St. James/Smithtown Little League advances to final of state 12U tournament with win over White Plains

When the calendar flipped to January, Kevin Moran wasn’t allowed to throw a baseball.

He was shut down in December while experiencing Little League elbow, an inflammation injury that occurs in children between 9 and 14 years old when they throw too much without proper rest.

Fast-forward to Thursday morning, when Moran pitched one of his best games of the summer in the state Little League 12U semifinals.

Moran struck out eight and allowed six hits in a complete game to lead St. James/Smithtown to a 2-0 win over White Plains at Great Kills Little League on Staten Island.

St. James/Smithtown will face reigning state champion South Shore (Staten Island) in the final at 9 a.m. Friday. The winner will advance to the Little League World Series Metro Region Tournament Aug. 2-8 in Bristol, Connecticut, which will be broadcast on ESPN.

“It’s amazing,” Moran said. “I had confidence in the team that we would do very well and we have been. I’m very excited.”

Moran said he first experienced Little League elbow in March 2024 and was shut down until October. He pitched in a few fall tournaments before the injury reappeared in December and he was sidelined for another three months.

“I’m really glad I got through it,” Moran said. “It was challenging, but I’m really happy I can help the team by pitching again.”

Moran pitched with a lead the entire game. Ryan Delgado drove in Chase Saxon with a single to leftfield in the top of the first. Eric Hanson started the second inning with a single, advanced to second on an error and scored on James Santelli’s double off the centerfield wall for a 2-0 lead.

“This was probably our goal when we started with these guys as 8- and 9-year-olds,” manager Scott Santelli said. “With all these private travel teams and kids bouncing around from team to team, you really don’t see what we have too often. To see them go from a dirt field in Smithtown with shorts and tank tops on when we first started and you fast-forward a few years . . . I think why we’ve made it this far is because we have been together for so long.”

South Shore earned an 8-2 win over St. James/Smithtown in pool play on Monday. South Shore defeated Port Washington, 6-1, in the semifinals Thursday afternoon.

“They’re the champs. They have that swagger and it’s their home area,” Santelli said. “We just didn’t start out right [on Monday]. We had three errors in the first inning and were down 3-0. At that point, it’s hard to regroup against a really good team like that.”