Northport/Larkfield 8U Little League wins D34 Gold Championship

Michael Pizzo coaches the Northport/Larkfield 8U baseball team alongside fellow coaches Christian Alfaro, Joe Kirsch, Eric Vosper, and Gordon Wood. Michael submitted the following story after the team won the gold championship game last weekend.

Many people have heard of the Miracle on Ice, the Pacers’ 8-point deficit with 11 seconds left, or the Cubs winning their first World Series in 108 years after being down 3-1. We can now add our Northport/Larkfield 8U baseball team to that list.

Northport got off to a slow start in the simmering 90-degree heat at Otsego Park in Dix Hills this past Saturday, August 6, and trailed 10-0 early in the game. West Islip was pitching well, and it looked like an uphill climb for Northport. By the fourth inning, Northport settled down, but was still losing 14-4, about to be mercied by 10 runs if no one scored in the bottom of the inning.

This was the turning point – when Northport turned it into overdrive.

Drew Diakonikolas and Carmelo Popa started the fourth-inning rally with a pair of walks, with Billy Wood hitting a line drive single past the third baseman. Bradley Campbell, Colin Barth, and Joseph Pizzo (who extended his hitting streak to seven games) followed that up with some hard hits, driving in Julen Alfaro, Brandon Vosper, and Kevin Middleton, shifting the momentum in Northport’s favor. By the time the inning was over, Northport had scored a whopping 23 runs and took the lead 27-14.

West Islip was not finished though, bringing in seven runs in the fifth inning to make the score 27-21.

Charles Kirch was throwing a gem of an inning in the fifth, but unfortunately ran into trouble with pitch count in the sixth. Coach Gordon Wood confidently walked up to the mound and pointed for the lefty out of the bullpen. Dylan McFadzen came in to pitch the final inning of the game. Mcfadzen, poised to end the game, threw strike after strike, even striking out the final batter.

The crowd erupted with joy that the five-and-a-half hour marathon of a game resulted in a win; coaches collectively said they were inspired and proud of the way the team played: they never gave up, never quit, and played hard each minute of the game. The boys dedicated the win to Matthew Dimopoulos, who could not make the game due to illness.

The next stop for the Northport/Larkfield Little League 8U championship team, who nicknamed themselves the “Chicken Nuggets” and “Northport Hawks,” will be the Half Hollow Hills Fall Invitational tournament in September.

Congratulations on a great tournament victory!