win first-ever
Regional title
World Series next for Freehold Twp. seniors
Little League stars
win first-ever
Regional title
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer
Manager Mike Brach brought out the Opening Day pamphlet from the very first year of the Freehold Township Little League, 1965, and showed it to his Senior League all-stars prior to Thursday’s Eastern Regional championship in West Deptford.
Brach was in the pamphlet that day as a member of the Cardinals. But that wasn’t the point of his pregame talk.
"I wanted to give them some perspective," he said. "I wanted them to grasp the opportunity that they had. Nobody of any age group had gotten there [World Series] before."
A lot of great players and teams have gone through the Freehold Township Little League in the last 40 years and it was left up to the 2004 Senior League team, fittingly managed by Brach, to become the first to make it to a World Series.
Before taking the field for the Eastern Regional final, the all-stars all put their hands on the pamphlet in a symbolic gesture that they were going to win not just for themselves, but for all those who had gone through the league before them.
Their opponent in Thursday’s championship game, West Deptford, didn’t stand a chance.
Although the host team would battle hard, the game came to an end mercifully in the bottom of the fifth with Freehold Township scoring a knock-out 14-3 victory. AJ Rusbarsky’s two-run home run over the left-field fence put the 10-run rule into effect and Freehold Township was the 2004 Eastern Regional Senior League champions.
Now, it’s onto the Little League Senior League World Series in Mansfield Stadium, Bangor, Maine, that runs through Saturday, where the all-stars will face not only Regional champions from across the country, but international teams as well. They carried a 16-0 record this summer to Bangor.
Brett Brach, the winning pitcher in Thursday’s championship game, said that what he and his teammates have accomplished will take time to set in, but they are well aware of the magnitude of going to a World Series.
"It hasn’t fully sunk in," he said after the West Deptford victory. "It’s going to get more and more exciting. It’s something that you’ll never forget. It’s awesome what we did.
"It’s going to be the most amazing feeling, knowing you’re going to be playing teams from all over the world," he added.
Freehold Township left no doubt as to which team was the best in the Eastern Regional. After their opening game win over Maryland state champion North East, 6-2, they pummeled the opposition. They beat West Deptford, 12-5, and then hammered New York champion Haverstraw, 29-2, to advance undefeated to the championship game.
West Deptford would make history by becoming the first host team (automatic entry to the tournament) to get to a regional final. However, they were up against the wrong team at the wrong time on Thursday.
"I really felt we were the best team there," said manager Brach. "I thought the Maryland team was the best team we played and I told the kids if we beat them we would win the whole thing.
"They wanted these games (Eastern Regional) more than anything else," he added. "I can’t say enough about them, the whole team. You hope and pray for chemistry and we got it. They all play for each other."
Ryan Cuneo’s grand slam home run in the third inning highlighted the romp. The blast, which cleared the right-field scoreboard, capped a seven-run outburst that sealed the region crown for Freehold Township. It was the first grand slam home run hit in the region in three years.
Freehold Township, like it did throughout the tournament, raced out to a lead.
"Our goal throughout the tournament was to come out every game with intensity," noted Cuneo. "We knew that if we came out flat, we’d be in trouble. We knew we had to play with intensity."
Shawn Boysen’s two-run home run in the bottom of the first staked Freehold Township to the quick 2-0 lead.
Host West Deptford, though, signaled they were not going to be intimidated by taking the lead in the top of the second scoring three times. A pair of errors led to the three unearned runs.
The lead would be short lived as Freehold Township struck back with three runs in its half of the second. Damian Csakai’s two-RBI double and an RBI single by Rusbarsky made it 5-3.
"We always answered when someone scored on us," noted manager Brach. "They didn’t let them get the chance to hold a lead and I think that was important."
In the bottom of the third, Freehold Township all but put the game a way, topped by Cuneo’s monster blast over the right-field scoreboard. He was sitting on a fastball.
"I was just looking to keep my head on the ball," Cuneo pointed out. "I knew a fastball was coming because he (West Deptford reliever Kevin Brown) was behind in the count.
"I knew it was a home run because it came off the ball quickly," he added. "It felt good."
The seven-run inning gave Freehold Township a commanding 12-3 lead and in the last of the fifth, Rusbarsky’s fence-clearing blast sent the team to Bangor.
