PHOTOS BY FARRAH MAFFAI Brick American’s Chris James fires a pitch against Woodbridge during his team’s championship game at the Holbrook Little League Fields in Jackson on July 22, while (l) Andy Case shows off his swing just before the rains came and washed away the game.
Brick American’s 16-year-old All-Stars came close to adding a section championship to its District 18 honors.
The Americans were eliminated in the championship round, 5-4, in eight innings by Woodbridge at Holbrook.
Brick was losing 3-1 in the fifth inning against Woodbridge on Tuesday when the rains came. When it was picked up on Thursday, Brick closed to 4-3 in the fifth inning on a run-scoring groundout by Rob Gonzales and an infield single by Joe Baldasare that drove in the third run before the team tied it in the seventh.
In that inning, Andy Case led off with a walk and got to third on a passed ball and Greg Garan’s groundout before riding home on Rob Russo’s single. But a walk and three hits in the eighth inning lifted Woodbridge to the title.
"We had the bases loaded in the fourth and were hitting their pitcher and it looked like they weren’t ready to take him out, and then the rains came," said manager Joe Baatz. "The rain killed us. We were down 3-1 when it was stopped with runners on first and third and a 1-2 count on the batter, and it was impossible for him to come back facing a new pitcher and a new umpire two days later."
Instead, the next pitch was a strike to end the inning.
Chris James, who relieved starter Tom Pfeiffer when the rains came in the fifth inning, finished up and got the loss.
Brick American advanced into the Section 1 championship game with a 5-2 victory over Freehold as Garan got the win and Case and Sean Birch belted solo home runs. Case drove in two runs. Brick American dodged a bases-loaded threat with a fly ball caught in right field that was thrown home to Case to complete an inning-ending double play.
— Wayne Witkowski