BRISTOL, Conn. — Forget the Jersey Shore. The town of Parsippany is the story of the Garden State this summer. And a group of 11- and 12-year-olds are the reasons why.
Emil Matti pitched a complete game and Par-Troy East’s All-Star team reached the Little League World Series with a thrilling 1-0 victory over Newark National (Del.), at Breen Field yesterday in the Mid-Atlantic Regional championship. Brilliant the entire way, Matti threw 59 of his 72 pitches for strikes, allowed two hits, struck out four and retired 10 of the final 11 hitters he faced in front of a pro-Par-Troy crowd clad in red.
“I was more focused because this was a really [big] game today,” Matti said.
Par-Troy East is the second New Jersey team to reach the Little League World Series in three years, following Toms River in 2010.
They will face McAllister Park National of San Antonio, Texas, the Southwest Regional winner, in Williamsport, Pa., on Friday at 3 p.m.
“This year,” Par-Troy manager Mike Ruggiero said, “[reaching the World Series] was our goal.”
The winning pitcher in Friday’s semifinal victory over Collier Township (Pa.), shortstop Bener Uygun, provided the game’s only run with a solo home run, turning on a hanging curveball and sending it over the left-field fence in the bottom of the fourth.
It was more than enough support for Matti. The right-hander with the blazing fastball got ahead of virtually every hitter he faced and induced 11 groundball outs. Uygun made the play on five of those, including a pair of highlight-reel plays in the hole in the second.
Newark had just three baserunners, including Joe Silan, who doubled halfway up the wall in left-center in the sixth with two outs. Matti, however, responded by striking out Dominic Petrucci on three fastballs, and flung his glove in the air moments before he was mobbed by teammates.
“We were like let him go, let his adrenaline take over,” Ruggiero said.
This Par-Troy club has been together for five years and is the first team in New Jersey history to claim consecutive state crowns, and becoming the first team from the Parsippany league to win a state title in the 12-year-old division. They are now 17-2 this summer.
“It’s sort of still numb,” Ruggiero said. “But every year this team has gone further than the previous year, and that’s awesome. We went two steps further than last year. They don’t want to stop playing.”