Call it an Empire State of Mind.
St. James-Smithtown Little League is on high of the world as the 12-year-olds introduced home the New York State title and are just a few wins away from Williamsport.
“It feels great — making history with everybody that I’ve been teammates with for four years straight, we’ve been working as hard as we can,” outfielder Eric Hanson advised The Post of the program’s first boys New York championship.
The group won it all with a mighty 7-2 efficiency over Staten Island’s South Shore Little League, a team that St. James-Smithtown lost to, 8-2, in pool play.
Down 2-0 early and struggling with off-speed pitching in Friday morning’s all-or-nothing recreation, the squad took a beat to rethink technique, supervisor Scott Santelli said.
“We basically said, ‘Hey, guys, we’ve got to start looking curveball, not fastball,’ ” he said. “It’s the opposite of what you teach.”
Santelli’s son, left fielder James, recalled that their team had its back to the wall in an earlier do-or-die district event against West Sayville, which St. James-Smithtown came back to win.
“We’ve rallied before,” he said, “so I knew that we could do it again.”
Pitcher and New York State home run derby champion Jeremy Katz got his team emotionally back in it by blasting a solo home run in the second inning, chopping South Shore’s lead to 2-1.
St. James-Smithtown poses after profitable the New York State Little League title on July 25, 2025, pushing the team one step nearer to the Little League World Series. Courtesy of Brian Erni
Then, it was all Long Island in inning 4 as St. James-Smithtown blew the recreation open with a six-run body during which Katz blasted another two-run homer.
“Jeremy comes up, hits a second home run of the game, the whole crowd’s going crazy,” recalled Hanson. “We were hyping everybody up in the stands. … It felt like a home game for us.”
St. James-Smithtown strikes on to the Little League Metro regional event, where it will face the greatest golf equipment from New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, beginning with the latter on Aug. 2 at 7 p.m.
The event winner advances to the huge present, the Little League World Series in August.
“When I was younger, I always used to watch them on ESPN — and now I’m going to be on there. It’s the achievement of a lifetime,” Santelli said.
“I really think we have a chance.”
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