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Mostly Cloudy Valley Stream Little League team repeats
Senior boys win back-to-back district championships
More photos of the game can be viewed here.
Backed by the strong pitching of 16-year-old Ricky Grosso, the Valley Stream Little League Senior Boys team captured its second straight Division 29 championship last week at Firemen’s Field.
Valley Stream beat Malverne 9-1 on July 20, in the second of two meetings between the teams. Two days earlier, Valley Stream kept Malverne from winning the championship with a lopsided victory at Rath Park in Franklin Square, to force another game.
Grosso pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing just one hit and one first-inning run. He struck out nine batters and earned the win. First baseman Jason Cooper switched positions with Grosso for the final two outs after Grosso reached his pitch count limit.
“Not my best game, but one of the better ones I had this year,” Grosso said, adding that his teammates and fans cheering him on gave him motivation to do well.
After Malverne scored in the top of the first inning, Valley Stream came back with three runs and never looked back, adding to its lead throughout the game. Brandon Wilder, who pitched the July 18 game, played third base and had three hits, including a two-run single.
In last year’s district championship game against Floral Park, a back-and-forth game won by Valley Stream 13-12, Wilder pitched in relief of Grosso. “This year I just worried about hitting and defense,” Wilder said of last Wednesday evening’s game. “I tried to put the bat on the ball.”
Valley Stream’s defense kept Malverne to a single run when an on-target throw to catcher Matt Russo gunned down a player at the plate. “The throw was perfect,” Russo said. “I just put the tag on. He was out by a mile.”
Russo said that the key to the team’s success was pitching, followed by good defense and solid coaching. He said he was confident going into the championship game. “I know my team’s going to do good no matter what,” he said. “I have faith in them.”
Cooper praised the starting pitching of Grosso. Coming on in relief was stressful, Cooper said, but he didn’t want to let the team down. At the plate, he also hit a triple and scored a run, which, he said, helped him break out of an offensive slump.
Ray Russo, who managed the team in the final game, praised the contributions of all the players, including those who came off the bench.
