By: Sean Moylan
Expectations were high for last year’s Bordentown 11 and 12-Year-Old Little League All-Star team and the club lived up to those expectations with a fine 5-3 record and Bordentown’s most successful District 12 showing in many years.
Although Bordentown’s roster was made up of mostly 12-year-olds, a then 11-year-old Joey Gutowski emerged as one of the best players on team. This year he’s back to lead a new group of Bordentown All-Stars, and his father Bob Gutowski, who was a coach on last year’s team, is back to manage this year’s squad.
Although Gutowski, who is fine pitcher and shortstop, is the only returnee, it’s still a very talented and extremely versatile Bordentown team. In fact, in addition to Gutowski, Taylor Zachman, K.C. Degnon, Justin Conover, Frank Festa, Drew Pederson and an 11-year-old phenom by the name of Chris Limani can all pitch.
While Gutowski could be the team’s number one starter due to his great stuff and his experience, Zachman and Festa are lefties who often leave opposing hitters bewildered and baffled. Degnon pitched for Gutowski’s house Mast Pharmacy squad and the Bordentown manager liked what he saw. Conover also had a great regular season on the mound and while Pederson is known more for his blazing speed and his stellar middle infield and outfield play, he’s a good hurler as well.
Limani is just a big, talented young kid who throws hard and changes speeds.
On days when he’s not pitching, Gutowski will play shortstop. Meanwhile Limani (middle infield), Conover (catcher-outfield), Festa (first base-outfield), Degnon (shortstop-second base-third base) and Zachman ((infield-outfield) can play a multitude of positions.
Zachman is so versatile, Gutowski refers to him as his "Mr. Everything."
But everyone on this squad brings something special to the table. Kurt Deckert is an infielder with a good arm who is an excellent contact hitter. A gifted catcher, Joey Michel can play various positions in the infield and outfield as well. Bob Gravener, a slick-fielding outfielder, is a brilliant base-runner with tremendous speed. Meanwhile Matt Letts is a left-handed power hitter who can play first base or the outfield.
"He (Letts) took two deep off of me in batting practice the other day," noted Gutowski.
And Stephen Chaszar is the ultimate utility player because he can play nearly any position. While many Little League teams hide poor defenders in the outfield, all of Bordentown’s outfielders can catch the ball. But Bordentown has good defense all around.
"Defense is going to win games, but I’ve got three kids who are going to hit home runs too," said Gutowski, whose team also has speed at the top of the lineup. And nearly every kid on the club loves to hit fastballs. Yet much of Bordentown’s potential success will surely be determined by how its deep pitching staff handles the area’s best hitters. Pitching is always the key in such tournaments.
"Ultimately, I’d like to get out of our Pool (A) and do as well as we did last year," said Gutowski, who will be assisted by Chris Michel and B.J. Pederson.
Bordentown will be playing in a pool with Allentown, Ewing, Florence, West Windsor and Princeton. It should match up well with most, if not all, of those squads. Bordentown is scheduled to host Allentown at 8:00 p.m. in its opener on June 28. On June 29, Bordentown is scheduled to play Ewing at Ewing. On July 2, Bordentown is scheduled to play Florence at 6-11. Then on the 4th of July, Bordentown and West Windsor are scheduled to square off at Nottingham.