South Windsor 10U Little League team wins state title after undefeated summer, raises over $13K for trip to regional
The age 10-and-under South Windsor Little League team is headed to the Eastern Regional tournament in Cranston, Rhode Island, after winning its way through districts, sectionals and capturing a state title in Fairfield on July 30.
The team, composed of 9- and 10-year-old all-stars selected by coaches, has practiced nearly every day since coming together in mid-June. Manager Seth Falco and assistant coaches Matt Durbois and Joe Caputa double as fathers to three of the four second-year players on the team.
“Watching these kids, how much better they’ve gotten working every day and getting all of these reps, they’ve really put it together. It’s just great. It’s a great experience. You have to assume it’s a once in a lifetime experience to make it this far,” Caputa said.
Last summer the team made it to the state tournament but lost both games — the first to East Lyme, a matchup it drew again to begin the four-day stretch this year.
“We looked at it as a revenge game,” Caputa said.
After defeating East Lyme, the team then downed Hamden 10-9 in what was its biggest test during the run, according to Caputa. South Windsor was down 9-5 after two innings and entered the sixth inning — the final inning — trailing 9-7. The team scored three runs in the top of the sixth before shutting the door.
“That game was just amazing,” Caputa said, “the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of — most emotional. We all left a lot on that field, and that game paved a way to the state title.”
South Windsor moved to the end of the winners bracket and enjoyed an extra day of rest before defeating Hamden once more, 7-0.
The state title meant entering waters the team, and the league, didn’t expect to reach. The regional is the final stop for the 10-and-under age group.
“We didn’t think we were going to make it back to states. It was last thing on our mind. And all of a sudden we make it down there and then three games go by and now we’re off to regionals,” Caputa said.
Shortly after punching their ticket to Rhode Island, the coaches met with league president Al Maximino to discuss what they needed to accomplish quickly. Uniforms, hotel reservations, banquet head counts — it all began to get a bit overwhelming.
“When you’re not expecting to make it to a regional and travel like that, you’re not thinking about cost. Once we started to realize what the costs were, the idea came up of maybe starting a GoFundMe,” Caputa said. “So we did.”
In just four days, the GoFundMe donations eclipsed $13,000.
“We didn’t expect the overwhelming support from our community, parents in the surrounding towns, other programs — it’s just been an overwhelming show of support, and we couldn’t be more thankful for it,” Caputa said.
Money raised will help reduce the cost for families looking to make the trip so they can enjoy watching their kids play over the course of the week. Coaches, who spent the last week researching the 11 other teams competing, traveled to Rhode Island on Friday night with the roster of 13 coming Saturday before beginning play against a team from Massachusetts at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.
The New England championship is scheduled for Aug. 12. The winner will play the Mid-Atlantic champion for the Eastern Regional crown on the following day at 10 a.m.
“It’s just been an amazing experience for for the kids and their families. These kids just want to play baseball, and because they’ve worked so hard, they’ve gotten to play a lot of baseball. We’re excited to see what they can do on that big stage and even more excited to see what they can do down the road,” Caputa said. “Because sometimes kids need an experience like this to really realize how much they love the sport. And hopefully, everything that they’ve experienced, (that) will light that fire for them to continue working hard for years to come.”
