Sports blog: Warrior Nation
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By JOHN NASH

Villager Sports Editor

STAMFORD -- Henry Strmecki and Zach Zeyher set the table and Collin Kahal and T.J. Elkinton cleans things up.

It's been a recipe of success for the Wilton Little League 10-year-old All-Stars this summer as it was again on Sunday night at the Springdale Little League park in the District 1 championship against North Stamford.

Strmecki and Zeyher had a combined five hits and six runs scored while Kahal and Elkinton combined for six hits and six RBIs, leading Wilton to the championship with a 15-9 win.

Kahal's bat was the biggest of the night as the shortstop had a two-run single in the first inning, an RBI double in the third and clutch two-run, over-the-fence home to right center in Wilton's nail-in-the-coffin fifth inning.

"With those top five hitters, the challenge has always been to get them all hitting together," said Wilton manager Tim Elkinton. "But they all came alive today. But it wasn't just them. Up and down the line-up, there were a lot of hits and not a lot of strikeouts and that was a key."

Wilton had jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning and by the midway point of the game led 10-2.

In the top of the fourth, though, North Stamford put up six runs of their own to cut the Wilton lead to only two runs at 10-8 and in the fifth it added another run to make it 10-9.

"I told them the thing I was most proud of was that one kid would get down and another kid would go over to him and punch him in the arm to try and cheer him up," said Tim Elkinton. "It's that kind of camaraderie and that kind of team unity that's helped us."

Strmecki -- who is a 10-year-old Rickey Henderson-like lead-off man -- started Wilton's six-run first by reaching on an error and making things happen on the base paths.

When Wilton needed him to do the same in the bottom of the fifth, Strmecki complied.

With his team up by just a run, he singled to right field and moved up to second when Zeyher laid down a bunt and beat it out, sending Strmecki all the way to third base.

After Jack Stevenson's RBI ground out plated Stremecki, Kahal took advantage of a pitching chance and blasted his third career over-the-fence home run, pushing the Wilton lead to 13-9.

Knowing how North Stamford could come back, Wilton didn't let up.

Elkinton doubled, Jack Gioffre singled and Joe Murtha plated a run with a sacrifice fly. Gioffre then scampered home on an error, crossing the plate to make it 15-9.

"They never gave up," Tim Elkinton said. "They knew they were going to start hitting the ball again."

Billy Black, who was the victim of three unearned runs scored against him, set down North Stamford 1-2-3 to ice the victory and propel Wilton into the 10-year-old Little League state tournament.

Wilton's early lead came courtesy of Kahal's two-run single, an RBI ground out by Gioffre and an RBI double by Black. Stremecki, Zeyher (single), Kahal, Ellkinton, Murtha and Black all scored in the inning.

Even after a two-out, two-run single gave North Stamford two runs in the top of the second, Zeyher threw out a runner at third to end the inning and any further damage.

Elkinton's RBI single in the second scored Matt LaMetta, who had walked, putting Wilton up 7-2.

Zeyher's RBI double, LaMetta's RBI ground-out, and Kahal's run-scoring double plated three in the third, building Wilton's 10-2 lead.

One inning later -- an inning that included four walks and three Wilton errors -- led to six North Stamford runs and just like that it was a ball game again.

Elkinton the manager, however, wasn't overly worried.

"I'll be honest. When it got to 10-9 and I looked at their faces, I wasn't worried," he said. "Other people were probably thinking, 'This guy is crazy', but they had this look in their eyes. They wanted to get up there and hit."

After they hit themselves back into a solid lead, Black was able to shut the door and Wilton, after getting some insurance, was headed to the state tournament.

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