South Windsor American Wins District 8 Championship

To advance in the Little League All-Star tournament, teams need talent, to be sure, but they also need a little bit of luck.

Take for example, the South Windsor American 11-12 All-Star team, the newly crowned District 8 champions.

American knocked off Ellington 7-2 in the district title game on Saturday at Pepin Field, and the game was closer than the score would indicate.

Indeed, with the Americans clinging to a 4-2 lead in the top of the first, Ellington’s No. 8 and 9 batters got on base against South Windsor pitcher Zach Donahue to put runners on first and second with nobody out.

Ellington’s next batter then - to use South Windsor head coach Jason Donahue’s term - “smoked” a line drive back up the middle in what surely would have cut into the Americans’ tenuous lead.

Pitcher Zach Donahue - Jason’s son - stuck out his glove and the ball caromed off the leather, straight up. Zach then lunged and caught the ball off his shoe tops with his bare hand.

Both of Ellington’s runners broke off their respective base, leaving them in no-man’s land. Zach Donahue whirled and threw to second for the force out and the shortstop then threw to first to nail both runners.

The end result was a momentum-killing triple play for Ellington. Not only did the Americans still have its 2-run cushion, they also had their ace Zach in the game having thrown just 8 pitches (Little League pitchers are on strict pitch counts) in the fourth inning.

“[The game] could have gone either way,” Jason Donahue said in a telephone interview. “The triple play was a huge play. … It was unbelievable. The kids were jumping up and down. We said, ‘Hey we’re alive and well at 4-2.’”

The Americans tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the fifth to extend the lead to 7-2. Zach Donahue pitched 5.2 innings to earn the victory, and reliever David Hansen closed out the game with a strikeout.

Zach Donahue didn’t just do it with his arm and glove. He hit a home run to tie the score at 1-1 in the first inning.

With American down 2-1 in the bottom of the third inning, Jay Fournier hit a 2-run triple and scored on a throwing error to give South Windsor that 4-2 lead.

With the victory, South Windsor improved to 8-0, having swept through pool play and then defeating Manchester Nationals and rival South Windsor Nationals to get into the championship game.

Anthony Conaci hit a grand slam against the Nationals to give the Americans a 4-1 victory. Robert Williams was the winning pitcher.

Now the Americans advance to Section 2 pool play, where they face SFC in Harwinton at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Jason Donahue, for his part, likes his kids’ chances and is proud of what the team has accomplished.

“Winners find ways to win,” he said. “Today we found a way to win the game. The kids find a way to grind it out. We’re just believing in ourselves self more and more. I told the kids, ‘This is where memories are made. You’ll always remember the day you won the District 8 championship.