Port Washington Little League advances to state title game with win over Twin Town
Port Washington's Max Dempsey connects for a three-run homer during a Little League baseball state tournament semifinal game on Wednesday at the West Nyack Little League complex. Credit: Howard Simmons
The Port Washington 12U Little League baseball team continues to make winning look easy.
The squad took down Twin Town, 6-1, in the New York state semifinal on Wednesday night at Cesca Field in West Nyack. A three-run homer from Max Dempsey highlighted the victory.
Manager Dave Gabriel said that not only did the big hit turn the tide in Port Washington’s favor, it also allowed it to take a chance in a pitching battle.
“That just gave us so much breathing room,” Gabriel said. “Our pitcher was battling, and we were able to keep him in there for another couple of innings to see how he was doing. That shot made it so that we didn’t have to make a pitching change so early, and we were able to ride it out and give him a little bit of a longer leash.”
Port Washington (3-1) will face Mid Island in the championship at 7 p.m. Friday. Mid Island (3-1) defeated Florida, 11-1, earlier Wednesday. A victory Friday would send Port Washington to the Metro Region tournament, scheduled to begin Aug. 8 in Bristol, Connecticut.
Supported by a strong defensive performance in the top of the first, Jack Gomez gave Port Washington a 1-0 lead with an RBI single to leftfield in the bottom of the inning.
Twin Town was tied for fewest runs allowed in the tournament entering the semifinals. Gabriel said Gomez’s RBI sent a message to Port Washington that while Twin Town may be tough, they’re not unstoppable.
“That play really helped us out because the pitcher on the mound is so good,” Gabriel said. “I tell my boys, ‘Hey, let’s win the inning.’ So, to go up 1-0 just really started that momentum. We can get to them, and we did.”
An error in the third allowed Twin Town to tie the score at 1, but the stalemate didn’t last long.
With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the third, Drew Theoharis’ sacrifice fly drove in Mikey Catuogno and put Port Washington ahead. Another RBI single from Gomez extended the lead to 3-1. Then, with two on and two outs, Dempsey blasted a line-drive home run over the leftfield fence to put Port Washington ahead 6-1.
Defense took center stage again in the fourth and fifth, where Theoharis found his groove and struck out four in the two innings. He totaled five strikeouts and will not be available for Friday’s championship game.
Twin Town’s ace Dominic Gibson struck out eight.
Port Washington played strong defense. Shortstop Brandon Kien, who was spectacular in the field all week, recorded the final out. Twin Town finished 2-2 in the tournament.
“He is such an unbelievable shortstop, and he makes so many great plays that just look routine,” Gabriel said of Kien. “He’s one of the biggest reasons why we are where we are today.”
Looking forward to the championship, Gabriel said the plan is no different — Port Washington wants to play its own game.
“We just want to keep playing the way we’re playing,” Gabriel said. “Bring good energy, bring good effort, bring a good attitude and let’s play our brand of baseball.”
Tess Ferguson is a reporter on Newsday's high school sports staff. She joined the team after graduating with a journalism degree from Ithaca College in 2025.
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