Perfect Princeton also advances to final eight
By: Justin Feil
As soon as he walked in the sixth inning Monday, Quinn Male figured he’d try an old trick and either way it would work out.
The West Windsor 12-year-old rounded first and headed for second, and when his move drew a throw, Will Edmonds raced home from third base with the winning run in a 5-4 triumph over Florence in District 12 Pool B play.
"Sometimes they don’t throw it so I’m just safe at second," said Male, who was safe even with the throw Monday. "After I walked, I thought I’d do it. I was surprised he threw it."
With the win, West Windsor, which was scheduled to host Chambersburg in the pool finale on Thursday, clinched a berth in the final eight as the second team out of Pool B.
"I think this was the biggest game for us," Male said. "Whichever team lost pretty much had no chance of moving on."
With Monday’s win, West Windsor joins Princeton in the final eight. Princeton sewed up the top spot with an 11-0 win over 6/11 on Tuesday. Princeton was a perfect 4-0 in pool play.
"We thought we were a good team," said Eric Peterson, Princeton’s shortstop. "We thought we’d win most of our games."
Peterson helped the cause Tuesday with three hits against 6/11, and he recorded two strikeouts while pitching the final inning of the one-hit shutout. Steven Fuchs Brian Dunlap also pitched for Princeton.
In the final eight, West Windsor will take on Cranbury-Plainsboro 3 p.m. Saturday at Moody Park in Ewing and Princeton vs. Lawrence follows.
WW had to rally to earn its spot. Florence took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, before WW scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 4-1 lead before Florence tied it in the top of the sixth.
"We expected them to score more," Male said. "Their pitcher was fast. Mostly, we put the ball in play and made them field it. They made some errors. We didn’t have many hits, but it was enough."
After opening up with a 7-0 loss to Princeton, WW turned it around.
"Against Princeton and Florence, they threw their fast pitchers against us," Male said. "(Monday), we put the ball in play. We didn’t against Princeton and that made it a lot easier on them. Also we had a lot better defense."