Rebound with one win in losers’ bracket
By: Bob Nuse
LAWRENCE The Princeton-Cranbury Babe Ruth 15-year-old all-stars suffered a tough loss in their opening game of the District One tournament on Saturday night.
But in a double-elimination tournament, there is no time to wonder what might have been. Instead, P-C needed to bounce back with a strong effort the next day or face elimination from the tournament.
P-C shook off Saturday’s extra-inning loss to Lawrence and topped Trenton, 12-2, on Sunday to remain alive in the District One tournament at Lawrence. With the win, P-C advanced to face Hamilton in a losers’ bracket game tonight at 8:30 p.m.
"It’s always fun to just come out and play," said P-C’s Trevor Barsamian, who tripled and drove in a pair of runs in the win. "Last night we played a great game. It was unfortunate they we didn’t win. We had a bad hop. We didn’t cover third on a play. But we came back today and played pretty well. Our coach is telling us that we get better with every game. Hopefully we can take that to the next level with Hamilton on Tuesday."
On Saturday, P-C led Lawrence, 3-1, heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. But two runs scored aided by a bad-hop single, and then Lawrence pushed across a run in the eighth inning to win the game.
Steve Etherton had tossed six great inning for P-C, allowing just three runs on seven hits. Will Mooney came on to pitch the final two innings.
"We had pitching and defense, which are the things we need to win games," P-C manager Scott Sipprelle said. "We haven’t worried about our hitting. The surprise is that our bats haven’t really spoken yet. The boys want to keep playing."
The bats came alive the next night in the win over Trenton. Thomas Hrabchak had two hits and scored three runs, while Mooney, Colin Graydon and Barsamian drove in two runs apiece. The offense was enough to back the three-hit pitching of Mooney and Eric Hoffman.
Now, P-C must battle its was through the losers’ bracket, beginning tonight against Hamilton.
"It’s hard to get through it, but it is fun to play every night," said Barsamian, who had homered on the same field in district play as a 14-year-old last year. "Most of us have been together since the 12-year-old team. And some of the guys have been together even longer than that. We stepped it up today. We knew what we needed to go. We beat Trenton last year, but we know they always come in with a good team."
Playing every day won’t be easy, but it sure beats the alternative of being knocked out all together.
"You get to play a lot of games," Sipprelle said. "We feel like the longer we play, the better we get. We’ll be back Tuesday night ready to play. We’ll just keep playing every night."