Cuneo said the Regional title was important not just to the present and past Freehold Township Little Leaguers, but those who will be following in their footsteps.
"This is really good for the league," he said. "We’re on the map now.
"It’s good for the kids who are younger than us who look up to us. We set an example for them. They can see that they can win a championship," he added.
Mike Brach, whose late father Morton Brach was one of the founders of the Little League, could appreciate what his team achieved as much as anyone having been there from the start.
"This is good for all who have worked in the Little League," he said.
"A lot of people have put a lot of work into it."
Individual, team records set at Regional
Freehold Township’s over-powering performance in West Deptford left its imprint in the record book as well. They rewrote it.
Cuneo’s 14 RBIs are a new tournament record. He batted .733 on 11-for-15 hitting. His 11 hits tied him for fourth best all-time. When he went 5-for-5 against Haverstraw, Cuneo tied the record for most hits in a game.
Boysen’s three round trippers tied him for second best in tournament history.
Csakai’s 11 runs scored tied him for third best.
Brach’s 10 strikeouts against North East put him among the top strike out artists for a single game.
The team’s 29 runs against Haverstraw were the most ever by a team in a single game. The 24 hits they hammered out in that game were the second most. The 61 runs they scored throughout the tournament were another record.
Of the top 10 batters in the tournament, four were from Freehold Township. There was Hayes and his .857 on 6-for-7 hitting, which was the best of anyone with multiple at-bats. Cuneo followed in third with .733. Elo batted .571 (4-7) and Rusbarsky was at .529 (9-17) and were fifth and eighth respectively.
Freehold Township dominated the individual states. Cuneo tied for the most with Casey Havers of West Deptford. Cuneo led everyone with his 14 hits and 18 total bases (Rusbarsky was second with 17).
Boysen’s three home runs topped everyone with Cuneo and Rusbarsky second with two.
Rusbarsky was tied for third in runs scored (nine) and RBIs (nine).
Freehold Township batted .484 as a team, going 21-for-126.
Not to be out-done, township’s pitchers were equally awesome, combining for a tournament leading 1.46 earned run average. The pitchers combined for 29 strike outs in 24 innings and allowed just five earned runs.
Brach led all pitchers with 18 strikeouts in 12 innings.
FT opens World Series with a win
Winning the first game in Little League tournaments is always critical and that’s exactly what Freehold Township did on Sunday, with a 7-4 victory over the Central Regional champions, Humbolt Park from Chicago, Illinois, Sunday.
Jason Elo went the distance, striking out three and pitching out of a jam in the last of the seventh.
Csakai had three hits and scored three runs while Rusbarsky was 4-for-4, including a double and three RBIs. Cuneo was 1-3 with two RBIs. Csakai, Rusbarsky and Cueno each had a double.
Monday night, Freehold Township played Rotterdam, the national champions .from the Netherlands and winner of the Europe/Middle East/Asia Regional, and once again, it was no contest.
Dominick Hayes led the way for Township on Monday, hitting his first career home run, singling twice and knocking in five runs all together to lead Freehold to a resounding 16-2 win over Rotterdam. The Freehold squad was in control from the start, which allowed Brach to use five different pitchers, one inning each after scoring five runs in the top of the first. Those pitchers (Brad Brach, Boysen, Nardi, Hayes and Cuneo) combined to throw a one-hitter with six strikeouts, but more importantly, set the pitching staff up so that Brach has everyone at full strength the rest of the way.
On Tuesday, Freehold Township was set to take on U.S.Southwest champion Greater Helotes National Little League of San Antonio, Texas. San Antonio edged MaracaiboVenezuela, 2-1, on Monday, and also entered the game 2-0 in Pool B.
There are 10 teams in the World Series and they are divided into two five-team pools, A and B. After pool play, the top two teams from pool A and pool B will meet in Friday’s semifinals with the winners playing for the World Series Saturday.
Freehold Township is in pool B with Humbolt Park, Rotterdam, Greater Helotes and Maracaibo, Venezuela, the Latin American champion.
Mike Brach entered the tournament believing his Freehold Township team would be more than a participant this week in Bangor.
"I feel good about us," he said. "We can make some noise. I believe we can play with anybody."
In their first two games game, Freehold Township certainly backed its coach up, running its summer record to 18-0