Only losses came to finalists, HTRBA, Ewing
By: Justin Feil
To look at the final four teams in the District 12 Little League Baseball Tournament, one name certainly was not as familiar as the others.
There was Nottingham, which has won more banners than any other District 12 team; HTRBA, which has won the second-most banners; and, last year’s district champion Ewing. And then there was Cranbury-Plainsboro, runner-up in Pool A play and only once before in its program history a final four team.
The Cranbury-Plainsboro Little League proved it belonged this summer, even as it saw its hopes for a first district crown dashed in a 7-1 defeat at the hands of eventual runner-up Ewing on Thursday. C-P had also lost to Ewing in Pool A, 10-0, and to eventual champion HTRBA in its second game of the double-elimination Final Eight.
"We played HTRBA well and Ewing, the first game we didn’t do as well, but the second game we played them a lot closer than the score indicated," said C-P manager Joe Donohue, whose team finished 5-3 in District 12 tournament action. "It wasn’t indicative of how we played. We showed we clearly deserved to be in the final four."
C-P could only sit back and wish the ride had lasted a little longer.
"It would have been tough to come out of the losers’ bracket," Donohue said. "Ewing couldn’t do it, and they’re a good team. If we won that game against Ewing, we would have had to beat HTRBA twice or Nottingham once. It was going to be pretty tough to do. When you get in double elimination, you just can’t lose. I still think we could have stayed there. I saw Nottingham play HTRBA, and they got dominated. We played them a lot better than (Nottingham) played them."
C-P never had a chance at a rematch with HTRBA, which beat it 7-5 to knock the new contenders into the losers’ bracket. In the deciding game for C-P, the bats were silent as they managed just five hits, two by C-P catcher Marc Raziano against Ewing’s Kenny Holzhammer. C-P scored its only run of the game in the third inning when Evan Smith walked, Mike Skapyak singled to left and Zach Donohue doubled to end the shutout.
"We didn’t hit," said the elder Donohue, whose game had been postponed a day because of rain on Wednesday. "My son pitched and he had started the night before and felt much better that night. He struck out their big guy that first night. He didn’t have it as much. Evan Smith, who I was counting on for the tournament to be our third pitcher, came on and threw very well."
Overall, the C-P team played well in the district tournament, as well as it had in any summer prior to it. That made the ride a little more enjoyable.
"I’ve been coaching them since they were 8," Donohue said. "We won the HTRBA tournament as 8s. We were third in Sunnybrae for 9s. We didn’t come out of pool play if they had that in 10s. In 11s, we had some different kids and didn’t do so well. This year, we had a few different kids and some other kids that we had all along came around."
C-P’s sudden success can be attributed to a year-round commitment by many of the players, despite the shortcomings facing the program’s players.
"Neither township is willing to give us the land to build an indoor facility," Donohue said. "It hurts us. Neither township will do that. Little League has the money (for batting cages), we just can’t afford the land."
Instead, C-P’s players have joined AAU teams, where they’ve gotten their extra hitting and fielding practice. It paid off with some memorable moments in the District 12 tournament.
"I still think our game against HTRBA, even though we lost, was a real highlight," Donohue said. "When Ralph (Aurora) hit that grand slam to put us in the lead. . . Our win against Sunnybrae was special. It was 10-9 ultimately, and that play to end it, the relay play, that’s as exciting as it gets. Those two games stick out as memorable. They can hold their heads up high."
The team won’t again have the same roster. While they’ll host the Cranbury tournament that begins Friday, already players have gone on vacation. Next year, the team gets broken up further. While only Colin Graydon hails from Cranbury, the top Plainsboro residents of the team will form a strong Babe Ruth team with players from the West Windsor squad.
They’ll go their separate ways with the knowledge that they reached heights that only one other C-P team had ever before them. They’ll remember that they were in a District 12 final four with three of the most established programs.
"We’re happy," Donohue said. "We’re satisfied."
After all, finishing in the final four is just the first step by Cranbury-Plainsboro toward establishing quite a name for itself.