C-PLL in position to reach Final Nine

Win over Princeton keeps chances alive

By: Bob Nuse
   Rich Bongiovanni wanted to see his Cranbury-Plainsboro 12-year-old all-star team play a meaningful game in its finale tonight. And thanks to a win and some other results going its way, C-P will do so.
   "It worked out the way we wanted," the C-P manager said. "We have a chance at the end and that’s what we were hoping for. You want to get to that fourth game with a chance to win and move on, and we’ve done that. We lost our first two, but I figured if we went 2-2 we had a shot. Now we’re playing for something on Tuesday night."
   C-P is still in contention for a spot in the District 12 Final Nine thanks to a 13-3 win over Princeton on Saturday. After scoring just six runs in its first two games of Pool B play, C-P erupted for 13 runs on 13 hits on Saturday. C-P faces Florence tonight at 6 p.m. with a shot at advancing with a win.
   "We finally got everybody hitting," said Bongiovanni, whose team scored 12 runs in the last four innings. "The first two games, I think we had a total of about nine hits. But some of the kids really started to hit this game. It was a solid performance from everybody in the hitting department."
   Ryan Dontas homered, doubled and drove in six runs to lead the offensive attack. Michael Morabito and Scott Benerofe added three hits apiece in the win.
   On the mound, C-P used three pitchers who were able to scatter 12 hits and keep Princeton off the board the final four innings.
   "The way the schedule was set up, we wanted to try to work each of our pitchers for about two innings," Bongiovanni said. "Drew (Bongiovanni) gave us two and then Scott Benerofe gave us a solid three innings. Michael Morabito finished up with a good inning for us. So our pitching worked out just the way we wanted it to and we’re set up well for the last game.
   "We knew we needed to get a win and we beat Princeton."
   C-P needs a win tonight and then will have to sift through tie-breakers to see if it gains a top three finish in Pool B. There is a chance four teams could finish with identical 2-2 records, with just two of those teams moving on.
   "We can’t worry about that," Bongiovanni said. "We just have to go out and play our game and get a win. If we win, then we can figure it all out at the end. But if we don’t get a win, none of that matters. So we need to go out and play well against Florence and see what happens."