Team Wolfpack, the Ozone Howard Little League’s eight-year-old all-star team, won the championship in the “2012 SYAG Ed Rall Memorial Tournament” with an exciting finish.
The Ed Rall Tournament is Long Island’s most elite youth baseball tournament, with over 140 teams in attendance. It began in memory of firefighter and longtime SYAG coach Edward Rall. He was an 18-year veteran of the FDNY as a member of Rescue 2, who paid the supreme sacrifice on September 11, 2001.
The Wolfpack had to play a triple header to win the tournament because of a rainout.
The Wolfpack went down quickly in the championship game 4-1 with some big hits from their counterparts, the Long Island Falcons. But then the top of the 6th inning came and with two outs, the Wolfpack came howling back, with big hits from Michael McNally, Devin Rivero, Dylan Wayne, Nicky Gatto, Marco Jannis and Brandon Ricca, to score four runs and take the lead. Starting pitcher Brandon Ricca finished the game by shutting the door in the bottom of the sixth inning — with the whole complex going wild.
