Call it Bulls on parade.
St. James-Smithtown Little League is stampeding into an all-or-nothing game that would put them in the Little League World Series this Friday at 7 p.m.
“Not in a million years did I see this coming,” Bulls manager Scott Santelli told The Post after a 6-1 win over Connecticut’s Fairfield International Little League, which advanced the Long Island 12-year-olds into the Metro region final in Bristol, Conn.
“Last year, we lost in the first game of our district tournament. … I came into this season only thinking about making it past that, and since then, it’s all been gravy.”
Santelli dashed to the outfield following the final out on Monday and joined the Long Island boys leaping up and down to celebrate what has been the two towns’ most successful season on record.
“It was just a ball of energy in my stomach I had to get out,” added the skipper, whose team remains undefeated in the Metro games.
“I don’t know what the heck I said — I don’t think they knew what I was saying either,” Santelli said.
The jumping for joy — and pool party that immediately followed — was not without warrant as the Bulls put up another lights-out performance on ESPN.
Like he does while playing poker with his pals on the roster, Ryan Delgado was absolutely dealing on the mound with five crucial strikeouts that helped the Bulls stay in front for the first 3 ²/₃ innings.
“Last night, I just went with my gut by making him the starter,” Santelli said. “He’s a bulldog, he’s just a pure athlete. He’s just got that competitiveness.”
The starting pitcher also swung a big bat that collected two vital insurance runs that came by way of an RBI single in the third and then another in the fifth inning against Fairfield.
“I’ve been seeing the ball really well. My swing is level. Things are great,” Delgado said.
Lucas Kostas continued to shine this tournament with an RBI double in the second inning as well. It was the third baseman’s fourth hit and fifth run he’s driven in since the team’s opening win over Rhode Island’s Burrillville Little League Saturday night.
Santelli said that keeping him at the bottom of the lineup — Kostas bats ninth out of the 12 players who all see the plate in a game — was by design and not demotion.
“I like the idea of power at the back of the lineup,” Kostas said. “Even at the bottom of the order, we can score as much as the top does.”
Kevin Moran, who leads the group in pregame meditations, got the last seven outs and continued to shut down Fairfield’s bats for the rest of the game, minus one run attributed to Delgado in the fourth.
“The pregame meditation is really working. Everyone’s hitting the ball very well and playing very well,” Moran said.
“It just helps calm us down — the coaches, too.”
Fairfield and New Jersey’s Jackson-Holbrook play for the other spot in the championship Wednesday at 5 p.m. Fairfield won the first matchup in extra innings after New Jersey had the tying run called off due to an illegal headfirst slide at second base, which ended the opening round game.
With a few well-earned days off filled with a docket of poker and Wiffle ball, the Bulls will be gearing up for the biggest days of their lives — while soaking in the moment that’s got the island going bonkers.
“Our local bars have the game on, we’re getting videos from the people just going nuts,” Santelli said.
“St. James-Smithtown — we put it on the map.”
For pitcher and first baseman Jeremy Katz, who hails from nearby Kings Park, he’s also showing the world something about his hometown, where Craig Biggio was raised.
“Kings Park is a small town, but it’s not a one-hit wonder,” said Katz, who had a three-RBI day. “Talent comes from Kings Park, and people should know that.”
The post St. James-Smithtown Little League cruises by Connecticut to move win away from World Series dream appeared first on New York Post.
