Port Washington Little League baseball team wins state championship
Port Washington players celebrate another run during the Little League baseball state tournament at the West Nyack Little League Complex in West on Friday. Credit: Kelly Marsh
The “one more out!” chant rang among Port Washington fans in the bottom of the sixth inning. Then, with the bases loaded, Jackson Gorynski scooped up a ground ball, flipped it to Brandon Kien at second base, and it was all over.
A long week finally came to a satisfying end. The Port Washington 12U Little League baseball team is the New York state champion after going 4-1 during this tournament.
Port Washington fended off a midgame rally to secure an 11-5 victory over Mid Island (Staten Island) in the state final game Friday night at Cesca Field in West Nyack.
Port Washington will represent New York at the Metro Region tournament beginning Aug. 8 in Bristol, Connecticut.
Port Washington scored three runs in the top of the first inning on a two-run single by Max Dempsey and a throwing error on the same play, then added seven runs in the third to take a 10-0 lead.
Drew Theoharis, the tournament’s most outstanding player, had an RBI single off the centerfield fence to begin the big inning. A two-run single by Jack Gomez made the lead 6-0 before a bases-loaded walk and a wild pitch produced two more runs. Ethan Spitalnik then rocketed a two-run double down the leftfield line to cap the inning.
In the bottom of the inning, however, Mid Island scored five runs to cut the lead in half. Jordan Epshteyn had a two-run double and Mason Garland hit a two-run homer.
Though Theoharis has been Port Washington’s ace all week, pitching was not a weakness Friday. Carlo Cafferata pitched in relief after Mid Island’s five-run third and steadied the ship, striking out six.
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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