Area trio has rough start to Final Nine

C-P, Princeton, WW look to bounce back in losers’ bracket

By: Justin Feil
   HAMILTON — In succession, Princeton, West Windsor and Cranbury-Plainsboro lost their first-round games in the District 12 Little League 10-year-old Baseball Tournament on Sunday at Nottingham’s Sayen Field.
   All three face a tough road through the losers’ bracket, but are optimistic that they can improve on their opening performances.
   "Our goal is to win the districts," said C-P manager Ray Cella, whose sixth-seeded squad dropped an 11-1 game to third-seeded Allentown. "The first step was to get out of pool play. However, we’re playing better teams now and we have to pick up our level of play in order to achieve our goal."
   Cranbury-Plainsboro scored its lone run when Ben Gross drove in Dan Borup on a fielder’s choice in the third inning. Allentown had also defeated C-P in pool play. C-P will play the loser of Monday’s scheduled game between top-seeded Washington and No. 9 HTRBA 6 p.m. tonight.
   "For us to get out of the pool was an accomplishment," Cella said. "This group has been together for three years now and we have not gotten out of the pool. We’ve been close, but haven’t done it. We can’t look at getting out of the pool as the accomplishment. But it is a step towards reaching our goal.
   "We have the capability of playing with anyone," he added. "We have to play better defense in order to win. We hit, we pitch. We need to play better defense. If we do that, we’ll be a tough out for anybody."
   Fourth-seeded West Windsor pitched well enough, but its hitting and defense cost it a chance to top fifth-seeded Bordentown in a 7-0 loss. West Windsor stranded seven runners in the first three innings while Bordentown found ways to score its base runners.
   "There are really two differences in the game," said West Windsor manager Andrew Foster. "We didn’t come through with the key hit and we pitched the ball all around the diamond a little too much and gave them five unearned runs. Out of the seven runs they scored, five were unearned.
   "These games are real simple. They tend to be lost, rather than won. If you walk kids and make errors, it tends to bite you. Everything else was OK. The kids played pretty hard, but we’ve played better than this. There’s no doubt about that. I’m sure we’ll come out Tuesday and play better."
   West Windsor will take on the winner of Monday’s losers’ bracket contest between No. 7 Sunnybrae and No. 8 Princeton 8 p.m. tonight. West Windsor and Princeton already faced each other in pool play.
   "We actually won our first three games in pool play very handily," Foster said. "We beat Princeton, 8-4. It was 8-1 and they scored three in the sixth. We beat 6-11, 16-0, and then Lawrence, 12-2, and Nottingham beat us pretty handily, 10-0. That game was more of the same. We committed four crucial errors that led to six unearned runs.
   "We’re a little shaky in the field. We need to get stronger in the field to play with teams like this. I think you take away the errors, and there’s not a whole lot different between us. We have pretty good pitching. The bats were silent tonight, but I have to give (Bordentown) credit. They caught the ball."
   West Windsor threatened in each of the first three innings. Josiah Foster walked and Sean O’Brien followed with a single and moved to second on the throw to third, but they were stranded their with one out. In the second inning, West Windsor worked back-to-back two-out walks, but could not capitalize. And in the third inning, Foster singled and Justin Kertes walked before Garrett Erickson bunted his way on to load the bases with two outs before Bordentown shut the door.
   "I just think they have to come out and have fun and relax," said the elder Foster. "They get out here in their uniforms and they worry too much. They just have to have fun."
   Princeton got off to a good start against HTRBA. But after leading, 2-1, after the first inning, Princeton surrendered six runs in the second inning in a 9-4 loss.
   "I thought the kids played well," said Princeton manager Sean Clancy. "It just didn’t work out. That’s the way it goes sometimes."
   Rob Mooney scored a pair of runs for Princeton. He reached on an error to start the first inning and after a walk to Jeff Gleason, both scored on a single by Mike Clancy. Gleason was lost shortly after to an injury.
   "That didn’t help," the elder Clancy said. Mooney scored another run in the third inning when Mooney raced in on a wild pitch. Princeton tried on two other occasions to score at home, but was thrown out in both instances.
   "Rob’s been hitting well," Sean Clancy said. "Michael Clancy has been hitting well. And Michael Clancy pitched a no-hitter to get us here in our fourth game coming out of districts against 6-11. It was nice.
   "The kids played really well to get out of pool play," he added. "They should be proud of all the effort and all the work they put in, all the practices and games. They’ve done really well. I’m proud of them."
   Princeton was scheduled to play Sunnybrae on Monday, with the winner advancing to take on West Windsor tonight. It will be a chance to move on and keep alive their district crown hopes before they host the late District 12 Tournament that begins Monday.
   "I think in general the kids played well," Clancy said. "It was their best effort. It just didn’t work out this time."