The 2024 fall baseball season concluded with multiple West Hartford Little League teams winning their age group championships.

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12U – Frozen Ropes

West Hartford Little League assured itself another 12U Fall GHFBL title – having two teams winning their semifinal matchups.  Aided by a complete game win pitched by Arya Baraya, who allowed a single run while striking out 10 and walking no batters, the WHLL Riot defeated Wethersfield and the WHLL Frozen Ropes defeated Cromwell setting up a winner-take-all championship.

Trailing 1-0 after the top of the first after Leo DuBuisson, who continued his hot hitting fall season, scored on a wild pitch, the Frozen Ropes battled back in the bottom half of the inning when Henry Helge hit a two-RBI single, scoring Cam Germano and Gabriel Massey. After an Elias Esatto groundout to second base, the Frozen Ropes led 3-1. 

Germano, the starting pitcher for the Frozen Ropes, kept the Riot in check for most of the afternoon and had a 5-1 lead in the top of the fourth when the Riot scored two runs on RBI singles to center field by Matthew Weiner and Ben Wilmes. Trent Leahy added an RBI single for the Riot in the top of the fifth that saw the Frozen Ropes’ lead shrink to one run. 

Germano and Massey started the bottom half of the fifth with back-to-back singles. Helge walked and then the Frozen Ropes scored runs when their next four hitters came to the plate.

Esatto and Ben Otterbein were both hit by pitches, Gabe Thraen worked a bases-loaded walk, and Esatto came home on a wild pitch giving the Frozen Ropes all the insurance runs they would need heading into the last inning. 

For the second consecutive game, Tyler Gruca was called upon to get the last four outs of the game. He needed only 11 pitches in the sixth inning to retire the top three batters for the Riot giving the WHLL 12U Frozen Ropes a 9-4 victory.  

10U – Super Chickens

The West Hartford Little League 10U Super Chickens defeated the 10U Eagles from Wethersfield by a score of 13-1 in the Greater Hartford Fall Baseball League Championship played on Field 1 at the WHLL Baseball Complex. 

After falling behind 1-0 in the first, the Super Chickens held the Eagles scoreless for the final five innings with dominant pitching and solid defense. Two West Hartford pitchers combined for 17 strikeouts and allowed only six Eagle baserunners throughout. 

On offense, the Super Chickens pounded out 11 hits, drew six walks, and stole 11 bases. Scoring in all but one inning, the Chickens held a 3-1 lead before scoring five runs in the fourth and fifth to put the game away. 

The Fall 2024 10U Super Chickens finished the regular season with a record of 7-3-1 and beat Rocky Hill 10U 4-1 in the GHFBL semifinals.  

The Fall 2024 West Hartford 10U Super Chickens:

• Lucas Dos Santos, #1
• Henry Bentley, #2
• Joseph Avallone, #3
• Hudson Phillips, #7
• Mason Delgado, #9
• Aiden Schilberg, #11
• Matthew Monaco, #17
• Daniel Marinchak, #22
• Matthew Fellows, #23
• Jack Grandpre, #39
• Spencer Kan, #45
• Briggs Starybrat, #55
• Max Kravitz, #99

8U Blue Grizzlies

After an initial tie to kick off the fall season opener, the 8U West Hartford Blue Grizzlies never looked back, winning their remaining 10 games to finish a stellar 10-0-1. 

Over the 11 games the Grizzlies finished with a team batting average of .411 with 106 hits for the season. The impressive WeHa offense was backed-up by a squad of seven different pitchers who combined for a complete season team ERA of 1.48! All of the stats brought to you by Coach Knight’s mistaken purchase of Game Changer Premium.

The season was masterfully guided by the experienced coaches: Nery Cruz, Chuck Kavanagh, and Jasper Kan, along with very enthusiastic and supportive parents at every game. The success of the season was truly a team effort, with the focus on developing fundamentals and most importantly, having fun playing the game!

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