The final battle for the Little League Majors title came down to a rematch between Tuckahoe American and the Atlee All-Stars on Monday evening. Though Atlee pulled out a 2-1 on Sunday to force the rematch, Tuckahoe proved too strong in the championship game and took the title 9-0.

“We are definitely sending a worthy opponent to the state tournament,” Atlee manager Paul Miller said of his teams’ opponent. “We’ll be pulling for them. They have an excellent, excellent team. Hopefully they’ll pull it off and make us look good for falling to them in the finals.”

Tuckahoe’s Will Black, who has blossomed throughout the tournament, hit his stride on both offense and defense against Atlee. Starting on the mound, the record books will show that Black threw complete game no-hitter against Atlee even though Trevor Denton reached first safely after an on bag collision. But record book aside, Black dominated Atlee at the plate, keeping them off-balance with a wide array of pitches.

“He doesn’t throw the hardest,” said Tuckahoe manager Bob Black. “He’s not the quickest, but he’s unflappable. He’s very tough. He’s a very intelligent player.”

The game marked Black’s third appearance on the mound in nine days so Bob Black had special instructions for his pitcher. “I just told him go one,” he said. “You need the mentality of a closer. We’ll just go one, then we’ll got two, then well go three.”

However, Black also set the tone at the plate as well, leading off in the bottom of the first with a home run over the fence in center.

The hit was a clear example that Black was coming into his own. “He was a little embarrassed when this team was formed,” said Bob Black. “He was the only kid on this team who had not hit a homerun during the regular season.” In the tournament, Will Black hit four home runs. 

Following Black’s homer, Will Hodges grounded out to the pitcher but the shot allowed Connor Melhorn to score and put Tuckahoe ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the first.

Tuckahoe added two more to the tally in the bottom of the fourth when David Parkinson hit the first of two home runs over the center fenced, pushing home Scott Parkhurst. Will Black then hit his second homer of the game to push Tuckahoe’s lead to 5-0.

Tuckahoe added four more in the bottom of the fifth to create the final score.
Despite holding a 9-0 lead, Bob Black said he never felt safe against Atlee. “When Connor Melhorn stepped on the bag at second for the third out and not before,” he said.

“Not after what we saw from them the last two days, did we think they’d ever quit. That’s as gutsy a comeback team as you’ll ever see. The game the other day (against Huguenot) is the most remarkable comeback I’ve ever seen.”

Coming out of the losers’ bracket, it was a long road for the Atlee team and forced them to play a Major League-ish schedule of seven games in nine days to reach the championship. Miller said the win over Mechanicsville National on Thursday fueled his team. “That was probably the turning point for us and we really thought we could do it because we knew how good they were,” he said.  “We had a lot in the tank after that game and at some time the tank is going to go dry. We ran up against just a phenomenal Little League team in Tuckahoe.”

Even though they fell in the championship game, the pain of the loss did not linger long with the Atlee team because they understood what they had accomplished. “It’s been a tiring week but I think they’ve enjoyed it,” Miller said. “I have and we do have some good memories.

“They really did give their best effort and you’ve got your 12 year old memory,” Miller added. “A lot of good things happened in there. So hopefully they’ll look back as a 12 year old at Atlee we did something.”