the team within four runs.

The rally fell short in the sixth inning as Pomitcher shut down the Orange offense to seal the victory.

Max Sinoway defeated defeated Lou Gehrig 9-0 in bracket play on July 2.