Andrew Legare|stargazette.com
Before Tuesday's District 6 Little League 10-12 year-old championship game, Corning-Painted Post manager Bob Price asked his players if they could be at their best when the game mattered most. As he proudly pointed out after the game, his group rose to the occasion.
Three outs away from losing to perennial district power Horseheads, Corning-Painted Post scored five runs in the top of the sixth inning and rallied for a 5-2 victory at the Elmira Heights Little League complex. The final four runs came with two outs.
Alex Kolpien drove home the go-ahead run on an in-between line drive to second base and Kendall Curreri followed with a two-run double. Curreri gave up one run in the bottom of the inning before closing out the win.
"I'm so excited," said Curreri, who provided a reminder Little League baseball is for girls as much as it is for boys. "It was so nerve-wracking because we needed to come back from 0-1 and it was towards the bottom of our order. I was just so happy that everyone could hit and get on base and my defense is just really good. I was so happy to have them behind me as pitcher."
Horseheads showed some fight in the bottom of the inning, bringing up the potential tying run to the plate in the form of Caleb Remchuk. He crushed a line drive with two outs thatcenter fielder Reilly Wells snagged as he went down on one knee. The championship celebration followed just behind second base.
"I was so happy," Curreri said. "He’s such a good center fielder. He catches everything hit to him. As soon as he hit it I’m like, ‘Oh, you got it, you got it.’ And he caught it and I was so happy."
Corning-Painted Post's all-stars improved to 7-1, with that lone loss coming by a 3-2 score to Horseheads during round-robin play. This is the second year of the Little League merger between Corning and Painted Post, with this championship in Little League baseball's most prominent age bracket a long time coming.
"There are no words to describe this team and the no-quit attitude of this bunch," Price said. "It’s been decades since Corning has captured the District 6 flag (in the 10-12 division). It’s hard to describe what that feels like.
"The tradition of excellence that Horseheads has … we see those flags every year and just to be able to knock them off, it’s just the most amazing feeling. I’m so proud of these kids. They deserve this and then some."
Pitchers' duel
Brendan Clark hit a solo homer just beyond Wells' glove in the third inning. It remained the only score until the sixth, with Horseheads starter Mason Holloway and Corning-PP starter Spencer Castle both showcasing ace-level pitching.
Holloway gave up four hits and struck out 10 but had to come out of the game after recording the first out of the fifth inning as he reached the Little League limit of 85 pitches.
Despite coming up empty in the run column against Holloway, Corning-Painted Post had some quality at-bats that helped push up his pitch count.
"The kid is just on a different level," Price said of Holloway. "We ground out every at-bat. I tell the kids all the time, ‘Waste a pitch, work the count.’ And we were able to get him out of the game."
Price also had high praise for his starter, who also exited the game because of reaching the 85-pitch mark. Castle surrendered one run on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. Curreri worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth to keep Horseheads' lead at one.
"Spencer was just lights out," Price said. "(He has an) imposing presence on the mound. The kid is three inches taller than anyone else. He throws gas. I tell Spence all the time, ‘Don’t just throw, pitch.' There’s a difference between throwing the ball and pitching with poise. Today he located well."
Walks get rally started
Walks from Castle and Eli King got Corning-Painted Post's sixth-inning rally going. After a second Horseheads pitching change, Jake Powers singled home the tying run.
A wild pitch put runners at second and third and Kolpien's soft liner drove home King with the go-ahead run. Curreri, the leadoff batter, followed with a two-run double before Gavin Walker singled her home for the fifth run.
"That was very scary," Curreri said of her final at-bat. "I went up and was like, ‘I’m going to hit this, I’ve got this.’ I just watched the ball right to the bat and just drove it."
Seeing so many people contribute to the big inning is reflective of this team's nature, Price said.
"It’s amazing what these kids will do if you don’t care who gets the credit," he said. "That’s been their attitude from day one."
Curreri said the team tried to keep a positive attitude even as its number of chances to break through dwindled.
"Everyone was a little bit nervous," she said. "Before the last inning where we kept hitting, everyone was like, ‘Oh, we’re going to lose. But like three people were like ‘No we’re not, we’ve got this.’ Then that hyped people up and we just kept hitting."
Curreri stands out
Curreri was the only girl on the field Tuesday, but that's not why she stood out. She opened the game by fouling off multiple two-strike pitches against the hard-throwing Holloway before reaching on an infield single. She added a walk in the third inning before her clutch double in the sixth.
The right-handed Curreri worked out of trouble in the sixth inning just as she did in the fifth.
"That was really scary," she said of being on the mound in the final inning. "I thought I was going to lose it for the team, but I just pushed through it and got the strikes and made my defense do their thing."
Said Price: "What can I say? She closed the door. She’s just been my MVP all year. From day one her work ethic and everything, she brings a commitment like nobody else on this team and I think the other kids have followed that. She’s one of our leaders and that girl can play ball."
Sectional play up next
Corning-Painted Post will return to action Saturday in the Section 1 East Tournament at Ted Testa Park in Cortland. Corning-PP will play District 9 champion Oneida at 2 p.m. to open the double-elimination tournament, which is the next step on the road to Williamsport for the Little League World Series.
"We go back to work tomorrow, but we're going to party tonight," said Price, who received a small dousing of water from his players after the game.
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