Deep pitching staff the key

By: Sean Moylan
   The Bordentown 12-year-old Little League All-Star baseball team could have never won a District 12 championship had it not been for two extraordinary pitching performances by Marshall Harden and Patrick Donohue.
   Although Nottingham ended up coming out of the winners’ bracket, Bordentown, Washington and West Windsor were all feared teams in the Final 9.
   After losing a 6-1 decision to West Windsor in its Final 9 opener, Bordentown batters caught fire at the plate and beat Florence, 14-2, and Ewing, 16-7, to set up last Thursday’s rematch with West Windsor. Bordentown ace Marshall Harden was practically a one-man wrecking crew in his club’s 4-3 win over West Windsor that night at Lawrence.
   "I made a diving play for an out in the fifth inning," said Harden, who also started a sparkling 1-2-3 double play to help get himself out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth. "I felt good and I was hitting my spots with my fastball."
   Harden allowed just two earned runs (three overall) to earn his third win of the tourney. He struck out five and walked just one batter while scattering seven hits along the way. Even so, Bordentown was trailing 3-1, when Harden (2-for 3) crushed a three-run homer in the bottom of third to give his club a lead it would not relinquish. Donohue and Nick "Hoover" Hammell (1-for-3) both scored on the play.
   "Our second baseman Nick Hammell made five great plays for us at second base," noted Harden, who also appreciated the special brand of defense catcher Mike Kendall played in the contest. Ryan McGowan singled and he scored Bordentown’s first run in the second inning. Zach "Home Run" Mesday and Alec Tripodi also had base knocks in the contest.
   Hammell, who completely understands the do or die nature of playing out of the losers’ bracket, added, "we have to keep on playing like it could be our last game."
   Ever since this club first got together as 8’s, Donohue has been a tremendous big game pitcher. And he turned Friday the 13th lucky with his incredible 4-0 shutout over a Washington team many had picked to win it all. Donohue even struck out a lucky 13 batters while allowing just two hits in five innings of work. Cullen Carter closed out the game with a perfect inning of relief.
   "I used my fastball and my curve to keep their hitters off balance," said Donohue.
   Mesday (2-for-2) got Bordentown on the board in the first with a two-bagger which plated Hammell (2-for-2). In the bottom of the fourth, Donohue helped his own cause with a two-run single and Chris Limani also had a run-scoring hit in the that inning. Kendall (1-for-3), Ryan McGowan (1-for-3, run scored), Carter (1-for-3) and Alec Tripodi (run) all played a part in the big win, which qualified Bordentown for the championship game (which it won) on Saturday.
   "After we lost 6-1 we knew if we didn’t get out bats going we weren’t going anywhere," said Donohue, who is a very dignified young man.
   While Bordentown manager Russ Harden and his assistant Chris Hammell kept close tabs on the kids to make sure they were practicing the right things at the plate, Donohue’s father Pat Donohoe deserves some of the credit for the team’s improved hitting. As the Bordentown Little League president, he was the one who made sure the new batting cages were ready and available to the team the past few weeks.
   Yet it was Harden and "Little" Donohue who really saved the day with some outstanding pitching against two of the District’s elite powerhouses.