Reston's Angels Win 2013 Starliper Baseball Championship

The Reston Angels defeated the Vienna Royals 16-10 on June 20 to win the “Papa” Wayne Starliper baseball tournament in Vienna.  The event pits the top house league teams from throughout Virginia Little League’s District 4, and was won by a team representing Reston Little League for the second consecutive year.  Using their reliable formula of accurate pitching, clutch hitting and solid defense, the Angels rallied from an early deficit to pound out 16 runs on 10 hits and 10 walks, and completed a dream season.  After dropping 2 of their first 3 games, the Angels won their last 6 in a row and 15 of their last 16 to finish at 16-3.

The championship game was the forth in 5 nights for the Angels, against a powerful Vienna squad that had scored 62 runs in its first three Starliper games.  To make things even tougher, the Angels were without their leadoff hitter and center fielder, Christian McIver, who posted an astounding .792 on-base percentage and scored 35 runs in 18 games. 

Starting pitcher Hill Naski was effective throughout three strong innings, striking out the first 2 batters to establish the tone.  Despite 2 unearned runs with two outs, Hill worked out of a jam by striking out the final batter of the inning, and then led off the bottom of the first with a crisp single to left field.  After five consecutive walks to Angels batters, third baseman Jack Stringer delivered the critical hit, crushing a double to the center field wall to push the lead to 6-2, and then scored on a wild pitch. 

Naski struck out the side in the second inning and the Angels extended the lead to 11-2 with hits by Alan Sears, Naski, Devin Glauser, and Nicholas Kapani.  Vienna cut the lead to 11-6 with a series of infield hits in the third, but Naski closed his night on the mound with his 8th and 9th strikeouts.  Reston added a run in the bottom of the third when Sam Harris walked and eventually scored on an RBI walk by Caleb Shifflett.    The Angels would have added to the lead unless the Vienna shortstop made a nice play on a hard line drive by Eli Shifflett. 

Glauser came on to pitch in the fourth, and after the first two batters reached, catcher Sam Harris threw out a Vienna runner at second base to get the first out of the inning.  Glauser then struck out the next batter, and finished the inning with a 12-7 lead when first baseman Nicholas Castalano snagged a hard shot down the line.

Reston pulled ahead 16-7 in the bottom of the frame, keyed with hits by Kapani, Mitch Maurer and Stringer.  Brayden DiBacco came on to pitch in the 5th, and bracketed a groundout with two strikeouts to hold Vienna to a 16-10 deficit.   He closed the game in similar fashion, notching two more strikeouts including one to clinch the championship, as the Royals batter watched a perfect fastball catch the outer edge of the plate. 

The Angels players stormed out of the dugout in celebration, and then composed themselves to congratulate the Royals on a great game and accept their championship medals from the tournament founder himself, Wayne Starliper.

“It was a great ride,” said Angels manager Gabe Harris.  “Every one of our players contributed all season and especially during this championship run – these boys really showed us what being a team is all about”.

The road to the finals was not easy for either team – both squads had to win three times in 4 nights just to get to the final.  Reston’s first game was a tense back and forth affair against Alexandria, in which they used 7 pitchers in an effort to preserve hurlers for future games.  After the Angels took an early 7-0 lead, Alexandria stormed back to nudge ahead 9-8.  After 2 more lead changes, the Anglels were down 11-10 heading into the 6th inning.   The leadoff hitter was Graham Sears, who played the spring season at the AA level and was participating in his first-ever AAA game.  Graham came through with a perfectly executed bunt for a base hit, and eventually scored the tying run after a McIver walk and a double by Naski to give Reston a 12-11 lead.   Nicholas Kapani added a very loud exclamation point, hammering a 3-2 pitch over the left field fence for his first career home run.  Naski struck out the side in the 6th to close it out.

In the second round, the Angels opened up a close game by scoring 12 runs in the last three innings for a 14-3 win over Falls Church.  McIver and Naski (3 hits each) and Harris and Glauser (2 hits each) led the way, but every Angel reached base and 10 different players scored.  Another AA call-up, Liam Willson, played a critical part in the win, getting the start and working 1 2/3 strong innings, departing with a 2-1 lead.  McIver (3 strikeouts) and Stringer (2 whiffs) yielded just one run each, and Naski recorded the final 6 outs in just 18 pitches.

In the semifinal McIver pitched the game of his life, striking out 11 in 4 1/3 innings as the Angels defeated McLean American, 6-1.  Mixing a blazing fastball with his patented knuckle slider”, Christian kept the McLean hitters off balance throughout the contest, scattering 5 hits and walking only 1 batter.  He also keyed the offense, reaching base all three times and scoring twice.  For good measure, he caught the last 2 pop-ups to end the game, as DiBacco breezed through the final 5 outs without allowing a base runner. All of the Angles chipped in offensively, including Sam Ottariano and Caleb Shifflett, who reached safely twice each.

The Angels: Nicholas Castalano, Brayden DiBacco, Devin Glauser, Sam Harris, Nicholas Kapani, Mitchell Maurer, Christian McIver, Hill Naski, Sam Ottariano, Alan Sears, Graham Sears, Caleb Shifflett, Eli Shifflett, Jack Stringer, Owen Widger and Liam Willson.

The Angels were managed by Gabe Harris, with tremendous support from coaches Aaron Glauser and Tim Naski.  All of the coaches wish to express their immense gratitude for the support of the parents, siblings, families and all of Reston Little League.   They also appreciate the support of team sponsor DST (Diamond Sports Training), and Pinkman Baseball Academy, which generously donated its facilities and expertise.  Thanks also to the hard work put in by the District 4 staff and to Mr. Starliper, who had the fantastic idea to start this tournament many years ago – it was a special experience for everyone involved.

Jack Stringer summed it up perfectly when he said, “This was the greatest week of my whole life!”

Indeed.