Staten Island stays alive in Little League World Series thanks to dramatic fourth inning

Staten Island South Shore Little League had shown off its resiliency plenty during the regional tournament. On Sunday, with the threat of elimination hanging over them in Williamsport, Pa., they dug down and found it yet again in a 6-3 win over South Dakota Sioux Falls.

Starter Jake Romero worked out of a first-inning bases-loaded jam and Vincent Ruggiero’s bat and baserunning kick-started an offensive explosion in the fourth inning to erase a 1-0 deficit.

The win helped move Staten Island to the next round of the Little League World Series elimination bracket and a date with Great Lakes champion Hinsdale, Ill., on Sunday morning.

“We don’t give up,” Peter Giaccio told ESPN after the win. “This team will never give up. You’ll see us down 10-0 in the bottom of the sixth and we’ll always be trying.”

Ruggiero, who finished the game 2-for-2 at the plate, jump-started the offense in the fourth. With Staten Island down 1-0, he hit a screaming liner to reach base, setting up a single for Stephen Grippo, and a dramatic play at the plate.

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Ruggiero decided to try to score from first on Grippo’s hit. The throw from centerfield beat him to the plate, but catcher Kinnick Noble couldn’t control the ball and Ruggiero was ruled safe.

A video review confirmed the call on the field and changed the course of the game.

Nicholas McLean then singled to center to score Grippo and give Staten Island the lead. An RBI double by Peter Giaccio drove in their third run of the game. Cace Curro’s single to left field made it a 4-1 game.

“I’ve been doing this since we started. Leading off and always getting hits. Getting the team up just feels really good,” Ruggiero said.

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South Dakota managed to get a run back in the top of the fifth, but the Staten Islanders added two more runs in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a Dean Scarangello double and a Dylan DeGaeta single to make it 6-2.

South Dakota added a third run on a Noble single in the sixth.

Romero nearly threw a complete game, giving up three runs on two hits and striking out six batters in the process. Ruggiero took over in the sixth to close out the game.

Romero showed that he could shake off a rough start to the game after walking the first batter of the afternoon, hitting the next and then walking another to load the bases.

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Despite the clear frustration on his face after the third batter reached, Romero settled in to strike out South Dakota’s Luke Fenton on four pitches for the first out.

The Staten Island pitcher got Kortan to pop out in foul territory in the next at-bat — helped by a heads-up catch by Giaccio — and Romero got out of the bases-loaded jam by getting Agust Vortherms to strike out swinging.

“You’ve always got to push through and just have a lot of heart,” Romero said.

Romero retired six of the next seven batters he faced before South Dakota drove in a run in the top of the fourth to briefly take a 1-0 lead. Then came Staten Island’s offensive onslaught.

Ruggiero could be tapped to start on Sunday against Illinois and said he was “excited to go out and throw again.”

Staten Island is hoping to be the first Little League team from the five boroughs to win the Little League World Series since 1964.

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