Harden tosses a shutout
By: Sean Moylan
No one ever appointed Marshall Harden the leader of the talented Bordentown 12-year-old Little League All-Star baseball team.
It’s just that every time he takes the field, he leads by example. When it comes time to make the biggest plays, hit in the toughest situations and pitch against the toughest lineups, Harden is a guy most Bordentown fans want to see out there.
So when Bordentown wanted to make a big splash in its Section 3 opener versus Sayreville on Monday night at the Chambersburg Little League Complex, Manager Russ Harden went with his ace and son Marshall, who went out and twirled a combined five-hit 3-0 shutout with two other superstars by the name of Pat Donohue and Zach "Home Run" Mesday.
"Pitching-wise, we did fine. But hitting-wise we’ve been working on hitting a lot of off-speed stuff in practices. And this boy we faced (Christian Campbell) did have a curveball but he threw his fastball in the low 70’s so it took us a while to adjust," said Russ Harden.
It didn’t matter because Sayreville’s lineup never adjusted to Harden’s nasty stuff as he tossed five scoreless frames while striking out 10 batters and surrendering just one walk along the way.
"Marshall pitched real well and our defense was fine behind him," said Harden, who had to lift his son because of a high pitch count. "Marshall scored a run on Zach’s (Mesday) groundout. Alec Tripodi had two out of our (four) hits. He’s a scrappy kid."
Donohue got the first two outs in the sixth with strikeouts, but he also hit and walked a batter. When his pitch count reached 20, he was quickly replaced by Mesday, who got the last out to save the win for Harden.
Bordentown batters worked the pitch counts versus Campbell and midway through the fifth he had to leave the mound when he walked Donohue (Campbell’s only walk allowed) and reached 85 pitches. His replacement Pete Mellos was a little wild and Donohue (1-for-2) eventually came around to score on wild pitches and overthrows. Nick "Hoover" Hammell also walked and scored a run. Bordentown plated all three of its runs in the fifth.
Ryan McGowan had one of Bordentown’s hits in the game.
"I coached these kids when they were 7, 8,9 and 10 and they play well together," said John Young, who is a special consultant to Harden and his assistant Chris Hammell, who’ve taken the team to the next level with their incredible baseball "know-how" and with the addition of their talented boys to Bordentown’s potent lineup.
If you’re not a fan of Marshall Harden, you’re not a fan of Bordentown baseball. His toughness and inner need for the club to win, exemplifies what this team is all about. His only weakness is when he tries to do too much. But that’s not often. Usually he lets the game come to him, just like on Monday night when he was more dominating than ever.
But Young is right, these kids do play very well together and with Monday’s win they have now won seven in a row. Bordentown will now face Manasquan-Brielle in the winners’ bracket final tonight (Thursday).

