LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL: BIG FLATS RALLIES TO EDGE HORSEHEADS AND WIN DISTRICT MAJORS TITLE (24 PHOTOS) (2025-07-08)
By Brian FeesSouthern Tier Sports ReportHORSEHEADS — The Big Flats Majors Little League all-stars won their fourth straight district title, rallying from a three-run deficit to top Horseheads 4-3 on Tuesday night.
Down 3-0 after one inning, Big Flats scored two runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to walk off with the victory.
“Definitely great, most of these kids, it’s the fourth straight year they have brought a championship home,” Big Flats coach AJ Brooks said. “8-10 and 10-12 so it’s just a great group of kids.”
Horseheads scored three first-inning runs, the first three runs Big Flats pitcher Riley Goodwin has given up this season.
“We really didn’t expect that,” Brooks said. “Horseheads came out of the gate and put up three runs on the board. We really didn’t expect. They came ready to play and we were flat footed to start. But, they really have that mental capacity at 12 years old to bring that back and get back in the game. Really proud of what they did here.”
Big Flats got two back in the sixth and then in the seventh Matt Updyke raced home on a passed ball to give Big Flats the walk-off win.
Updyke hit the ground hard, and took a minute to get up, but he got up as he heard his teammates screaming we won.
“Crossing the plate it was like as soon as I saw the ball going toward the home dugout I knew it was perfect,” Updyke said. “It’s the best feeling ever. It can’t get any better than that for a game.
“I was just thinking it still hurts, but let’s freaking go. It’s the best feeling in the world. It’s hard to describe, but it’s a great feeling.”
Goodwin went 5 1/3 innings, striking out 10 and allowing six hits and three runs, two earned. After giving up the three in the first the pitcher shut down Horseheads the rest of the game.
“That’s what it is,” Brooks said. “We expect Riley to shut people out. We don’t expect them to put runs on the board. He hasn’t allowed a run yet until this game, and to allow three runs in one inning and for him to come back and do that is great.”
Ricky Graham got the final two outs, one by strikeout, for Big Flats.
Updyke had two hits and scored tow runs and Maddox Monks had two hits.
Graham, Nolan Ruhmel, Trevor Bonham, Gavin Brooks and Gabe Charlanow all had hits for Big Flats. Bonham had an RBI and Brooks scored a run. Parker Moshier scored a run for Big Flats.
“Just getting the tying run brought me back to earth, like okay we’ve got a chance here,” Brooks said. “Middle of our lineup came through and that’s all we can ask for.”
The comeback win was special for Big Flats.
“It’s amazing,” Udyke said. “Because we have been working so well as a team this year, we have such a good team build and our energy is up every game. Today we had everybody up on the dugout screaming, it was loud, it was rowdy, we were hammering it with our vocals.”
Kaiden Rijo had two hits for Horseheads and Camden Crowley had two hits and scored a run.
Carson Vieselmyer and Jesse Schuyler had doubles for Horseheads. Schuyler had an RBI and a run scored. Haden McKinney had a hit for Horseheads.
Nate Blauvelt struck out nine in 4 1/3 innings for Horseheads, allowing two runs on four hits. Rijo struck out one in 1 1/3 innings, allowing two runs, one earned. Schuyler got the last out.
Now it’s onto sectionals this weekend at Baldwinsville.
“Sectionals last year the teams were really tough,” Updyke said. “I think this year it’s going to be the same, but I think with our team this year it’s really solid and I believe we can make it pretty far in the sectionals.”
Big Flats feels like they have a good team this year heading into sectionals.
“Very excited,” Brooks said. “We definitely have a deep team in our lineup. We have a lot of pitching, we haven’t been able to use a lot in the district level, so we are really excited to get deep into our pitching and see what they can do at the sectional level.”
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES
PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME:
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