Southampton's 12U Baseball All-Stars Gaining Steam in District 36 Tournament After Latest Victory

A 10-1 victory over East End Little League at Hampton West Park in Westhampton on Monday evening has put the Southampton Little League 12-and-under baseball All-Stars in a prime position to advance in the District 36 Tournament, which ultimately leads to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

This summer, Southampton plays in Pool A of the tournament with East End, East Hampton, North Shore American and Sag Harbor. The top two teams in each pool will advance to the semifinals of the tournament and the top two teams of those four will play for the district title.

Southampton wraps up pool play this week against Sag Harbor at the Bridgehampton Fire Department Field this Saturday, July 1, at 1 p.m. As Southampton manager Scott Armusewicz understands it, with his team having a plus-8 run differential, it’s going to be tough for his team not to advance to the tournament’s semifinals. Sag Harbor is right behind his team in the standings as of Tuesday morning, but Sag Harbor would need wins over both Southampton and East Hampton this week in order to advance, plus make up ground in run differential.

Southampton got off to a great start on Monday when its first five batters who stepped up to the plate reached base and all scored, three of whom off the bat from Wesley Warner who hit a three-run home run and homered for the second straight game. Warner finished a triple shy of the cycle and was also a stalwart on the mound for Southampton, allowing just two hits and one earned run while striking out five in four-and-a-third innings. Knowing that East End likes to run the bases, Warner did his best limiting the amount of baserunners he allowed, not giving up a hit until the fourth inning. Tre Armusewicz pitched in relief of Warner and he mirrored much of Warner’s effort, limiting baserunners by striking out three of the five batters he faced.

“I think we shocked them in the first inning, scoring five runs on four straight hits,” Scott Armusewicz said.

Southampton lost its first game, 9-0, against East Hampton at the Stephen Hands Path Complex in Wainscott on Thursday, June 22. After what Armusewicz called a “humbling loss,” the team got to work the very next day with a practice that involved a lot of batting practice and that seemed to do the job. Southampton defeated North Shore American, 10-2, at the North Shore Little League Complex in Rocky Point on Saturday. Armusewicz said the whole team hit and played good defense behind Nathan Counihan Bishop, who pitched four strong innings, getting out of a few jams early on mainly by strikeout. Warner hit what Armusewicz said was the first home run over the fence by a Southampton player this season. He also hit a run-scoring double. Counihan Bishop, Tre Armusewicz and Teddy Fulweiler all had multi-hit games.

This year’s 12U baseball team includes Tre Armusewicz, Nathan Counihan Bishop, Teddy Fulweiler, Michael Lavinio, Matthew Lesta, Torin Lysogorski, John Jackson Radice, Ryan Sisco, Carter Stevens, Landry Trantolo, Wesley Warner and Read Wilutis. The team is managed by Scott Armusewicz who is assisted by Ken Sisco and Rob Wilutis.

Southampton’s 10-and-under Minors All-Stars dropped their first two games of pool play, starting with a 15-12 loss on Thursday, June 22, at the Bridgehampton Fire Department Field, and then a 20-2 loss to East Hampton on Sunday at Stotzky Memorial Park in Riverhead.

Manager Vince Trantolo said the game against Sag Harbor was “thrilling.” Trailing 15-7 after five innings, the umpires mistakenly called the game, thinking there was an eight-run rule. Trantolo appealed the decision to District 36 and won, so the two teams resumed the game on Sunday when Southampton scored five runs in the sixth inning and had the bases loaded with the winning run at the plate, but still fell short.

Later on Sunday, Southampton faced East Hampton and the lopsided score to that game was deceiving being that it was only a 6-2 ball game going into the top of the fourth inning before Southampton ran out of pitching and the game got away. Trantolo gave credit to a strong East Hampton team that played exceptionally well in the field he said, “robbing our hard hitting team of many hits early.”

Nash Lysogorski has performed great, Trantolo said, pitching four innings and leading the team with four hits. Oliver Fulweiler and Brady Trantolo have contributed four runs each. Josiah Escobar has also played well both at the plate and in the field.

This year’s 10U team includes Thomas Capalbo, James Crosby, Lucas Dimitropoulos, Josiah Escobar, Oliver Fulweiler, Keith Greene, J.T. Ingram, Donovan Lee, Connor Liebnitzky, Nash Lysogorski, Michael Ramirez, Niko Souhrada and Brady Trantolo. The team is managed by Vince Trantolo who is assisted by Chris Souhrada and Dan Lee.

Pool play for the team continued this week. After having played North Shore American on Tuesday, Southampton played North Patchogue-Medford at Sipp Avenue Field in Medford this Thursday, June 29, at 5:45 p.m. It then plays North Shore National at the North Shore Little League Complex in Rocky Point on Saturday, July 1, at 10 a.m. and then wraps up pool play at week later on July 8 at Stotzky Memorial Park against Riverhead at 10 a.m. The top two teams in the seven-team pool will play for the district championship.

For the second year in a row, Southampton entered a softball team into the District 36 Tournament, and although the team was eliminated after having lost its first two games of tournament play, just the mere fact of having a team again bodes well for future teams in Southampton where the school district hasn’t been able to field a varsity team for the past two years. Prior to the past two years, Southampton hadn’t entered a softball team for at least six years, coach Susie Armusewicz said.

“We’re looking to possibly build this into a summer travel team,” she added. “The girls that played last year all played on the junior high this year so we’re really hoping to keep that momentum going.”

Southampton lost its opening game of the double-elimination tournament, 16-0, to Eastport-South Manor at Eastport-South Manor High School on Thursday, June 22. It played better two days later on Saturday, but ultimately lost, 16-6, to Moriches Bay at Atlantic Avenue Field in East Moriches. Susie Armusewicz, who helped coach the team with John Venturella and Jen Dupree, said Caitlin Zorko and Willow Ingram pitched in the loss to ESM, and the team was able to string together a few hits, it just didn’t run the bases well. Willow Ingram and Shealynn Armusewicz pitched against Moriches Bay, and Amare White hit a triple and Tessa DeLalio drove in a run.

This year’s team included Shealynn Armusewicz, Isla Butler, Tessa DeLalio, Kay Dupree, Lucia Galante, Samantha Halsey, Willow Ingram, Isabella O’Leary, Josephine Salinetti, Talula Tracy, Twyla Tracy, Amare White and Caitlin Zorko.