Claims 11-year-old crown convincingly
By: Justin Feil
Andrew Link has fond memories from last year’s run to the 10-year-old Cal Ripken World Series, and he came into the summer hoping to build on last year’s success.
"I think everything is improved from last year," Link said. "The whole team was excited about districts and possibly going to states."
The Montgomery 11-year-old all-star baseball team picked up where it left off last year with a convincing run to the District One best-of-three championship. There, they defeated Hopewell twice, by scores of 11-3, to win the title Wednesday.
"We were pretty confident because we won last year," said Link, who earned the win in the first game last Tuesday, then was the winning pitcher and homered in the deciding game Wednesday.
Link was one of many heroes on a Montgomery team that returns all but one player from last year. Back for Montgomery are Luke Bonfield, Andrew Corazza, Larry Davanzo, Cameron Hoos, Anthony Iati, Robert Johnson, Greg Kocinski, Adam Kornberg, Link, Zach Mayer and Ben Verducci.
"They’re a year older, a year bigger, a year stronger and, I’d like to think, a year smarter," said Montgomery manager Tom Verducci, whose team advances to the Southern New Jersey Tournament that begins July 20. "We’re ahead of the pace of last year as far as offense. Last year, we started out a good pitching and defensive team. We became a good offensive team. This year, we started hitting the ball well."
New to the team is D.J. Nozza. It didn’t take him long to fit in. In his district debut, he homered, one of two on that day along with Kocinski’s. Montgomery’s pitching wasn’t bad either as Hoos, Verducci and Kocinski combined on a four-inning no-hitter in the 11-0 win over Hamilton. In the second district game, Montgomery beat Hopewell, 12-2. The third game was an 18-4 rout of Hightstown to set the stage for the championship series.
"We were hitting the ball really well," Link said. "We’ve done a lot of practicing on hitting in practices. I just think we got stronger and better at hitting."
Montgomery won the first championship game after Link came on in relief in the fifth inning with two on and no outs and surrendered just one run on a two-out single. That hit tied the score, 3-3, but Montgomery scored eight runs in the bottom of the fifth to seal the win.
"I thought we could do it," Link said. "We had some good players coming up the next inning."
The next day, Link was back on the mound as Montgomery got off to quick start. They never looked back in defending their district crown.
"We talked about starting individual games quickly," Verducci said. "We’ve been good about jumping on other teams early. In the championships game, we started off with a single, run-scoring double and a home run, so three batters into the game, it was 3-0."
When Bonfield, Kocinski and Link all hit home runs in the game, it was the third time since the spring that this Montgomery team has had three home runs in a contest. The lineup is largely the same from last year, but the results have shown how far they have come in a year’s time.
"D.J. Nozza is hitting fifth. He slides into the middle of the order and gives us more depth than we had last year," Verducci said. "The biggest difference is we already are more of a power-hitting team. Last year we had one home run going into regionals. In the district, that was our third game this year in which we hit three home runs in a game. We must have 12, 13, 14 home runs already. And we have them from seven different players."
What makes Montgomery so difficult to beat is that in addition to pumping up their offense, their pitching and defense is just as good as last year.
"That’s what we really pride ourselves on pitching and defense," Verducci said. "We know that will keep us in every game. We’ll find ways to score runs. Pitching and defense are something we want to be constant. We’ve played 12 or 13 games and given up 13 or 14 runs so far.
"We really picked up where we left off last year as far as well-pitched games. This year, the boys turned a few double plays. You don’t really do that at 10s. The defense picked up where it left off last year."
It had to as Montgomery has a bulls-eye on its back after last year’s success. Link knows that opponents are treating Montgomery a little differently this summer.
"The other teams, they save their best pitchers for us," he said, adding, "I think we have some pretty good chances because of our pitching and defense and our all-around game."
Added Verducci: "People know who we are. The boys know they’re going to see other team’s best pitcher. They’re going to see other teams bring their A game. They understand that and I think they welcome that. I think they like the challenge. They know they’re going to be tested and challenged every game. The fact they were so tournament tested last year really helps us this year. They expect a lot out of themselves, and that’s a good thing."
While Montgomery won’t begin state play for more than a week, they have kept plenty busy since winning the district. Monday, they were scheduled to meet Hopewell again in the Montgomery Tournament final. They are also playing in the Bridgewater Tournament and will take part in the Readington Tournament.
"Hopefully that will keep us sharp going into states," Verducci said. "Having gone through that experience, going to states, regionals and the World Series, it gives us a comfort level that works to their advantage. They know how the format works. They know they’ll see good teams. And they know they belong and can compete with everybody. Last year was a measuring stick for everybody. We weren’t sure how we matched up. Now we know we belong."