Monty 10s head to regional level
By: Justin Feil
For nearly all of the Montgomery 10-year-old all-star baseball team, traveling to New York for the Mid-Atlantic Regional will be a new experience.
Not for Robert Johnson.
In fact, he’s been to plenty of regional games through the years to follow older brother Dale’s Montgomery all-star team that is now at the Babe Ruth 14-year-old level. They played as 10s in Pennsylvania, in Delaware as 11s and in New York as 12s before hosting the Babe Ruth 13s regional tournament last year.
"I went to almost every one," said Robert, who primarily plays center field, and also catches and pitches for the 10s team. "It’s fun because you get to go to a lot of places. You can learn a lot from watching them."
The Johnson family will be split as both the Montgomery 14s, who played in the World Series in Jamestown, N.Y. last year, and the Montgomery 10s remain alive this summer. While Dale and the 14s play for the Babe Ruth Southern Jersey championship, Robert and the 10s will play for the first 10s regional title in Montgomery history. The 10s would earn a berth in the 10s World Series if they win the regional. They open play with a doubleheader today in Westland Hills, N.Y., with the first game of pool play at 12:30 p.m. and second game at 5:30 p.m. The top two out of five teams in both pools reach the semifinals that are slated for Monday with the final scheduled for Tuesday.
"It’s really exciting," Robert said. "We’re almost going to the same place my brother went. We’re staying in the same hotel."
Going on the road and playing baseball is a big deal at any level of youth baseball. Montgomery is excited after earning its chance with a convincingly win of the Southern Jersey state title, 10-0, last week.
"The kids are very excited," said Montgomery manager Tom Verducci. "It’s a great experience to go away and play ball. We’re also excited because they’re playing well. They feel like they belong here. Right now, we’re playing our best baseball of the summer."
As if they needed further proof of it, Montgomery captured its own Montgomery Tournament with a 14-1 win over district rival Hopewell on Monday. It showed Montgomery is ready to expand its horizons and take on the best of the regional.
"We had three days off after wining states and I was curious to see how they came back," Verducci said. "We had the Montgomery Tournament championship game and won, 14-1. That was a good sign. They’re still playing the game the right way. I think we have a lot of confidence now.
"I think if anything, they’ll have more fun than they’ve been having," he said of regionals. "They won’t be awed or intimidated by it. I know they’re looking forward to staying in a hotel. It’ll be a tremendous experience for them."
For Johnson and Montgomery, it’s useful to know that they aren’t the first team to get to this level. And he finds it helpful to know that his brother squad is a three-time regional champion.
"It is," Johnson said. "It gives us support that we’re not the only team in Montgomery that’s doing good."
Johnson thinks that he and his teammates are peaking at just the right time. After a 10-run win in the state final and a 13-run win in the Montgomery Tournament, the offense has caught up with what has been dominant pitching and defense. Johnson was first encouraged by the state blowout and encouraged by the encore that followed on Monday.
"It took a lot of state games but I thought we could do it," he said. "We did it that game."
Montgomery had the opportunity to show off its skills in a competition Thursday in Westland Hills, but its real skill is expected to come out today in the games. Montgomery hopes to have several advantages over other 10s teams.
"I would start with our pitching and defense," Verducci said. "We don’t give teams many extra outs. Lately, our bats are coming around. We have a lot of confidence offensively.
"The other thing I really teach the kids, they don’t have to do anything different if they’re playing better opponents. So it doesn’t matter what the level. Just playing our game should be enough."
For Johnson, that means swinging a hot bat as well as playing well, regardless of where he is in the field. While he has pitched when Montgomery has needed him to, it isn’t his favorite position.
"I would say catcher and center field," Johnson said. "I really like catching because you get a lot of action."
Johnson usually puts on the gear when Cameron Hoos is on the mound. That allows Greg Kocinski a break from the catching duties.
"What’s good is he’s really emerged as a top-flight catcher, and Greg Kocinski, the same thing," Verducci said. "Neither one has to get run down. He does a good job behind the plate. He’s such a good athlete, I could put him anywhere. He does a good job in center field. And he came in with the state game, tie score and the bases loaded as cool as anybody to get that last out and give us a chance to win.
"He can hit, and he’s a really good base runner. Besides having speed, he has good instincts. It really helps."
Those instincts may have been honed watching so many of his brother Dale’s games while growing up. Now, he has the chance to win a regional championship, one that eluded the current 14s team when they were 10-year-old all-stars.
"Just the chance to follow in their footsteps is great," Verducci said. "They’ve given us a good message. And one message that comes through is, go and have fun."
Today, the Montgomery 10s begin their fun as they take their first steps toward a potential World Series trip. Robert Johnson knows just what that’s like as well.
"It would be really good to make it to the World Series," he said. "The last states game, we played our best game of the year. I think we’ll do really well in regionals."