Great Falls 10-11 All Stars travelled to Greenville, NC to compete against 7 other state Champions -- Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Alabama.  Great Falls Little League, the Virginia State Champs, donned their gold "Virginia" jerseys and continued their winning streak, beating both Georgia and Alabama by slaughter rule.  They produced the most explosive offense on the East Coast, capturing 17 Regional Tournament Hitting records that are currently on the books:  http://www.toscgreenvillenc.com/

However, Great Falls, fell short and lost in a heartbreaker to a dominant pitching team from Tennessee in the SE Regional Semi-final, thus, ending their summer run. 

Their highly productive potent hitting arsenal continued until the state tournament’s final pitch for the Great Falls Little League age 10-11 all-stars.

The result brought the undefeated team (11-0) the first state championship in the league’s history.

LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL

Great Falls won the Virginia crown in Lebanon by the virtue of Colin Farrell’s, two-out, walk-off solo homer to right center in the bottom of the sixth inning. The blast gave the all-stars a come-from-behind 10-9 victory over Atlee in the championship game.

Farrell hit a 1-0 outside pitch, then jumped up and down on home plate after rounding the bases.

The homer was the fourth for Farrell in the tournament and the 16th for the Great Falls team in the competition.

Great Falls was 6-0 in the state tourney. In order, it defeated Front Royal, 16-6, Upper Loudoun, 14-0, Abington, 12-0, Honaker, 17-0, Fleet Park, 14-3, then Atlee.

Against Atlee, Great Falls trailed 7-0 in the first inning, but didn’t panic.

“After we got down 7-0, the guys kept playing,” Great Falls manager Ryan Novak said. “It was still so early, so there was a lot of game left and there was no room to give up. It sure has been fun, I’ll tell you that.”

Colter Carton pitched a complete game to get the win against Atlee and Lucas Donlon homered, his third of the tournament.

Jason Volpicelli hit four home runs for Great Falls in the tourney, including three on his birthday in the win over Honaker. Danny Hosley and Timmy Conforti each hit two and Carton belted one.

Kyle Novak was 19 for 21 in the state tourney with 12 doubles for Great Falls and led the team with a .905 batting average.

Farrell hit a grand slam against Upper Loudoun and Carton added a three-run shot. Volpicelli walloped a grand slam against Abington.

In its opening game, Great Falls trailed Front Royal, 6-2, then rallied with a 10-run fourth inning.

“That kind of woke us up and got us started,” Novak said.

Also contributing for Great Falls in the state tourney were Chase Beckett, Tucker Harrell, Chris Obolensky, Bennett Norris, Jacob Shapero and Max Trautwein.

Prior to the state tournament, Great Falls won the District 4 crown with a 5-0 mark. In those two tournaments, Great Falls has hit 25 home runs.

Next for Great Falls is the eight-team invitational Tournament of State Champions event that begins July 30 in Greenville, N.C. Great Falls plays Georgia in its first game of pool-play competition, faces Tennessee on July 31 and Alabama on Aug. 1.

The semifinals are Aug. 2 and the title game Aug. 3.

To track Great Falls' progress in Greenville, visit the Web site: www.toscgreenvillenc.com.

NOTES: During the state tournament, the Great Falls players used infield dirt from their home Nike Park complex as a good-luck charm. They put dirt from Nike in two Mason jars. Then before each game at the state tourney, they rubbed some of that dirt on their knees, then spread a bit on the field at their positions . . . A video of Farrell’s state-championship winning home run can be seen at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSWpG23CjLA.

YouTube Link - Great Falls 10-11s Win the 2011 Va State Championship in Walk Off Fashion!!!

 www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSWpG23CjLA

The Great Falls 10-11s win back-to-back District 4 Championships...the team was comprised of:

Chase Beckett
Colter Carton
Timmy Conforti
Lucas Donlon
Colin Farrell
Tucker Harrell
Danny Hosley
Jake Nielsen
Bennett Norris
Kyle Novak
Chris Obolensky
Jacob Shapero
Max Trautwein
Jason Volpicelli

Coach Ryan Novak
Coach Jim Volpicelli
Coach Todd Norris

The 10-11 Great Falls All Stars went 5-0 in District Play, outscoring their opponents 60-1.  Great Falls beat Alexandria 14-1, McLean National 10-0, Vienna Colonial 16-0, Vienna National 10-0, and Vienna National 10-0 in the Championship ... they will now be competing at the state level in Lebanon, Virginia!

GFLL 9/10 year olds won the 2010 District 4 Championship. 

The team clinched the District Championship with a 5-1 victory over Reston American.  They finished with a record of 7-0 and outscored their opponents 59-2. 

Click more - for a larger picture and the roster:

With a 4-0 record, including a 20-0 victory in the championship game, the Great Falls Reds won the 2010 Starliper Little League tournament.

The competition includes Triple-A regular season champions from the various District 4 Little Leagues.

The Reds defeated McLean National, 8-1, in the first round, Reston American, 13-3, in round two, and nipped Vienna American, 4-3, in the semifinals, and Vienna Colonial, 20-0, in the final.

Vienna Colonial was 2-1 with victories over McLean American, 11-8, and Vienna National, 9-6.

The players for the Reds were William Bean, Aaron Krial, Sam Maruca, Brian Check, Jimmy Stamper, Jeremy Barto, Bryan Cox, Bennett Norris, Riley Cox, Lucas Donlon, Damian Street, Jack Robinson, Wyatt Harrell and Thomas Gates. Todd Norris managed the team and the coaches were Kevin Cox and Eric Gates.

Bean, Maruca and Check were the three Double-A call ups for the tournament.

“Our pitching and hitting was great and our Double-A call ups were fantastic,” Todd Norris said.

Donlon pitched two complete games in the tournament, Bennett Norris was six pitches short of throwing a complete game, and Riley Cox started the other game. Stamper was 3 for 3 in the final game.

Bryan Cox, the twin brother of Riley, played the outfield for the Reds during the regular season and Starliper tournament despite receiving continuous treatments for brain cancer.

“He does a great job for us and is a super kid,” Todd Norris said.

The youngest Little League team in Great Falls’ AAA division went 21 and 1 for the year, then won the multi-league Wayne Starliper tournament in Falls Church.

The Great Falls Little League AAA Pirates, sponsored by Capitol Environmental Services, Inc., had players as young as eight years old in a division with a maximum age of 12. Even so, they had a scoring record of 224-93 in regular season and playoff games, according to manager Ryan Novak. The team also won the regular season and playoff championships of the Great Falls AAA division.

"Each and every boy became a better ballplayer this year and each and every one of them contributed to our successes as a team," Novak wrote in an e-mail. "It was an honor to coach such a great group of boys."

The team was coached by Jeff Osburn and Scott Shapero. One of its mottos was "give 110 percent," according to Novak, who added that the team’s base running and pitching was strong. He also made note of the Pirates’ desire to play.

"The Pirates were the kind of boys where you had to literally pull them off the field after practice ... they wanted more baseball," Novak said.

The Pirates represented Great Falls in the Starliper tournament, facing teams from Vienna, Arlington, McLean and Alexandria. Jake Osburn hit an inside-the-park home run in tournament play, according to Novak, and pitcher Lucas Donlon, the 8-year-old on the team, only allowed three hits in the championship game. Novak added that the Pirates scored 51 tournament runs and gave up only three.

"This little community of Great Falls is definitely on the Northern Virginia baseball map," wrote Novak.   Click More for a bigger picture of the team.