West Chester's East Side Little League opened its quest for a Little League World Series berth with a dominant 8-1 win over Delaware champion Naamans Little League on Sunday, Aug. 9, in the Mid-Atlantic Regional at Bristol, Connecticut.
The victory puts East Side, Pennsylvania's 2026 Major Baseball state champion, into the winners' bracket. The team plays Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 11 a.m. against Washington, D.C.'s Capitol Hill Little League, which edged Maryland's Berlin Little League, 7-6, on Sunday. The game airs on ESPN.
East Side advanced past Naamans in convincing fashion, according to PhillyBurbs. A win Tuesday would send the squad to the regional championship game Friday, Aug. 14, at 3 p.m. on ESPN. A loss would drop them to an elimination game Thursday, Aug. 13, at 3 p.m.
The regional champion earns one of 10 U.S. berths in the Little League World Series, which begins Wednesday, Aug. 19, in South Williamsport.
A state title forged in comeback fashion
East Side's road to Bristol was anything but smooth. The squad fell into the elimination bracket early in the Pennsylvania state tournament after a loss to Blue Mountain Little League, then rattled off five wins in six days to claim the state crown.
The championship game was a thriller. East Side built a 7-0 lead through three-and-a-half innings before Blue Mountain stormed back with an eight-run fourth, including a grand slam by Ben Ciccone, to take an 8-7 lead. Ryan Donnelly tied it with a solo home run in the fifth. Then, with the game knotted 8-8 in the sixth, Jack Cassidy launched a grand slam just over the center-field wall to seal a 12-8 victory at Jenkins Township Little League.
"It's a feeling like I've never felt before," Cassidy said after the Aug. 5 state final. "This was so special, this is one of the best teams in East Side's history."
Built on five years together
Manager Bob Hennessey, who has coached many of these players since they were seven years old, credited the team's depth after the state championship win.
"I think it was just trusting each other. There's not one kid that carries us, it's one through 12," Hennessey told the Times Leader. "We had a little hiccup the first time against Blue Mountain. We told them to continue to grind and keep playing the baseball that you're used to playing."
Key contributors through the state tournament included Cassidy, Donnelly, Pat Corliss, Mike Nolan, Ryan Hennessey, Dillon DiGiulio, Cole Warner, Paul Cowperthwait, James Martin, Colton DiGrazio and Adam Gazonas.
What's next
East Side is one of four teams in the Mid-Atlantic Regional, joining Naamans (Delaware), Berlin (Maryland) and Capitol Hill (Washington, D.C.). Last year, Pennsylvania's Glenmoore Eagle Little League won the regional and advanced to Williamsport.
Tuesday's 11 a.m. matchup against Capitol Hill on ESPN is the next step. If East Side keeps winning, the Little League World Series opens Wednesday, Aug. 19, in South Williamsport.
