Sports
Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores Little League Team Competes for World Series Berth
Under the guidance of manager Tom Mazzola, the team finds success at the Great Lakes Regional Tournament.
Playing in the Great Lakes Regional Tournament in Indianapolis for the first time since 1979, the Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores Little League team lost 2-1 today to the Knox County Little League team of Kentucky.
The Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores LL team is playing for a shot at the semifinals, which take place on Aug. 8. The top four teams from the Great Lakes and Midwest Regional Tournaments will advance to the semifinals, according to eteamz.com. The top two teams of the semifinals will advance to the Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores plays its next game Aug. 6 at 2 p.m. against the West Side Little League team of Ohio. Fans can view live stats and play-by-play here.
Since all of the teams are state champions, including Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores, every team the Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores LL team played, so far, has been a challenge. That's exactly how Tom Mazzola, manager of the Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores LL team, described the game on Aug. 4.
A large crowd, all wearing purple, gathered behind the outfield and beside first base Aug. 4 at Ferguson Field in Indianapolis. They were rooting for the Hagerstown Little League team of Indiana — and they were loud, according to Mazzola.
Before both teams stepped on the field to play each other in a Great Lakes Regional Tournament game, Mazzola told his team, "Let's quiet these folks down," Mazzola said in a phone interview after the game on Aug. 4. "And that's exactly what the boys did in the first inning."
And that's what they continued to do for the rest of the game, defeating Hagerstown by 6-1.
In the first inning, Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores LL pitcher Antonio Moceri hit a home run, bringing 6-foot-2-inch Chad Lorkowski, a 12-year-old pitcher, home for a two-run shot. On the defensive side of the game, Jimmy Mazzola, 12, Tom Mazzola's son, finished with five strikeouts, and Chad took over in the last inning, finishing with a 100 percent strike percentage.
"We've had spectacular pitching, great defense and timely hitting," Tom Mazzola said. "All the kids have bought in to the team concept — everybody has a role. And when they're called upon to do their role, the boys execute and they get it."
Since the Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores LL team lost its first game of the regional tournament against the Burlington Little League team of Wisconsin on Aug. 3, its game against Hagerstown was important.
Watching his son and fellow teammates make it this far has been "super-special," Tom Mazzola said. After coaching the boys for seven years, he decided that this will be his last season.
"I've been in Little League for about seven years," Tom Mazzola said. "This is my last son — my youngest boy, and (I’ll) be done coaching after this.”
To get to the Little League World Series, Tom Mazzola said they have a chance "if we can manage our pitching and play great defense, which is what we do."
