Little league returns to Steve Blass Field

Kurt Hall squared up in the batter's box on opening day of Steve Blass Little League AAA baseball April 27 in North Canaan.

Riley Klein

Little league returns to Steve Blass Field

NORTH CANAAN — Steve Blass Little League AAA baseball opened the 2024 season on Saturday, April 27, with an afternoon match between the Giants and Red Sox.

The Giants stood tall and came out on top with a 15-7 win over their Region One counterparts, the Red Sox. Steve Blass AAA teams are composed of players aged 9 to 11 from Cornwall, Kent, Falls Village, Norfolk, North Canaan, Salisbury and Sharon.

Quin Bryant pitched two and two-thirds innings for the Giants on opening day.Riley Klein

Conditions on Steve Blass Field were ideal for opening day baseball. Dandelions were blooming in the outfield beneath partly cloudy skies, about 64 degrees at game time.

Quin Bryant began the game on the mound for the Giants. “His brother was a catcher and needed someone to throw to him. So, he’s been pitching since he was about 3,” explained Bryant’s mother as he warmed up. Bryant then put the Red Sox out in order in the top of the first.

Ben Young got some advice from big brother Nate before stealing home.Riley Klein

Ben Young pitched at the start for the Red Sox and unleashed a cannon from the mound. His big brother, Nate, pitched in the Steve Blass Little League last year and said he taught his brother everything he knows. The younger Young went on to strike out three batters in the bottom of the first.

Young then put the Red Sox on the board by stealing home in the top of the second inning. Lane Brooks and Sam Hamlin followed closely behind and each stole home themselves to even up the score at 3-3.

Lane Brooks stole second from Owen Cooper when the Red Sox played the Giants in AAA little league, April 27.Riley Klein

The Giants went on a run in the bottom of the second and pulled ahead to 10-3. Bentley King aided the cause by hitting a triple with bases loaded and bringing in three runs. Harold Pascual also brought two runners home with a single.

In the third inning, the Red Sox tacked on two more runs. Quinn McNiff stole home on a wild pitch, then Young hit a single and Sam Norbet made it home to bring the score to 10-5.

The Giants kept their foot on the gas and added five runs in the bottom of the third. Brayden Zinke, Lucas Wolfe, Colin Sherwood, Everett Kindred and Chris Johnson all touched home, making it a 15-5 game. The Red Sox saw Hamlin and Brooks score in the fourth, before the game ended 15-7 by run rule.

Harold Pascual reeled in a fly ball in left field for the Giants.Riley Klein

Ben Young led the Red Sox offensively with one RBI and went 2-for-2 at bat. Young and Sam Hamlin were both quick on the swivel, stealing several bases a piece. In total, the Red Sox stole six bases from the Giants.

Chris Johnson and Harold Pascual each put the bat on the ball twice for the Giants, with Pascual bringing home three RBIs. Bentley King also brought in three runs on a triple.

Berkley Karcheski played center field for the Red Sox.Riley Klein

Latest News

East Canaan's CowPots to face the 'Sharks'

Amanda Freund of East Canaan will appear on the television show "Shark Tank" on April 4 to pitch CowPots.

Photo by Ruth Epstein

CANAAN — Fans of the television show “Shark Tank,” stay tuned. On Friday, April 4, Amanda Freund of East Canaan will be facing the panel, imploring members to invest in her unique product: cow poop.

Freund and her father Matthew Freund produce and market CowPots, which are made from the abundance of manure found on their dairy farm. Matthew Freund, realizing cows were producing more manure — 100 pounds per cow per day — than was needed for fertilizing fields for crops, came up with the concept of the pots. Years of trial-and-error experimentation finally resulted in success. In 2006 he began selling the biodegradable pots using 100% composted manure to local stores. Now the pots can be found in outlets across the country, as well as internationally.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss lacrosse ices Kingswood Oxford 19-0

LAKEVILLE — The Hotchkiss School opened the girls varsity lacrosse season with a big win in the snow against Kingswood Oxford School.

The Bearcats won 19-0 in a decisive performance March 26. Twelve different players scored for Hotchkiss, led by Coco Sheronas with four goals.

Keep ReadingShow less
HVRHS releases second quarter honor roll

FALLS VILLAGE — Principal Ian Strever announces the second quarter marking period Honor Roll at Housatonic Valley Regional High School for the 2024-2025 school year.

Highest Honor Roll

Grade 9: Parker Beach (Cornwall), Mia Belter (Salisbury), Lucas Bryant (Cornwall), Addison Green (Kent), Eliana Lang (Salisbury), Alison McCarron (Kent), Katherine Money (Kent), Mira Norbet (Sharon), Abigail Perotti (North Canaan), Karmela Quinion (North Canaan), Owen Schnepf (Wassaic), Federico Vargas Tobon (Salisbury), Emery Wisell (Kent).

Keep ReadingShow less
Thomas Ditto

ANCRAMDALE — Thomas Ditto of Ancramdale, born Thomas David DeWitt Aug. 11, 1944 in New York City changing his surname to Ditto at marriage, passed peacefully on Pi Day, March 14, 2025. He was a husband, father, artist, scientist, Shakespeare scholar, visionary, inventor, actor, mime, filmmaker, clown, teacher, lecturer, colleague, and friend. Recipient of numerous grants, awards and honors in both the arts and sciences, a Guggenheim and NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts fellow, he was a creative genius beyond his time. In addition to authoring scores of papers, he held several patents and invented the first motion capture system and the Ditto-scope, a radically new kind of telescope. He was a pioneer in computer generated video, film, and performance.

When not hard at work, he was always there to help when needed and he knew how to bring smiles to faces. He loved his family and pets and was supportive of his wife’s cat rescue work.

Keep ReadingShow less