July 20th 2009
From Krank Park in Albany New York
COLONIE 12's DISTRICT CHAMPS
Colonie Little League's 11-12 yr old group completed a 3 year sweep and dominated in the District 13 "Pool Party" as they finished 5-0 and now move on to Sectional play this weekend!! The win also continues Colonie Little League's stranglehold on the 12 yr old division, as now Colonie has won 27 of the last 37 District Championships at this level!!
Tonight's Championship game, held at the beautiful home of American LL in Albany, had a true "Town of Colonie" feeling....many players from all levels, T-ball on up to even graduated players filled the visitor's side and made their presence known with raucous cheers all night long!!
Colonie belted out 16 hits, 4 of them HR's as 9 different players had hits. They scored 4 runs in the first inning and never looked back as they defeated a very game Tri-Village-National team, 9-3. All offensive highlights for tonight's game are listed below:
Kyle Ruth 2 hits (double)
Ben Contento 2 hits
Mike Mueller 2 hits (HR)
Ray Osterhout 1 hit (HR)
Andrew Patentreger 1 hit
Kevin Ryan 1 hit (HR)
Ryan Nicholson 3 hits (HR)
Andrew Holmes 1 hit
Evan Carey 3 hits
In the 5 games, Colonie has hit 15 HR's, coming from 7 different players....but Colonie's hitting coach swears HR's are not what we focus on. "NO WAY, Colonie hitters keep their weight back and focus on line drive contact. If you do that, HR's take care of themselves."
Colonie not only has offensive firepower, they also showcased some leather tonight as they made 15 defensive outs with Tri-Village only striking outs 3 times. The biggest highlights were 3 plays.....A first inning double play, as Mike Mueller snares a line drive and calmly touches the bag for the DP.....then to end the 4th inning, Ray Osterhout dove full extension in short right field and then did a "Derek Jeter" like toss to first base for a huge out!! Then in the 5th, a rocket ground ball to Osterhout, Ray looks it in the glove then tosses to 2nd base and shortstop Kyle Ruth smoothly turns the double play with a beautiful toss to first base!!
Now it's on to Sectional play, which is the first year there is 6 different sectional champs instead of the 4 of past years. Colonie is in Section 3, which is also "pool play" and it's broken into 2 divisions. (Listed Below)
Division "A" Division "B"
Dist 12 (Scotia) Dist 15 (Saugerties)
Dist 11 (Saratoga) Dist 16 (Esopus)
Dist 14 (Cohoes) Dist 13 (Colonie)
Every team plays 2 games, both within your division. Then the top 2 teams from each division will participate in a single elimination semi-final and finals.
Colonie will be HOME this Friday at 6pm versus the champs from District 15. Then their 2nd game will be Saturday at 2pm being played at the champs from District 16. Stay tuned as we will give out directions for all of the "Colonie Nation". Good Luck Colonie!!