By: Sean Moylan
David Senatore believes that his Hightstown-East Windsor 13-year-old Babe Ruth All-Stars have talent that’s comparable to the local group which won District One and made it all the way to the Babe Ruth World Series last year.
But Chuck Petty’s great club had three major things going for it it built up huge early leads, it had two starting pitchers with rubber arms (Steven Kowalski and Corey Vono) and it stayed in the win column.
This year, the District One fate of the Hightstown-East Windsor 13’s may have been sealed when it lost a 3-1 decision to Hamilton in its opener at Switlik Park in Hamilton last Saturday.
After losing its first one, Hightstown-East Windsor fell into an unforgiving loser’s bracket, which meant more games in a shorter period of time. Even so, Hightstown-East Windsor stayed alive by clubbing Trenton, 16-2, on Sunday and then it defeated West Windsor-Plainsboro, 8-6, on Monday.
All of that set up a loser’s bracket semi-final game versus Nottingham on the Fourth of July.
In the early frames the usually strong Hightstown-East Windsor bats produced no fireworks. But then Hightstown-East Windsor came alive at the plate in the top of the seventh and scored two runs, only to fall a little short and drop a 5-4 decision at the end.
The game was so close and emotional that a usually talkative Senatore had trouble talking to reporters following the elimination contest. But hours later, it all unfolded clearly in his mind.
"We had the bases loaded in the seventh inning. We pressured Nottingham," said Senatore, whose team was down 5-1 after three frames. "We scored a run in the third, a run in the fourth and two in the seventh. It was a valiant comeback."
Senatore started his hard-throwing son Nick (also a shortstop), who had trouble with a Nottingham club that feasts on even the best fastballs.
"Nick has a strong arm and he was throwing hard but his curveball wasn’t breaking at all. He wasn’t getting his breaking pitches in there and that’s the key to beating a team like Nottingham," said Senatore.
Nonetheless, Alex Cettina (an outfielder), who has a good assortment of pitches and good control, came in for Senatore in the third and pitched 3 1/3 innings of scoreless, hitless ball to keep Hightstown-East Windsor in the game.
"He shut them down," said Senatore of Cettina, who also knocked in a run.
Senatore, Kris Weigand (outfielder) and Gus Vuolle (catcher) each had a hit and drove in a run for Hightstown-East Windsor. Second baseman Matt Mindnich singled and scored a run and Sean Calabro, a pitcher/third baseman/first baseman, had a hit and scored twice.
"Sam Sparella, his fielding was unbelievable the whole tournament. He was by far the best fielder in the tournament," added Senatore, whose slick-fielding third baseman can also play short.
The key to East Windsor-Hightstown’s 8-6 win over West Windsor on Monday was contact.
"We had no strikeouts. We put it in play," said Senatore, who was proud to see his club crack 12 hits and beat the team which had won the District 12 12-year-old Little League All-Star tourney only a year before.
Sam Burum, a pitcher/first baseman/outfielder, gave up six runs (five earned) in 6 1/3 innings to earn the win.
Led by a long RBI sacrifice fly by Senatore (2-for-4 with a double and a stolen base) Hightstown-East Windsor scored three runs in the top of seventh to grab an 8-4 lead. In the bottom of the same frame, Senatore had to come in and get the final two outs to shut the door on West Windsor-Plainsboro.
"Nick had the game of his life. He drove in four runs that day," said Senatore.
Mindnich also hit the ball well, going 2-for-4 with a RBI and a run scored. Vuolle had a trio of hits while center fielder Ryan Fleming and Sparella each scored a pair of runs and had a base knock. Weigand (single, RBI), first baseman/pitcher/third baseman John Feldhaus (single), outfielder/pitcher Dylan Borden (RBI) and second baseman Chris Boyle (run) all did something positive to contribute to Hightstown-East Windsor’s offensive attack.
Hightstown-East Windsor’s bats thrived in a 16-2 win over Trenton on Sunday but it took a little while.
"It took us two innings to get going," said Senatore, whose club held a modest 3-0 lead entering the top of the fourth frame.
