Lawrence wins with two convincing wins over the locals.
By: Neil Hay
Throughout this Mercer County Senior Babe Ruth League season, manager Dave Dino always believed his East Windsor PAL team was the league’s best squad.
Dino will have to wait until next year to prove that contention.
East Windsor, which shrugged off a 6-6 record and middle-of-the-pack finish in the regular season to make it to the playoff finals, was just not good enough to knock off Lawrence, which won the championships with two convincing wins over the locals.
The second and clinching victory came Monday night at home, as Lawrence defeated PAL, 7-4.
East Windsor played much better in this game than in the first of the best-of-three set which began Sunday night in Lawrence. On Sunday PAL committed eight errors which made it virtually impossible to expect a win. This time the defense (two errors) was sharper, tighter. The hitting, not very effective opening night, was much more productive. And the team played with a purpose, a desire to be together and force a third and deciding game. But it was not to be.
Dino threw Chris Sutton at Lawrence in hopes of getting one more chance. Sutton went all seven innings, allowing six earned runs on nine hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
East Windsor banged out 10 hits, with five players collecting two safeties apiece. Jeff Sutterlin and Tom Convery both had a single and double, D.J. Dino had a home run, single, and one run batted in, Zack Starks had a triple and single, and Dennis Gray two hits and a run batted in. Yet despite four extra base hits, the locals could only score four runs. Too many runners were stranded, due in part to a lack of production at the bottom of the order. Twice, poor baserunning decisions cut short PAL rallies.
"It’s kind of interesting. Everything we got we earned."
Ahead 2-0, Lawrence erupted for four runs in the fourth for a 6-0 lead. East Windsor scored twice in the bottom of the inning, and added another in the next frame. But the home team never got closer.
All season long Dino touted his team as the one to beat. And throughout the summer and into the playoffs, Lawrence did just that. Yet Dino continued to believe that, on another day, East Windsor would still come out on top. Asked if he though his team was better than Lawrence Dino said, "Lawrence has an excellent team. If we play our best game against their best, we win. Our number two pitcher is better than their number two, and our number one is even with their one.
"They hit the ball (Monday night). They have good bats. We made baserunning mistakes that should not have happened. It would have been a closer game. I am disappointed but pleased with the caliber of baseball we played compared to the first game. We demonstrated we can beat them but we didn’t."
East Windsor put itself in a win-or-go home situation Sunday night with an 8-2 loss at Lawrence. Errors (eight of them, accounting for five unearned runs) put the locals in a precarious position, their playoff hopes hanging in the balance.
"You can see where the problem was," said Dino. "It is very frustrating. We were not making the plays we should be making."
Five of the miscues were on misplayed balls, the other three on bad throws.
East Windsor had only nine players in uniform for Sunday’s game. Tristan Torres took 16 stitches in his leg in a non-baseball injury and could not play. He tried to give it a go Monday, but exited after two innings. Mike Yellen played third base Sunday on a twisted ankle which limited his range in the field. He was there Monday, but the injury again limited his effectiveness.
Lawrence is too good a team to give runs away to. Conversely, PAL (with just six hits) managed only two earned runs Sunday. Especially disappointing was East Windsor’s lack of production at the top of the batting order. Combined, the first through fourth hitters were one for 11 with three strikeouts.
"It’s hard to win with that," said Dino. "When we put the ball in play we had a lot of pop ups and groundballs to the wrong side of the infield. We didn’t move the runners up with men in scoring position."
D.J. Dino started and went all the way to take the loss. Dino yielded seven hits, struck out four, and did not allow any walks.
"If you look at the earned runs he allowed, we still lose 3-2. Would we score more runs in a close game? I’d like to think so. But we’ll never know. D.J. pitched well. (Lawrence winning pitcher and one-time PAL player) Kyle Anderson kept our bats in check."
Lawrence scored the first four runs of the game, pushing across two in both the second and third innings. Chris Sutton delivered a run for East Windsor in the top of the fourth, but Lawrence answered with two more in the home half of the inning, and another four runs in their next at bat. Yellen doubled home PAL’s final run in the top of the seventh.
Unfortunately, the emphasis on individual play at the expense of team goals hurt East Windsor’s chances to win on Sunday.
"I’ve lost games before," said Dino. "I don’t mind losing. We would have been more competitive in this game if we were more concerned from a team standpoint rather than from an individual standpoint."
That was not the problem Monday night. But high hopes and potential notwithstanding, in the end Lawrence did it on the field. And East Windsor did not.