The Bomb Squad from the Bronx hit three of its 16 home runs in the final to claim the 12U Summer Finale title.
By Rich Bevensee
The 12U Bomb Squad from the Bronx lived up to their name all weekend at the Summer Finale at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
Hitting home runs was not an occasional happening, it was very nearly an every-inning occurrence. The Bomb Squad smacked multiple homers in each of the four games they played.
The championship game was no different for the Bomb Squad, which flexed its longball muscles against another highly efficient offensive machine in the Rockaway Raiders.
Brantley VanLandingham, Walter Pitts and Vinny Allegretta each went deep and the Bomb Squad closed out their summer session with a 10-5 victory and the 12U Summer Finale title.
Across the team’s four-game set this weekend, nine Bomb Squad players accounted for 16 home runs, with VanLandingham and Cole Pickett launching four homers each. The Bomb Squad closed out the summer at 33-7-1.
“It puts other teams in a tough spot, knowing that our team can do it up and down the order, 1-through-12, and you can’t really pitch around anybody,” Bomb Squad coach Dan DiMarco said. “It puts pressure on them – they know they have to make the plays in case it doesn’t go over the fence because the next kid can put it over easily.”
Lucciano DiMarco, the coach’s son, earned the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award for throwing a six-inning complete game in the final. He struck out eight while allowing five runs on three hits and seven walks.
“A complete game on 97 pitches to me is a big accomplishment,” the elder DiMarco said. “He allowed only five runs and gave up three hits, and that’s a huge pitching performance to me.”
DiMarco wobbled through the first inning before settling down the Raiders (13-4-1), which came into the game having scored 30 runs in three games. He allowed two runs on a hit and three walks in that first inning.
“A coach in the Dominican Republic taught me about composure, about keeping your head in the game when it’s not going well for you,” DiMarco said. “He told me to keep my head up. It was hard to do that at first but then I got used to it.”
Pickett was the biggest bomber of them all on DiMarco’s squad, going 7-for-11 this weekend with four homers, a double, 12 RBI and seven runs scored. VanLandingham wasn’t so shabby either, going 4-for-9 with four homers, five RBI and five runs scored.
Lucciano DiMarco of the Bomb Squad earned MVP honors for his complete-game effort on the mound in the final.
In the bottom of the first inning, the Bomb Squad trailed 2-0 before turning on the power. Pickett hit an RBI double and VanLandingham followed by hammering a solo shot well over the 225-foot fence in left center. Two batters later Walter Pitts hit his second homer of the weekend, a moon shot over the batting cage roof behind the 230-foot fence in right center to nudge the Bomb Squad ahead, 4-2.
“When we get ahead like that early in the game it feels like it brings their confidence down and maybe even makes them nervous, and it boosts our confidence,” Pitts said. “It’s really fun to see everyone hit like that. It makes the experience better and more fun. And we’ve been hitting like that all year. It’s been a consistent thing.”
The Bomb Squad added three more runs in the second for some breathing room. Evan Scott sliced an opposite-field RBI single to right and Allegretta followed with his first homer of the weekend, a two-run shot which gave the Bomb Squad a 7-2 lead.
Just when it appeared the Bronx Bombers’ firepower was too much to handle, the Raiders returned fire in the top of the third. Jack DiRosa and Colton Banes walked to set the stage for Ryan Kasa, who blasted his second homer of the weekend, a two-out, three-run shot to the same spot on the batting cage roof that Pitts reached.
All of a sudden, the Raiders were back in the game at 7-5.
The Bomb Squad played a little small ball in the fourth to create some breathing room from their heavy-hitting opponent. Jace D’Avanzo and Evan Scott hit back-to-back RBI singles and Felipe Acosta walked with the bases loaded to forge a 10-5 lead.
The Bomb Squad may be based in the Bronx but it draws players from Queens, West Chester, Long Island and Buffalo in New York, as well as from Connecticut and Frederick, Maryland.
Also hitting home runs for the Bomb Squad this weekend were Costa, D’Avanzo, DiMarco, Gino Casatelli and Ryan Ferri.
Players logging multiple RBIs were Pickett with 12, D’Avanzo and VanLandingham with six each, Costa with five, Ferri with four, Pitts and Allegretta with three each, and Casatelli and Scott with two each.
“For me, it’s a pleasure watching them hit every tournament we go to,” DiMarco said. “It’s fun for me to watch how much they enjoy each other.”