Massapequa, New York 12U Team Wins the 2023 Little League Softball World Series

The Massapequa International 12U team from Massapequa Park, New York (Mid-Atlantic) won this year’s Little League Softball World Series on Sunday (Aug. 13) by beating the Winterville, North Carolina (Southeast) team 5-2.

A team from Texas (Southwest) defeated Connecticut (New England) 5-1 for the bronze.

The finals were held at Stallings Stadium in Greenville, N.C. and the game was broadcast live on ESPN3.

The team from the Empire State didn’t waste any time, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first keyed by first baseman Abigail Long’s two-out two-run RBI.

The New York squad tacked on another runner in the bottom of the second to put the lead at 4-0 after catcher Jocelyn Vandenberg drove in infielder Mia Victor but in the top of the 3^rd, North Carolina cut the lead in half thanks to a two-run hit by catcher Aurora Edwards to make it 4-2.

But that was as close as the host team would get as New York padded its lead in the bottom of the 4^th for what would be the eventual final score of 5-2.

In the top of the 6^th inning, pitcher Olivia Feldman—who pitched 3.1 innings without giving up a hit after relieving starting pitcher Alexis Fontana, who went 2.2 innings giving up five hits and two runs—induced a pop out which she caught and then the celebration for the girls from Massapequa began.

Here’s the final play of the game courtesy of ESPN:

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, NEW YORK WINS THE LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL WORLD SERIES 🙌🗽 pic.twitter.com/2GCg4rJCJj

— ESPN (@espn) August 13, 2023

“It’s just an incredible feeling because I’ve always dreamt of this and to have it happen is just insane,” catcher Sienna Erker told CBS News New York.

The team manager, Rich Eaton, agreed that the experience has been surreal.

“Are we the best team in the world? I don’t know. But we are the champions,” he said. “We trained like a professional team. We worked out five days a week, two hours a day. We are the number one Little League team in the world … in the world! That’s just unheard of to me.”

It was a momentous occasion in another way as it was the first time the Massapequa team have ever made it into the tournament, let alone win it all.

Here’s a nice segment the CBS affiliate in New York did on the team:

Here is the Massapequa team’s championship roster:

New York (Mid-Atlantic)

Coaching staff: Dom Fontana, Joe Fackler, Richard Eaton (manager)

— Brentt Eads/Extra Inning Softball