Lefty dominant after first inning
By: Justin Feil
Mike Duplak feels a little special as the lone left-handed thrower on the West Windsor 12-year-old baseball team.
"Everybody loves to have a lefty," Duplak said. "It definitely shakes things up a lot."
Duplak rallied from a shaky start to hurl a two-hitter in his first mound appearance of the District 12 Little League Tournament and delivered a three-run home run to help his own cause in a 16-0 win over Lawrence on Tuesday. It sealed the top spot in Pool C and put West Windsor in the Final Nine that was scheduled to open Thursday.
"Dupy, he pitched a great game and the home run, what can you say?" said West Windsor manager Dave Campbell after his team finished pool play 3-1 after losing its tournament opener to Bordentown. "The kids came out and everybody hit the ball hard. We finished first in our pool so I’m real happy about that."
Earlier Tuesday, Nottingham handed Bordentown its first loss in Pool C to open the door for West Windsor. With a win in which they allowed five or fewer runs to Lawrence, they earned the top seed out of Pool C by run differential with Bordentown, Nottingham and them all having 3-1 records. With a loss, West Windsor would have missed the Final Nine. West Windsor opens Final Nine play 5 p.m. Saturday against Bordentown at Lawrence.
"We knew about the (Nottingham) outcome prior because one of our parents was over there and they told us," Duplak said. "It mattered if we won, but the only thing that really mattered was if we gave up less than five runs which we accomplished."
Duplak started out by hitting the first batter of the game, then surrendering a hard single to right field to the second batter. He struck out the next three batters swinging.
"Striking out those next three just felt really good," said Duplak, who struck out six in four innings. "I felt like I’m back in this."
West Windsor’s offense then put him at ease with a five-run outburst in the bottom of the first inning. Matt McCann led off with a single before Ben Ruta blasted a 3-2 pitch over the left-field fence onto the adjacent field at assist america field. After Pete Carman doubled with two outs, Paul Balestrieri was intentionally walked to get to Duplak. The left-handed hitting Duplak belted a three-run opposite field home run.
"Maybe they remembered him from last year," Campbell said. "Maybe they had his number last year. I think they were just trying to put the force on."
Added Duplak: "I think what they were thinking was, it’s their No. 7 hitter, their pitcher. If you watch MLB, most pitchers aren’t good hitters so you’d think a pitcher hitting seventh wouldn’t be very good, but I think I gave them a big surprise when I hit that homer. That showed them, this kid can hit."
Duplak settled in nicely after the first inning. Lawrence never had more than one base-runner on in any of the next three innings and only two balls reached the outfield. He finished off the game with a 1-2-3 inning that ended with a strikeout.
"It’s good. We haven’t used him yet," Campbell said. "All of our pitchers, except for the last one (due to injury), have pitched complete games. You can bring him in if he’s not starting and give batters a new look. There’s another nine at bats before they start figuring him out. So it’s good. It’s a hard ball to hit he throws. It’s like a dead ball.
"We don’t have any lefties, so it’s good to have a lefty. We have plenty of lefty hitters which is good."
West Windsor gave Duplak plenty of support. They scored nine runs in the second inning to leave no doubt about the outcome. Ruta doubled in a run early in the inning and drove in two more runs on a bases-loaded single later in the inning. Ruta finished a triple shy of the cycle and was on deck when the West Windsor third inning ended.
"Ben had a good game," Campbell said. "I was hoping he’d get up that last time to go for the cycle. He’s just got a sweet swing."
Also delivering RBIs in the second inning were Jack Liang on a double and Kevin Schattin and McCann on singles. Kevin O’Connor had an RBI single and Joe Bensky doubled in the third inning. When Duplak returned to the mound for the third inning, he had a 14-0 lead.
"It gave me some breathing room," he said. "It’s easier to pitch when you have a bigger lead because you can feel comfortable. But if it’s a close game, if you give up a run or two you can lose it all. I felt really comfortable coming in here with a big lead. I just felt confident in my fielders and my arm."
Tuesday’s game was the first for West Windsor without Chris Campbell, their regular second baseman and a top-flight pitcher. He suffered a broken arm in the win over Nottingham on Sunday.
"Now we’re doing most of this for Chris," Duplak said. "He was one of our comeback players from last year. We’re doing a lot of this for him. Mr. Campbell said we have to play harder now that Chris is gone, probably give more effort."
The Final Nine opening matchup will give West Windsor the chance to avenge its 4-3 loss to Bordentown in the Pool C opener. It’s the start to the double-elimination tournament for West Windsor which is the defending District 12 champion. No team has repeated since Nottingham in 2002. West Windsor which earned the No. 3 seed. Bordentown is No. 6.
"It definitely will help," Duplak said. "As I see it now, the first place plays an easier team so that gives us an easier route to get closer and closer to winning that title for the second year in a row.
"We’ve played a lot better. And Bordentown has always been a tough team to beat. I think now that Chris is gone, they think they have our number easily. But I don’t think it’s that way anymore. Even without Chris, we came out and beat Lawrence, which had the same record as us."
With the win, West Windsor is on to the Final Nine. And this year, they go in with a left-hander who has a world of confidence after proving his value Tuesday.
"Mr. Campbell doesn’t know us very well," Duplak said. "You have to show yourself off to him. It’s a big deal that you pitch well, that you have good team spirit in the dugout."
Slamming a home run doesn’t hurt either.

