Cal Ripken U12 Brings Thunder to Summer

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By Rob Adams

Sentinel Reporter

It took a little magic last year to propel the Greenwich U11 All-Stars into the state tournament, with Ryan Perez hitting a walk-off home run to defeat Norwalk.

This year, the magic wasn’t quite there, but the U12’s of the OGRCC Thunder Blue team are undeterred. Norwalk eliminated Greenwich on Saturday in the district tournament with a 10-4 win.

“Last year, when we won the district tournament, we sort of snuck up on everyone,” said Thunder head coach Joel Perez. “This year, we were the hunted.”

This year’s tournament, held at Banksville Field, got off to a good start for Greenwich, as they beat Norwalk 11-9 last week. The Thunder brought the, well, thunder, in an 8-run second inning, highlighted by Tommy Healey’s two-run home run.

Still, despite being up 11-1, Greenwich had to hang on, proving that Norwalk enjoys mixing it up with their rival. Norwalk had the tying run at the plate in the sixth before Tyler Cusimano picked up the save by striking out the last two players.

In the next tournament game, the Thunder fell to Stratford, 5-0. That set up a semifinal rematch with Norwalk.

“Everyone was geared up to play us,” Perez said.

Greenwich led in the semifinal game with Norwalk in the first, after Cusimano started the first inning with a single. He scored on an RBI single by Nathan Jones.

Norwalk would spring to life in the third to take a 3-1 lead, but Greenwich showed what they were made of in the fourth. After Ryan Perez led off with a single and moved to second on a walk, Healey walked to put two on.

Norwalk changed pitchers, and Teddy Flinn made them pay with a double to center, scoring both Perez and Healey.

Norwalk would add a two-run homer in the fifth, and a Kostaki Kodonas grand slam in the sixth sealed the Thunders’ fate. Stratford won the district title a day later over Norwalk.

“Both Stratford and Norwalk took it to us,” Perez said. “They beat us with their pitching and with their hitting. We need to tip our hats and give credit to both of those teams for playing good baseball.”

Don’t feel too bad for the Thunder though. This is a team that will quickly dust themselves off and move on to a summer full of baseball.

“I believe that we are still a quality team,” Perez added. “We play in the very competitive A division of the Greater Hudson Valley Baseball League during the summer and will play some of these teams again. Every night we need to bring our A game to have a chance to win.”

The team will have a few highlights in July, including taking part in War at the Shore tournament during the first weekend of the month. That tournament, taking place in East Lyme, will feature teams from all over the northeast.

Then comes the trip to the “Home of Baseball,” Cooperstown, NY to finish July and kick off August.

“Our goal is to get the team ready to play at the Cooperstown Dreams Park tournament from July 29 to August 3,” Perez said. “This tournament will be the culmination of the season for these boys who will all be graduating to the big diamond as soon as the fall.”

In fact, Jeff Mini, Commissioner of Greenwich Cal Ripken Baseball, said that two Greenwich teams will make the trip up to the picturesque New York village at the south end of Lake Ostego.

The Thunder will continue to play in the GHVBL in the interim, where they are 6-0 already. Sandwiched around their appearance at the War at the Shore, Greenwich has three games against New York-based teams coming up, with a Thursday night matchup against Larchmont/Mamaroneck to kick things off. Westlake comes to Banksville Field on July 5 before a July 6 trip to Yorktown, NY.

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