With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, and the game tied at five, Staten Island South Shore Little League’s Peter Giaccio was determined to end the game when he stepped into the batter’s box.
“I told him we’re taking one pitch,” Staten Island manager Bob Laterza told The Post about the moment. “He says, ‘I don’t care how many pitches we take, I’m winning this game.’”
Giaccio did just that, blooping a single into left field to drive home Dylan Degaeta to lift Staten Island to a 6-5 win over East Lyme, Conn., and punch their ticket to the Mid-Atlantic Regional final on Friday night against Morristown, N.J.
The winner advances to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
Staten Island battled throughout the game in Bristol, Conn., and erased two different deficits to pull out the hard-fought win.
“These kids won’t give up,” Laterza said. “They’re playing in our league for four years. This is where they want to be, this is what it’s all about to get there and they’re taking the most of this opportunity.”
Down 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth, Vin Ruggiero scored on a double to pull Staten Island to within one.
Jake Romero drove in Giaccio in the next at-bat to tie the game at five and set the stage for the game-winning hit two innings later.
Dean Scarangello got the win for Staten Island, striking out five and giving up just one run after relieving Ruggiero to start the fourth inning.
Staten Island now has the chance to not only punch its ticket to the Little League World Series, but it can get a bit of redemption against New Jersey after a tough 11-1 loss earlier in the regionals.
Laterza said the team’s focus for Friday’s regional final is to just play their game and was confident if that happened then “everything will fall into place.”
It has taken a long time for State Island South Shore Little to come this close to a chance to make it to the Little League World Series.
The closest they came was back in 2001, Laterza said, before they were eliminated in the Mid-Atlantic Regional by the Rolando Paulino All-Stars from The Bronx, which was later marred by scandal after it came out that star pitcher Danny Almonte was actually 14 years old.
Now they’re one win away from reaching Williamsport.
“It’s something [the players] dream about and we’re one step away from it happening,” Laterza said.
