Maine-Endwell Little League’s All-Star team has been tested 23 times. And 23 times they have come away victorious. Their 23rd victory was their biggest yet, as Maine-Endwell Little League, from New York and now representing the Mid-Atlantic region at the Little League World Series, rode yet another dominating performance from Michael Mancini on the mound to a 4-2 victory over Southeast in the U.S. Championship. Their record this summer is 23-0, as they need just one more victory to claim the title of best in the world. Standing in their way will be South Korea, who defeated Panama 7-2 to advance to the final.

On Saturday, the New Yorkers triumphed again, breaking a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth inning with four runs to pull away in the pitcher’s duel. Mancini, once again, was spectacular on the mound. That, of course, is nothing new to his teammates, who have watched Mancini dominate throughout their run to the title game.

In the New York state championship game, he combined with Conner Rush for a no-hitter. He two-hit Delaware in the regional tournament, and he punched New York’s ticket to Williamsport with a five inning, three-hit, two run performance to earn the win. He had appeared once in Williamsport thus far, allowing one run in 5.1 dominating innings, striking out 13 batters, against this same Southeast team. He was just as dominant on Saturday.

Mancini spectacular once more

Mancini looked uncharacteristically wild initially, walking the leadoff man. Would he be rattled? Not unless you count seven straight strikeouts as being rattled. Mancini struck out the side in the first and second innings, never allowing that leadoff walk to advance beyond first base. He didn’t allow another baserunner until the fifth inning. No batters put a ball in play in fair territory against Mancini over the first three innings. The only player to not strikeout or walk popped out in foul territory to Mancini. He struck out eight over the first three innings, and he would add three more to that total before exiting due to his elevated pitch count.

Not allowed to throw more than 85 pitches, Mancini threw exactly that, manager Scott Rush unwilling to remove him until he was not allowed to pitch anymore. Those 85 pitches got Mancini 4.2 innings of one-hit, shutout ball. Jude Abbadessa finished things off for him with 1.1 innings of work, although he surrendered two runs. The only player to get a hit off of Mancini was pinch-hitter Jon Simmons, but the Southeast squad couldn’t get him across the plate.

Michael Mancini faced Southeast twice. He struck out 24 batters over 10 innings and allowed just one run...none on Saturday.

Duffer duels with Mancini

Mancini had a worthy opponent on the mound in Brock Duffer. It was a rematch of the second game of the tournament, when Mancini outdueled Duffer en route to a 3-1 victory. Duffer struggled in that game, not lasting three innings while giving up all three runs. He took the loss, but he seemed ready to avenge himself on Saturday. Duffer came out of the gate dealing to the Mid-Atlantic champs, who had scored at least two runs in every game in the Little League World Series so far. Duffer would have none of that, setting the New Yorkers down in order on seven pitches, including 3-pitch strikeouts to Mancini and Ryan Harlost.

He escaped a jam in the second inning, when a walk to Jack Hopko, followed by a double by Brody Raleigh, put runners on second and third with one out. A red-hot James Fellow, 4-6 in the World Series to that point, came to the plate and sliced a line drive to left field, where it was caught. A miscommunication between the runners and the third-base coach led to neither runner tagging, and neither runner advanced on the play. Duffer got a ground out to end the inning. He needed just 3 pitches in the third inning, getting a fly out and two ground outs, all on the first pitch to breeze through in the inning.

Brock Duffer was excellent, but he had a tough task in opposing Michael Mancini. 

New York breaks through in the fourth

However, locked in a duel with Mancini, it would be Duffer who faltered first, as New York’s explosive offense could not be contained. Back-to-back walks began the inning, never a good sign, to put two runners on for Hopko. Hopko adjusted his hitting approach, waiting back on Duffer’s offering, and slapping it through the hole between third base and shortstop. Harlost scored on the hit and the runners advanced into scoring position on the throw. Zach McWilliams cut down a runner at the plate on the next play, but New York wasn’t done scoring.

An RBI single from James Fellows scored a run to make it 2-0. Later in the frame, with two outs and two runners on, substitute Billy Dundon delivered the backbreaking hit for New York, as he blooped a two-run single to make it 4-0, a nearly insurmountable deficit.

Duffer rallied for a clean fifth inning, but he took the tough complete-game loss. 

New York's offense was contained by Duffer for three innings. But they started connecting and hitting some balls hard in the fourth. 

Mini-Rally not enough for Tennessee

The only hope Southeast had left was the fact that Mancini had thrown 71 pitches through four innings. He only had 14 pitches left, but he was able to get two outs in the fifth frame with those 14 pitches. And it wasn’t like New York had a slouch coming in after Mancini. Abbadessa has been excellent in relief for the undefeated squad, and he remained so on Saturday. He needed just one pitch to finish off the fifth inning, inducing an inning-ending groundout, leaving the Southeast squad with just three outs to rally.

They didn’t go away easily, that’s for sure. This squad made it a habit to play gritty, tough baseball in Williamsport. They won one game via a walk-off two-run double to rally from a 2-1 deficit. They rallied from a 3-1 deficit in another game, and cut down the winning run at the plate from the outfield in an elimination game. They weren’t ready to lie down and quit just yet. They put their leadoff runner on via a walk, but the next two batters failed to reach, leaving them with Zach McWilliams as their final hope.

McWilliams, the team’s ace hurler, has put on a power show at Williamsport, and he blasted his fourth home run of the World Series with two outs in the sixth, to cut the deficit to 4-2, making Dundon’s two-run single in the fourth even more critical. Abbadessa kept calm under pressure, inducing a ground ball out to end the game and send New York to the title game, the first time a team from New York has done it since 1964. The game will be at 3pm.

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