Canal and Naamans advance to winners bracket

Canal Little League Aiden Marston (4) slaps hands with Hunter Pettit (13) in their win over Newark National. photo by Nick Halliday

In the opening round of the District 2 Little League Majors division Canal and Naamans both advanced to the winners bracket. Both teams had commanding wins to open the tournament.

Canal Little League faced off with Newark National Little League in Game 1 of the double header. Newark National took an early 4-3 lead in the top of the first inning. However, Canal took the lead back in the top of the first inning, answering with runs of their own. Canal went on to hold National scoreless for the rest of the game as they defeated Newark 12-4.

The top four batters for Canal carried the team Offensively. Owen Fresconi led Canal with 4 hits going 4-4 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI’s. Hunter Pettit went 3-3 with 2 runs scored and 4 RBI’s and a homerun.Anthony Ignudo was 3-4 with 4 runs scored, while Ryne Beatson went 3-4 and added 3 RBI’s. Maddux Gable got the win on the mound, while Derek DiMascio closed the game for Canal.

Four Newark National players Jake McBride, Nick Fischer, Chase Toomey and Ben Nelson all had two hits a piece in the game.

Naamans Little Lague Connor Fitzpatrick hot a grandslam in the win over Pike Creek. Photo by Nick Halliday

In game two of the night Pike Creek Little League and Naamans Little League faced off in the night cap. Pike Creek jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but Naamans had an answer, putting up 5 runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 5-2 lead. Naamans went only to hold Canal scoreless the rest of the game as they scored 7 more runs for a 12-2 victory.

Connor Fitzpatrick led Naamans as he went 2-3 with 2 runs scored and 5 RBI’s with 4 that came from a grandslam.  Trey Kwoka and Patrick Wilson also added two hits apiece as the team  totaled 10 in 5 innings. Nathan Cruser went five complete innings to get the win for Naamans.

Pike Creek had the players who collected one hit, Austin Price, Domenic Harrar, and Colin Steele.

See the bracket below for the upcoming game times and locations.