Agony of Defeat

It was only five days ago when Paramus Little League opened up the New Jersey state tournament by rolling over , 12-0. On that evening, Erial simply didn't play to the potential they showed through districts and sections.

On Wednesday night, in the championship game of the state tournament, Erial wasn't going to let Paramus run them off the field again.

Erial put a scare into Paramus, loading the bases with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, but they came up just short as Paramus won the New Jersey state championship by a score of 3-0.

Paramus starting pitcher Hiro Mizutani got out of a bases-loaded jam in the final inning, striking out Erial's with a chest-high fastball to win his team the state championship.

“At the end there was a little heart-stopper,” said manager Carl Foltz. “I'm sure there were a lot of prayers going out from Williamstown here.”

Having not put together a sustained rally all game, Erial got a leadoff baserunner in the sixth off of catcher's interference. swing tipped the glove of Paramus catcher Brandon Smith, giving Erial a jolt to start the inning.

After popped out and struck out swinging, shortstop kept the game alive by hitting a hard shot to second base. Joe Rendine couldn't handle it for Paramus, putting runners on first and second.

kept the game alive once more in the next at-bat, hitting a line drive to center field for a single. This loaded the bases for D'Antonio.

At this point, Paramus had their backs to the wall themselves, as Mizutani was almost at the Little League pitch limit of 85 pitches. With D'Antonio representing a potential winning run and unable to walk him, Mizutani had no room for error.

Four fastballs later, D'Antonio struck out looking and the celebration was on for Paramus.

“Hiro pitched a great game. He's a great pitcher,” said Foltz. “He kept most of our kids at the top of the lineup off balance.”

Paramus put up three of its four hits for the game in the first inning. An RBI single by Nick DiNigris and an RBI double by Mike Daniele gave Paramus the early 2-0 lead.

After the opening inning, Erial starting pitcher Jake Vespa shut down the Paramus lineup, walking just two batters in four innings. Reliever Drew Liszewski also threw well, allowing no hits and one walk in two innings.

Despite Erial's efforts on the mound, Mizutani stole the show. He scattered just three hits in the game and struck out nine Erial hitters.

“We put a couple balls in play and tried to make things happen,” said Foltz. “We just didn't get them all together in one shot.”

Wednesday's loss doesn't overshadow the comeback that Erial made in the tournament as they came back from a first-round loss to win three straight games and take Paramus, a team that could be in the Little League World Series in a couple weeks, down to the last inning.

“They never quit,” said Foltz. “Just like today, right down to the very last strike, we never quit. We still had a chance, right down to the very last strike. Hats off to the team, players, coaches and parents—everything was great.”

“That Erial team was an unbelievable hitting team,” said Paramus manager Frank Smith. “They were crazy good.”

For 11-year-old Anthony DiMartino, he will get the opportunity to compete at this level again next year with a new group of kids. The rest of the Erial team will move on next year to the Junior Little League level, where they hope to get back to the state tournament again.

“Hopefully, most of the kids will play so we can keep the same team,” said right fielder Carl Foltz. “We were one of the best, we just didn't have our game today.”

While tears of sadness and blank faces were ever-present on the Erial players during the postgame celebration, those will go away in the coming days and be replaced with good memories. Memories of Adam Holland's line-drive catch against Holbrook, memories of Jake Vespa rounding the bases after homering against Paramus and memories of an Erial team that advanced farther than any other District 14 team has in more than four decades.

Download the movie