Port Washington Little League secures spot in New York State semifinals, St. James/Smithtown falls to 0-2
Port Washington celebrares after Drew Theoharis' two-run homer in the first inning against Maine-Endwell in the New York State Little League tournament at the West Nyack Little League Complex on Sunday. Credit: Howard Simmons
The Port Washington 12-and-under Little League baseball team remains unbeaten after the second day of the New York State tournament. Port Washington defeated Maine-Endwell, 8-3, on Sunday afternoon in Game 2 of pool play at Cesca Field in West Nyack.
It didn’t take Port Washington long to get started. Drew Theoharis made an impression in his first at-bat with a two-run home run over the leftfield fence for the game’s first two runs. Theoharis went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored.
“Drew is one of the leaders on the team,” manager Dave Gabriel said. “For him to come out in the first inning and hit that two-run home run, it set the tone for the game. Then he gets on the mound and does his thing, and we get good momentum going.”
Ethan Spitalnik added a two-run homer in the second inning to give Port Washington a 4-0 lead.
Maine-Endwell rallied in the fourth, scoring three runs to make it 4-3 before a defensive sequence ended the rally.
“They had bases loaded with one out and hit the ball to my shortstop, Brandon Kien,” Gabriel said. “He caught it, threw the ball to the catcher, Michael Gabriel, and he threw it to first base to get the double play. That completely changed the momentum of the entire game.”
Port Washington extended its lead with a four-run sixth powered by Theoharis, Jackson Gorynski and Kien.
Port Washington (2-0) is the only undefeated team in Pool A and has secured a spot in Wednesday’s semifinals. Port Washington has allowed the fewest runs in the tournament (three) and will face Florida at 1 p.m. Tuesday in the final game of pool play.
“We just want to keep the momentum going and keep our boys focused,” Gabriel said. “There’s a lot of good teams here. We don’t want to take anybody or anything for granted.”
Earlier in the afternoon, St. James/Smithtown fell for a second time in pool play, dropping a 5-2 contest to Mid Island.
Mid Island scored all five of its runs in the first two innings before St. James/Smithtown shut out its opponent for the remainder of the game. Cayden Bosinius, Grayson Dick and Jameson Shiels combined for six strikeouts.
Dick’s third-inning double drove in Bosinius for St. James/ Smithtown’s first run. Nico Ferruzzi scored on a wild pitch in the fifth.
The Bulls (0-2) will face Penfield (1-1) in the final game of pool play at 7 p.m. Tuesday. To advance to the semifinals, they need to win and have Mid Island beat Twin Town at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
St. James/Smithtown then would be in a three-way tie at 1-2. The tiebreaker is the fewest total runs allowed.
“We’re not out of this yet,” manager Tom Viggiani said. “We haven’t given up many runs, so we need Mid Island to go 3-0. We have our ace, [Andrew] Barbato, available for Tuesday, so we will go all hands on deck to get a win over Penfield.”
Tess Ferguson is a reporter on Newsday's high school sports staff. She joined the team after graduating with a journalism degree from Ithaca College in 2025.
Long Island's Own
