15s unbeaten in road to crown
By: Bob Nuse
LAWRENCE The West Windsor-Plainsboro 15-year-old Babe Ruth all-star team entered the District One tournament brimming with confidence.
Four wins later, WW-P will enter the Southern New Jersey State Tournament with just as much confidence and the league’s first district championship.
WW-P captured the District One tournament championship with an 11-1 win over Hamilton on Sunday at Mike Pezzicola Field in Lawrence. The win capped off a four-game unbeaten run through the tournament, with WW-P outscoring the opposition, 36-12.
"No one really expected us to get out of our first two games against Nottingham and Hamilton," WW-P second baseman Dennis Cannon said. "It was a good first win and then from there we just kept on rolling.
"Last year we lost to Montgomery in the first game and Nottingham in the second. Coach (Ted Phelan) really brought us together this year. We all promised we’d come together and play this year and we just did that from the beginning. Hopefully we can do well in states."
In the win on Sunday, Alex Campbell allowed just one run on two hits and did not walk a batter in his five innings of work. Ryan Phelan led the offense with two hits and four runs batted in. Cannon and Ralph Aurora added two hits apiece and scored five runs between them.
"We all worked together in the winter, practicing and stuff," said Cannon, who played a full season of varsity baseball at Princeton Day School this spring. "That’s when we started to come together. We decided this was something we really wanted to do. I think that helped us also. We have been practicing and that really helped us out.
"The experience of varsity was great. We had Evan (Smith) and Alex, who pitched at (WW-P) South. And I played second at Princeton Day School this year. I think we all had a lot of experience. Even the kids who played freshman ball had a lot of at bats."
WW-P had a nice mix of players who have played at the varsity level and others who played a full season of sub-varsity ball. Most of the players on the team have been playing together for years, but this was the year they put it all together and won a championship.
"It’s our first time ever winning the districts and we’re going to the state tournament," shortstop Ralph Aurora said. "Our team has been putting in all the work, practicing every day. We’ve been going to the batting cages and we really wanted it.
"I was really confident with our team. Everyone on the team contributed and we just put in a good team effort."
A team effort was what it was all about for this team from the start. Everyone on the roster played a role in winning the title.
"We started right from the beginning saying it was all about the team," WW-P manager Ted Phelan said. "From the start to the end of practice, it is all about the team. I’ve been through this myself and won a district and state championship when I was 15 (at Bayshore) and I wanted these kids to experience that. I felt like we had a good group of kids and then it was just about getting the guys to focus on the little things."
WW-P came into the tournament feeling like it was the team to beat and proved it over the course of the tournament. The pitching of Campbell, Smith and Phelan, as well as a productive offense and a solid defense gave the team everything it needed.
"Confidence is a huge contributor," Ted Phelan said. "The kids who played varsity ball and who played Legion, they have a sense of confidence now that is different than the other 15-year-olds. And you can see it. They play against 18-year-olds one day and then against 15-year-olds. It helps their confidence and the confidence of their teammates. We just try to get everyone to do their job and focus on their position.
"Alex and Evan did a great job, but I told them it’s all about defense. The kids bought into it and they worked hard. They put in a lot extra work. I also think allowing the kids to just focus on baseball helped. We talked about winning the inning. Win your at bat. Win the inning. Focus on the little things."
Other members of the championship WW-P team were Zach Donahue, Bob Grbic, Phil Trachtenberg, Jared Rubenstein, Chet Otis, Will Edmonds, Chris Hase and John Nabial.
WW-P will open play in the Southern New Jersey tournament on Friday at Veterans Park in Hamilton.
"We’ll go there and have some fun and do what we did here," Aurora said. "We’ll play to the best of our ability and see what happens."