The New York State 11-12 Year-Old Little League Championships began Saturday in Mineola with four teams vying for the right to be called state champions and take the next step in a journey that's ultimate destination is the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.

For Mineola, it was the first time the community has hosted a little league state championship since 1961 and the village made the most of its opportunity. Everyone involved in the event from Mineola Athletic Association volunteers Ken Weiss, Fred Wachter, Ted Englis, Steve Siwinski, Robert Maloney and Tom Winters and others to the mayor, the village board and the village employees, under the direction department of public works Superintendent Tom Rini and Assistant Superintendent Ron Cesinski, put forth time and effort to provide a stage suitable for four exceptional teams to decide their fate.

The field, which was manicured and conformed to Little League regulations, was matched in beauty only by the weather. With the teams standing by, an opening ceremony in which ceremonial first pitches were thrown out by Mayor John P. Colbert, Assemblywoman Maureen O'Connell, Nassau County Executive Thomas Gulotta and Nassau County Legislature Minority Leader Peter Schmitt, who is from Massapequa, which was represented by one of the four teams.

"You will remember this for the rest of your lives," Wachter told the players.

Each of the teams - Northwest Region representative Orchard Park, Long Island representative Massapequa International, Northeast Region representative East Greenbush and New York City representative Rolando Paulino of the Bronx - has assembled a collection of lifelong Little League memories over the past month. Each has been riding a wave of success on a unique path to tournament.

The members of Orchard Park and East Greenbush traveled hours to Mineola, where they would showcase their talent with the Bronx and Massapequa as each team, believing in its own destiny, would attempt to continue its baseball summer.

When it came down to the serious business of crowning a state champion, pitching and defense turned out to be the themes of Day One.

In the first game, held on Saturday, East Greenbush and the Bronx, the defending state champions, locked up in a pitcher's duel. East Greenbush starter, righthander Chris Boudreau, kept Bronx batters off balance with a wicked off speed pitch. Bronx lefthander Danny Almonte mowed down the East Greenbush hitters as the game stayed scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Carlos Garcia singled home a run. The Bronx would add another on a sacrifice fly.

The story of the game and perhaps of the day was Almonte, who threw a no-hitter, allowing just two walks in a no hit, no run performance. Almonte retired the 12 straight to end the game. Of the 18 outs recorded, 15 were by strikeout and the other three were groundouts to Almonte.

The talk around field was the 12-year-old's blazing fastball, which kept a red-hot East Greenbush team at bay. Almonte, who is from the Dominican Republic and barely speaks English, has only been living in the United States for the last two years. But, in that time, he has been dominating.

Bronx coach Rolando Paulino said Saturday's performance wasn't even Almonte's best. Paulino pointed to a perfect game on one occasion and another performance in which Almonte recorded every out with a strikeout.

Following the Bronx victory, Orchard Park and Massapequa hooked up to see who would play Rolando Paulino in the winner's bracket of the double elimination tournament on Sunday. The loser would play East Greenbush, also on Sunday.

As was the case with Game One, the bats started out slowly as both pitchers - Michael Scudero and John Rapp took command of the game. The first four innings of the six-inning affair were scoreless as neither team could deliver a key hit. Scudero escaped trouble in the third and fourth as Orchard Park left the bases loaded.

Finally in the top of the fifth, Orchard Park would get its offense in gear. Andrew Buyea and Rapp would lead off the inning with singles. After a walk loaded the bases, Colin McNulty put Orchard Park on the board with a sacrifice fly. After seeing his team load the bases in the two prior innings, seeing that first run cross the plate had to be a relief for Orchard Park manager Robert Pistorio. "We needed to make something happen," he said.

Orchard Park continued to make something happen in the fifth as Chris Pistorio would knock in two more on a single, extending the lead to 3-0.

The Orchard Park bats seemed to settle down. They would add three more in their half of the sixth after Patrick Beyer doubled down the left field and Rapp, who also would come around to score, tripled in two more.

With Orchard Park up 6-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth, Massapequa tried to mount a rally against reliever Justin Parish after singles by Alexander Bujacich and Lawrence Flammia began the inning. But, the door was shut and Orchard Park's 6-1 victory propelled them into the winner's bracket with Rolando Paulino of the Bronx.

"This team has been playing as a unit this whole year," said Robert Pistorio.

