SAUGERTIES, N.Y. — The District 15 Little League champions from Saugerties will be hosting District 17 titlist Red Hook/Rhinebeck in the first round of the New York Section 2 South tournament at 4 p.
m. Saturday, July 13, at Ernie Fick Memorial Field at the Cantine Field complex. Saugerties and Red Hook/Rhinebeck will be joined in the four-team tournament for youngsters ages 10-12 by District 16 champion Mountain Valley/Ellenville and District 14 winner East Greenbush/Castleton.
The latter two teams will face off at noon Saturday in East Greenbush. The winners of the first two opening-round games in the double-elimination tournament will meet each other on Sunday at a time and location to be determined. All four teams will play games on Saturday and Sunday.
The champion could be crowned either Wednesday, July 17, or Thursday, July 18. The Saugerties Little League team is managed by Dan Koegel. His coaches are Nick Bernard, John Kelly and Dan Erceg.
Koegel said nine members of this year’s Saugerties Little League All-Stars include nine players who were members of the team he managed to the New York Section 2 South title for 8- to 10-year-olds two years ago. The members of this year’s team include returnees Andrew Bernard, Matthew Erceg, Levi Hunter, John Kelly, Easton Koegel, Deegan Lasusa, Chase Mooers, Everett Nelson and Maxton Van Etten. They are joined by newcomers Cash Marino, Teodora Forde and Camren Lyons.
Saugerties won the district title with a thrilling 4-3 extra-inning victory at Coxsackie on Monday, July 9. “Coxsackie was a real good team and we ended up beating them twice,” Koegel said. “But they had some real good pitching, so hopefully that’ll help us with the section coming up.
” Saugerties, which was the home team in the title game based on a coin flip, was trailing 2-1 going into the bottom of the sixth (final inning). “We scored one run to tie it,” Koegel said. “We had the bases loaded with one out and they got out of it.
” With the game tied at 2-2, Coxsackie scored a run in the top of the seventh to take a 3-2 lead. But Saugerties rallied again to score two runs in the bottom of the inning for a walk-off 4-3 title-clincher. “It was a great Little League game,” Koegel said.
“Unfortunately for them, they were on the short end.” Koegel said the strength of his team is its defense. He said the pitching has also been good, even though a lot of breaks in between games have given Saugerties the luxury of pitching ace Van Etten a lot.
“We haven’t hit the ball as well as I’d like, but we’ve scored some key runs,” he said. “Everett Nelson has been our best hitter. And we’ve had a couple of other guys who’ve had some key hits when we’ve needed them.
It’s what it’s all about.” Hitting depth is important, Koegel said. “Under the new rules, you have to have all 12 players hit,” Koegel said.
“You have to have 12 on your roster. You can rotate kids in the field as much as you want, but they can’t be removed from the batting order unless there’s an injury. It’s more of a team thing because you need everybody.
” Red Hook/Rhinebeck captured its first district championship since Red Hook advanced to the state championship in 1967. The team that advances from the sectionals will play for the New York State Championship on Staten Island next week at a date to be determined..
