Mineola Tigers Win 11-12U Little League Championship

Ever since the , the members of the 11-12U Mineola Tigers little league team had a simple goal: winning the championship.

Friday night at the complex they got their chance against the Cardinals in the championship game, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning off of scores by Christian Diaz, Kyle Kern and Peyton Maier.

The Cardinals rebounded in the bottom of the frame, scoring two runs off of hits by Andrew Ariza and Quinn Relevant.

The redbirds would only score one other run off a hit by Andrew Ariza as the Tigers would plate an additional 3 runs in the top of the fourth thanks to a key hit by John Venus and one more in the fifth to blow the game open for the 7-3 victory.

“We got some big hits from our guys today,” Tigers coach John Maier said. “Our starting pitcher, Christian Diaz was excellent, pitching five strong innings and only giving up two runs.”

Diaz threw 78 pitches before reliever Peyton Maier came in to close out the game.

Tigers centerfielder Alex Antonello had a great defensive day making several big catches to thwart any comeback attempt from  the Cardinals.

“The boys played a solid game today,” coach Joe Sullivan said. “We put in some good work and had good team spirit and sportsmanship out there.”