For Orchard Park, Rapp starred on the mound, allowing only two hits in five innings, and at the plate, going 3-4 with a triple and two RBIs. Chris Pistorio was 2-4, with two RBIs.

Orchard Park found themselves in the winner's bracket after nearly being eliminated in their district tournament. After losing the first game of the double elimination district tournament, Orchard Park won their next six and then won all three games of their sectional tournament to get to Mineola.

While pitching may have dominated the first day of the tournament, in the second day of competition on Sunday afternoon, the teams showed signs of offense as four home runs were hit in the two games.

The first game on Sunday afternoon featured both teams in the loser's bracket and facing elimination. East Greenbush found itself in an unfamiliar situation, since in its nine games leading up to the state championships, the team had won all nine, outscoring its opponents 99-10.

East Greenbush's opponent - Massapequa also needed a win to stay alive in the tournament. East Greenbush would open the scoring, though, in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly by Alex Zampier. However, Massapequa answered in the bottom of the first with five runs, highlighted by a two run double by Chris Iovino off the fence.

After giving up a run in the first inning, Massapequa pitcher Lawrence Flammia settled down, and didn't allow a run for the contest. The hitting star of the game was Don Moscatelli, who went 3-3 with a two-run home run, the first of the tournament, over the right centerfield fence.

"It was probably the best game I ever had," said Moscatelli, who was all smiles after his outstanding offensive performance. "I thought about hitting a home run, but not when I was up at the plate."

Massapequa manager Bob Stainkamp liked the way his team responded after being down 1-0 with their backs against the wall. "These kids never give up," he said. "They came here to play baseball."

With the win, Massapequa avoided being the first team eliminated from the tournament. Being the Long Island representative in a tournament held on Long Island, the Massapequa team is just trying to enjoy the experience. "I'm having a lot of fun. The competition is great," said Alex Bujacich, who scored the first run of the game for Massapequa.

For East Greenbush, the season comes to an end. However, manager Joe Franchini expressed his pride in the team. "They worked hard for five weeks and did a nice job," he said.

Franchini said the 2-0 loss on Saturday to the Bronx team took its toll on East Greenbush and the team came out flat against Massapequa.

The second game of the afternoon featured winners bracket teams Rolando Paulino of the Bronx and Orchard Park. Just a day before, Danny Almonte of the Bronx dominated the game with his arm, pitching a no-hitter and striking out 15. On Sunday, he would dominate the game with his bat, going 3-4 with two home runs and 3 RBIs.

Rolando Paulino immediately took control of the game in the top of the first when Almonte hit a home run over the left centerfield fence. Based on the way the Bronx pitching has looked thus far in the tournament, it looked as though one run would be enough. Through their first seven innings of the state tournament, Bronx pitching had 17 strikeouts and allowed no hits. This time, the Bronx sent Manuel Bictorio to the hill and although the righthander was not was dominant as game one's starter, he was still in command, allowing just one run, a walk and three hits and striking nine over six innings.

In the fifth inning, the left handed hitting Almonte hit his second of the day, a rocket into the left centerfield bleachers. Rolando Torrez, Carlos Garcia and Bictorio added RBI in the Bronx's 6-1 victory.

A bright spot for Orchard Park was the hitting of pitcher Colin McNulty, who singled off the fence in right center, breaking the Bronx's pitchers hitless streak, and launched a line drive over the left centerfield for a home run.

With the win, the Bronx propelled itself into Tuesday's championship undefeated. The team seems to be all business in its approach and has excelled in all phases of the game. "They played well," said coach Rolando Paulino, adding though that the team has not played its best.

The Bronx team has been even more impressive considering that it only had three players - Almonte, Torrez and Garcia - return from last season's state championship team.

After the win, Paulino said the team would return to the Bronx and practice as it awaits the winner of Orchard Park-Massapequa. As of press time, Orchard Park and Massapequa were scheduled to play Monday evening with the winner going on to face the Bronx for the championship on Tuesday.

Since the Bronx is undefeated and Orchard Park and Massapequa both have a loss, either team would have to defeat the Bronx twice whereas the Bronx would also have to win one more to capture the state championship. If necessary, the second game of the finals is scheduled for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

The winner of the tournament will go on to play in Bristol, Connecticut in a regional tournament. The winner of that will go on to Williamsport, Pennsylvania to compete in the Little League World Series.