Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Merrick-Bellmore Little League 10U softball team capped a historic summer run with a runner-up finish at the 2026 New York State Little League Williamsport Tournament, after winning multiple local titles.
The team, comprised of children from Bellmore, Merrick, Seaford, Wantagh and beyond, earned a 6–5 extra-inning victory over Penfield to advance to the championship game on July 17 before falling 4–1 to Great Kills in the finals.
This loss ended the Mighty Meatball’s streak of victories, winning the District 31 Little League Williamsport Championship, the District 4 West Sectional Championship and the Long Island championship.
The team began its run defeating Massapequa International to capture the District 31 title. It followed with a win over East Williston at Bruce Gary Memorial Field in Bellmore to secure the District 4 West sectional crown and earn a berth in the state tournament, which began July 14 in Smithtown.
In one of the state tournament’s defining games, the team trailed Penfield, 6-0 after the second inning. Merrick-Bellmore rallied with six runs in the next inning. Merrick-Bellmore went on to win, 8-7, in extra innings.
The roster included Mila Nedzhetskiy, Hallie Anand, Blayke Rinella, Avery Kalkau, Abigail Goldberg, Courtney Kalkau, Willow Ostrofsky, Melia Ramos, Sophia Battuello and Summer Fong. Miguel Ramos managed the team, with Brett Rinella and Stan Nedzhetskiy serving as coaches.
“I’m incredibly proud of this group,” Ramos said. “They bought into our message of focus, effort, attitude, and teamwork, and they showed incredible resilience all tournament long. Winning the district and sectional championships and finishing as New York State Runner-Up is an amazing accomplishment, but I’m even more proud of the character they displayed every step of the way.
“The biggest test for us was going down 6-0 after the 2nd inning against Penfield All-Stars, and bouncing back to score 6 runs the following inning to tie the game and eventually win 8-7,” he continued. “From that game forward the girls' confidence and belief in one another skyrocketed. For me, this tournament was bigger than softball, it was about preparing the girls for the mental challenges they were going to face. The same challenges they will eventually face in this game of life.”
Craig Hassenbein, Merrick-Bellmore’s Williamsport co-chair, and Matthew O’Brien, the league president, expressed their pride in the strength of the local Little League program.
“Our enrollment is tremendous, and we put together an all-star team of 10U players, which is made up of fourth and fifth-grade players, to compete in the Williamsport tournament,” Hassenbein said. “They put in the work and put themselves in a position to have great success.”
“Long Island is so strong of a softball hotbed that if you if you basically can make it out of our six towns, then you have a good chance of making it to the states,” O’Brien explained. “We actually conquered Massapequa International, who was one of the juggernauts in the field for many years. This group of girls that we had come up were able to pitch, hit, and field the ball like no other team that we ever seen in the past.”
To learn more about the league, visit MerrickBellmoreLittleLeague.org.
