Last Sunday’s annual Little League All-Star games kicked off by paying tribute to distinguished players of a non-baseball sort: in honor of Memorial Day, six veterans (Ted Morgan, Gene DeFelice, Woody Williams, David Khan, Ed Rodgers and Zeke Vought) threw out the first pitches, with Mr. Vought pitching to son Cris. Mr. Rodgers closed out the opening ceremonies with bugle renditions of the National Anthem, the songs of each of the Armed Forces divisions, and Taps before kicking off the Minor League game with a rousing Take Me Out To The Ballgame.

Miles Sidoti pitched a strong first inning for the American League, with teammates Keaton Aliberti and Mikey Cosgrave putting the league on the board in the bottom of the first to make the score AL 2, NL 0. The American League held onto the lead until the fourth, when National Leaguer Max Smith scored on a Finn Lewis single, and Baylee Francis broke the game open with her 3-RBI triple. Hoffie Hearn responded with a triple of his own for the American League in the fifth to keep the team in the game, but the National League pulled out the win 8-4.

Playing for the American League in the Minors game were Keaton Aliberti, Michael Cosgrave, Eli Gundersen, Hoffie Hearn, Andrew Marchand, Leo Neville, Jackie Pizzano, Nate Porterfield, Isaac Richards, Aidan Rogers, Miles Sidoti, Zack Vukota, and Jasper Zeender. National Leaguers were Luke El-Diery, Morgan Estrella, Baylee Francis, Kenny Hatt, Finn Lewis, Cameron Moore, Luke Nivala, Hunter Ponte, Kyle Rollins, Talon Rusillo, Max Smith, Micah Vought, and Henry Warner.

The Majors game proved a closer affair, with American Leaguer Mitchell Chaves ripping a double in the bottom of the first to help his team to a 2-0 lead. Power hitter Jack Sayre boosted the American League lead to 4-0 in the fourth, but NL-er Ben Tillman brought his team within reach in next inning, blasting his first career home run to bring the score to 4-3 (Ben later earned the All-Star Game MVP award). Mercer Kelly stepped in to close down the game for the American League, stranding the tying run on third to preserve the win.

Playing for the American League in the Majors were Ricardo Andrade, Keith Chatinover, Mitchell Chaves, Nick Fiore, Mercer Kelly, Graham Lewis, Cory Medeiros, John Morris, Jack Sayre, Colby Scarsella, Matteus Scheffer and Willson Slayton. National League players were Aidan Aliberti, Sam Bresnick, Tabor Caron, Curtis Fournier, Theo Gallagher, Jacob Gundersen, Dillon McAndrews, Otto Osmers, Shay Sullivan, Ben Tillman, Cris Vought and Charlie Whalen.