Rhode Island rally ends Media’s magical Little League World Series run

By Evan Wheaton

For MediaNews Group

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT — After taking a tied game against Maine into the sixth inning not 24 hours prior, Media Little League once again found itself on even ground to the wire on Sunday.

This time, in a stalemate against Smithfield, Rhode Island in the sixth inning of an elimination game, Media was dealt a late surge that proved unsalvageable.

Via well-placed hits and patience at the plate, the Metro Region champions poured across five runs in the sixth to pull away to a 7-2 win over the Mid-Atlantic champions, thereby ending a magical season for Media in the 2023 Little League Baseball World Series at Howard J. Lamade Stadium.

“That’s a good team. They’re well coached and I think they did a good job of getting their kids on base,” Media coach Tom Bradley said of Metro. “They were bunting a lot on us. I was surprised they didn’t bunt more, to tell you the truth. If I was them, I would’ve kept bunting until we stopped them.”

While Media is the 35th team from Pennsylvania to reach the LLWS, it’s only the third club from Delaware County to dance on the grand stage. The last Delaware County team to qualify was Newtown Edgmont Little League, which wound up winning a third-place consolation game in a much more scaled down international Series in in 1967. Before that, Exchange Club Little League of Upper Darby made an eight-team tourney of U.S. teams in 1956.

This was Media’s first Series foray, the local Little League not making it as far as the Pennsylvania state tourney since 2009. It had not won a state title since 1957.

“From what I hear, it’s really big. It’s all they talk about everywhere they go, in the supermarket, in the laundromats, no matter where they’re at, they’re talking about us,” Bradley said of Media’s community. “I’m told that it’ll be a lot bigger once we get back. We’ll actually live it and see it with everyone congratulating them.”

Rhode Island began the final inning by loading the bases with back-to-back singles from Brayden Castellone and Brady McShane, followed by a fielder’s choice without an out made on the play.

From there, a player ruled to have been hit by a pitch forced in the initial run to lift Rhode Island to a lead it wouldn’t lose. A barrage of runs followed. Royce Agilone (2-for-3) and Castellone (2-for-2, 2 runs, RBI) led at the plate for Rhode Island.

“Every one of our hitters goes deep into counts,” said Rhode Island manager Eric Gibree, who’s club outhit Media 7-5. “We don’t mind hitting with two strikes, sometimes we’ll get a few too many. But we don’t mind hitting with two strikes. We do a pretty good job shortening up, putting the ball in play.”

Trailing 2-1, Media tied the game in the fifth inning. A walk by Christian Nunez and a one-out double from Nathan Hellberg (2-for-2, run, 2B, RBI) gave the Mid-Atlantic champions life, creating the stalemate entering the last stanza.

Media made some noise in the bottom of the third inning with three hits and a run. Down 2-0, Hellberg recorded Mid-Atlantic’s first hit of the game to lead off the frame. Two outs later, Charles Haenn singled to center, scoring Hellberg from third base to cut Media’s deficit in half, 2-1.

“We had a great run. We won a lot of tight games, come-from-behinds, blowouts, I think we had 19 home runs coming into this,” Bradley said. “We just didn’t get any big hits. Even going to the wall, we weren’t driving it to the wall.”

Media fell into early trouble in the first inning. Connor Queenan led off with a base hit on the very first pitch of the game, then took second on a wild pitch. Castellone then slapped a ball to right field, scoring Queenan as he advanced to second base on an error on the play.

Austin Crowley tried to make a play to first base on a ground ball for the third out, but the runner was ruled safe as Queenan came home from third.

What followed in the bottom half was a dusting from McShane, who struck out the order on 16 pitches for Rhode Island. McShane threw 4⅔ innings with six strikeouts and four hits allowed. Castellone closed out with two strikeouts and one hit.

Crowley, Media’s ace, was pulled in the top of the third inning after 50 pitches in a move to keep him eligible for Wednesday in the event of a win. Crowley was solid with seven strikeouts with four hits allowed up to that point.

Down 2-0, Trevor Skowronek once again took mound duties, having closed out Mid-Atlantic’s prior game over Maine across 23 pitches. Skowronek went 2⅓ innings with three strikeouts, three hits allowed and four walks. Hellberg pitched one frame with a strikeout.

“That’s it. They’re the first team from Media to ever go to the Little League World Series,” Bradley said. “It’s an awesome accomplishment. Only one team’s going to win it all.”

Four teams from Pennsylvania have won the LLWS: Williamsport (1947), Lock Haven (1948), Morrisville (1955), and Levittown (1960).

Notably, Nolensville, Tenn. is just the second United States team to compete in a third straight LLWS. The only other United States club to reach three consecutive World Series was Lock Haven from 1947-49.

With the win, Rhode Island will take on the loser between Southwest champion Texas and West champ California on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in another elimination game.