Team Manager Jairo Labrador and the EYLL coaching staff believe in their players. That believe was put on display Friday
night in Bristol as the Troopers put Jayden Capindica on the mound to face the only team that beat them in the Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament. "Cap" was on the mound when DC rallied for a win with a
walk-off 3R Homerun to send the Troopers into the elimination bracket. Jayden stepped up and pitched an outstanding 5 1/3 innings to hold DC scoreless. LJ Aponte was called up to finish the game and hold
DC scoreless. Jayden hit the Little League maximum of 85 pitches.
EYL got their offense going in the 2nd inning as 3B Derek Escobar led off the inning with a double. Special pinch runner Jaime Tamayo scored the 1st run on a fielder's choice RBI by Yamil Soto. EYLL put two more runners on by a base on balls to C Joel Sanchez and a single by LF Josiah Sharpe. The rally ended on a line drive put out to short.
After the EYLL defense got 3 putouts in a quick bottom of the 2nd, the Troopers mounted a rally with a leadoff
double by CF JR Rosado. 1B Yady Mateo picked up the RBI with a double down the 3rd base line. He scored on a throwing error by DC's Shortstop. Cap picked up a single to put runners on the corners. 2B Yamil Soto picked up the fourth run for Elmora with a RBI single to bring Cap home. Elmora had a 4 to 0 lead going into the bottom of the 3rd.
Jayden and the EYLL defense kept them scoreless for the next 3 innings as Cap faced 10 batters yielding only a base on
balls. The defense backed him up with 5 putouts as Jayden picked up 4 strikeouts to keep DC in check in the middle innings.
Sal Garcia III picked up a one-out single to start up the Elmora offense in the 6th inning. Yady hit his second double of the game to get the 5th run in for the EYLL. The Troopers headed into the bottom of the sixth with another big lead on DC. They had a 3 run advantage on Monday when they faced DC in the 2nd game of the tournament.
Capindica took the mound for the final inning with 80 pitches thrown. He faced the best hitter in
the DC lineup to start the inning. After working the batter to a 1-2 count, Jayden snagged the line drive for the first out of the inning. The play earned Jayden a mention on the LL website.
LJ Aponte took the mound for Elmora and gave up a double to the 2nd batter on a 1-1 pitch. CF JR Rosada fielded the ball and almost nailed the runner at second with an outstanding throw to SS Garcia. LJ stuck out the 3rd batter with a slow curve ball to get the 2nd out of the inning. The next batter hit a grounder to the mound that LJ fielded and tossed 1B for the final out. There would be no walk off on that night for DC team as the Troopers clinched the spot in the Mid-Atlantic final.
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