It didn’t matter because Cettina was pitching brilliantly, allowing just two hits and two unearned runs in four innings of work while whiffing two batters. Calabro tossed two scoreless innings to close it out.
"Sam Sparella (2-for-4, four RBI, one run) did well," added Senatore, whose kids took advantage of five Trenton errors and nine walks.
Second baseman/outfielder/catcher Ryan Dmuchowski (1-for-1 with an RBI, a steal and two runs scored) and left fielder Nick Sudnick (two steals, RBI, run) both had good games. Mindnich (hit, run, three steals), Boyle (RBI), Weigand (double, RBI), Senatore (single, steal, run), right fielder/pitcher Evan Gross (run), Borden (run, steal), Feldhaus (run), Fleming (three runs, two steals), Cettina (two runs, a hit and two steals) and Calabro (1-for-2, run, RBI) were all productive offensively.
East-Windsor’s 3-1 loss to Hamilton was a real heartbreaker.
"It was 1-1 going into the sixth. Anyone could have won that game. It was a nail-biter," said Senatore.
Senatore, who gave up three runs in 5 1/3 innings pitched, was the hard-luck loser.
"Nick (Senatore) pitched a great game. He gave up just three hits against one of the best hitting teams," Senatore noted. Hightstown-East Windsor out hit Hamilton 6 to 4.
Hamilton scored first on a second-inning suicide squeeze, but Feldhaus evened the score in the top of the sixth with an RBI fielder’s choice, which plated Dmuchowski with the team’s only run. Vuolle had two hits. Mindnich, Sparella, Burum and Weigand each had a hit.
Hightstown-East Windsor ended the District One tournament with a 2-2 record, but it would like to play in a second tournament later this summer. Senatore was assisted by John Dmuchowski and James Mindnich.
14’S
The biggest question is what can the Hightstown-East Windsor Babe Ruth All-Star baseball team do as 14’s? Last year Hightstown-East Windsor (which also has several players from Robbinsville), won District One easily, won the state title and reached the Babe Ruth 13-year old World Series.
But Hightstown-East Windsor manager Chuck Petty’s philosophy has always remained the same just try to win every inning and good things will happen.
Hightstown-East Windsor has its two rubber-armed pitching workhorses, Corey Vono and Steven Kowalski, back. Both are inning-eaters who just win. Kowalski is also a good fielding second baseman with a knack for getting on base. Vono can play short and is a clutch hitter as well.
In last year’s World Series, Hightstown-East Windsor discovered it had a secret pitching weapon in hard-throwing Eric Strano, who had already made a mark with his powerful bat and terrific defense behind the plate. Tyler Schickner, a first baseman, can also pitch as can John Von Ahen, an excellent outfielder. Josh Pacifico, an outfielder and pitcher, has a potent bat and is an RBI machine as is Strano.
Shortstop/third baseman John Indrikovic is so good he saw some playing time with Hightstown High’s varsity baseball team late in the season. Kevin Monahan (third base/outfield), Robert Murphy (first base/pitcher), Cory Karagjozi (shortstop/third base/outfield) and Alex Petak (second base/pitcher/outfield) also made significant contributions to get Hightstown-East Windsor into last year’s World Series.
This year Hightstown-East Windsor is even deeper with the additions of Justin Lenhart (outfield), Stephen May (catcher/first base/outfield), Michael Noebels (outfield) and Michael Ras (second base/third base).
Anyone who saw Hightstown-East Windsor play last year knows that it can put a ton of runs on the scoreboard. But this year, Petty has added pitching depth in case of injury.
John Von Ahnen and Chris Pacifico are back as his assistants. This club has already done well in tournaments, so look for continued success as Hightstown-East Windsor attempts to topple opponents one inning at a time.
This year’s District One tournament will be held at Bacon Field in Hopewell. Hightstown-East Windsor will open with a 4 p.m. game on Saturday versus the winner of today’s (Friday) game between Montgomery and Princeton-Cranbury.