Norwich/Preston's memorable run ends in Section 4 finals

The Norwich/Preston Williamsport team’s bid to capture a second Little League banner this summer fell short Thursday night in South Windsor.

Norwich/Preston, which won the District 11 title over a week ago, were eliminated by host South Windsor, 5-1, in the Section 4 12U Majors Championship game.

“We told the boys, ‘Keep your heads up.’ It’s been a great run,” Norwich/Preston manager Chris Jaronko said. “Some of them are upset. I don’t think they’re upset that we lost, they’re upset that for a lot of them it’s their last year of Little league and their last time together. They’ve been playing together for years.”

Norwich/Preston made history earlier in the tournament with a win over District 12 champion Brooklyn. It was the program’s first ever win in sectionals.

“This is a great achievement and a great success, for Norwich and for Preston,” Norwich Little League President Darek Pietruczuk said. “They’re playing together, they're a bunch of friends.  We have a great team with a bunch of great kids and the coaching staff works really hard.”

With a core group of players that captured back-to-back state titles in 2022 and 2023 as 10- and 11-year-olds, South Windsor proved to be a formidable opponent.

“For some of them this is even their fourth time going back to states because we made it to states when they were 9 years old,” South Windsor manager Seth Falco said.

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Connor Walker gave Norwich/Preston a 1-0 lead in the second inning with an RBI double to the fence in centerfield. It turned out to be Norwich/Preston’s only run.

South Windsor pitcher Lyle Dresser allowed just one more hit, a single to right from Andrew Camp in the bottom of the fourth. Dresser finished with 11 strikeouts while walking three.

Norwich/Preston ace Brody Hewitt also struck out 11.

“Brody pitched great all season,” Jaronko said. “He was phenomenal. We put up a good battle and we made some plays that we needed too to get some outs.”

After walking the game’s first batter, Hewitt struck out the side in the first inning.

“I’ve seen him (Hewitt) in travel ball a lot and my message to our guys was we’re going to compete,” Falco said. “He is going to come hard. He has a great breaking ball. He throws hard and this is exactly what we want to see. Win or lose, we knew we were going to compete so facing him going into states is huge.”

South Windsor defeated Norwich/Preston, 17-2, on Monday and eliminated Brooklyn, 10-0, on Tuesday. The District 8 champions displayed more offensive power in the second inning on Thursday night.

“They hit one through 12,” Jaronko said. “They're hitting it and putting the ball in play and forcing us to make plays.”

Dominic Caputa started South Windsor’s big inning with a triple to center. Wesley Prather followed with an RBI single to tie it at 1.

After a fielder’s choice, Hewitt notched back-to-back strikeouts but a run-scoring infield error put runners on second and third for Oliver Nicholson. Nicholson, who bats 11th as an extra hitter, lined a two-run single to center for a 4-1 lead.

“That was huge,” Falco said. “I told them from Day 1 that this is a roster from one through 12. They pick each other up. These kids are the most humble kids on the planet. There is no one that thinks they are better than the other one. They constantly show up and support each other and it's great.”

South Windsor added another run in the sixth when the 12th and final batter in their order, Elliot Wenzel, tripled and Jacob Zande singled for a 5-1 cushion.

South Windsor advanced to the four-team state finals, which begins on Tuesday, July 23 in Shelton. East Lyme/Salem, Wallingford, and Stamford National are also competing for the state title and a trip to Bristol for the New England Regionals.

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“It was a phenomenal season,” Jaronka said. “We were one of the final 8 teams left in Connecticut. They’ve been battling together for two months in the hot summer. We didn’t come out on top tonight but it doesn’t lessen anything these boys did.”

Norwich/Preston’s All-Star roster included Jack Andruszkiewicz, Andrew Camp, Nick Bettini, Christian Deal, Brody Hewitt, Jimi Huckaba, Cion Kilpatrick, John Jaronko, Carl Muench, Silas Velasquez, Connor Walker, Jadon Walters, and Jerome Wiley, and coaches Dave Hewitt and Dave Walters.

“It’s the middle of July and a lot of teams aren’t playing,” Pietruczuk said. “We should enjoy this and we should celebrate every success at every level. It’s so easy to forget about how hard it is to achieve any kind of success. These guys work really hard and put in a lot of hours. I’m proud of them.”

This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Norwich/Preston's memorable run ends in Section 4 finals