Solid pitching and plenty of power hitting, including three walk-off homers from Jordan Petronella, proved to be the perfect formula for Brookfield National Little League to win the 46th Annual Roy A. Overholt Invitational Tournament.
Petronella blasted a two-run homer over the left field fence to put the finishing touches on the Flaming Red Hot Cheetos’ 11-1 victory (four innings) over South Cicero in the championship game on Aug. 20. Petronella, nicknamed Mr. August by his coach Marty Berek, also hit a solo shot to lift Brookfield 2-1 over La Grange Park in the semifinals.
“There was some pressure, because it’s the last inning and I wanted to come up big,” Petronella said. “I just wanted to get base hits, but sometimes more than that happened.”
Brookfield (21-1) jumped on South Cicero early with four runs in the first, highlighted by Chris Cooper’s three-run home run. Petronella (two-run double) and Sebastian Correa (two-run homer) added key hits to push the lead to 9-1 at the end of the third. Connor Berek pitched four innings to pick up the victory for Brookfield.
South Cicero pitcher Karina Madera became the first girl to ever start a game in the Overholt Tournament. Jacob Rebolledo, Fernando Adame, Israel Marquez and Freddy Godinez played well for the Wolfpack, who finished 19-1 this summer.
“My dad [South Cicero manager Juan Madera] has really helped me with pitching,” Madera said. “It’s kind of weird playing with all the boys, but we’re like a big family.”
Members of the Brookfield championship team include Nick Quarino, Dominic Carabrez, Austin Murphy, C.J. Anderson, Grayson Hendrix, Charlie Gonzalez, Sean Conway, Petronella, Correa, Berek and Cooper. Marty Berek managed the team along with coaches Cary Hendrix, Dan Conway and Tracy Cooper.
“It feels great to win this tournament for our hometown,” Grayson Hendrix said. “The crowd cheered us on, which gave us momentum.”
LaGrange Park pulled out an 8-6 victory over Lyons Township to finish third at Overholt. Bill Stampel went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, while Mike Flaherty and Alex Hernandez had three hits apiece for the Phillies (17-5)
With an estimated crowd of 250 spectators attending the title game, one man was particularly proud of another memorable tournament in the books.
“There’s nothing like this tournament,” said Roy Overholt, who has been the central figure of the tournament for decades. “Everybody had fun, and it’s good for the collection.”
The win was Brookfield National’s ninth Overholt championship.