By: Sean Moylan
The Florence 10-year-old Little League all-star softball team gave an all-out effort in an attempt to win Tuesday’s game versus Washington Township and force an "if necessary" District 12 championship game.
Yet after a 9-2 loss to Washington, there was nothing but a lot of upbeat smiles on the faces of the Florence players. And why not? The power of positive thinking had gotten a very young Florence softball team the second place trophy in District 12 in the first place.
"This is a great group of girls. When we started on June 16th they were raw. But there was never any bickering and they always stayed positive," said Florence veteran Little League manager Mike Fantozzi.
Although some of Florence’s players like Tori Fantozzi, Rachael LeVach and Anna Reed had experience, most of the others were learning on the job and learning well.
Reed pitched the big game and did a good job of pitching around some miscues in the field. But even after she gave up RBI hits or walks, her teammates were there to offer her nothing but support.
"It was fun because when I got down they picked me up. There was no negative energy," said Reed, who struck out four and pitched a solid complete game in spite of the loss.
Down 9-0, Florence used its positive energy and talent to put together a thrilling fifth-inning rally. Gabrielle Emery smacked a long double down the right field line to start the inning. Jessica DeLorenzo followed with a walk. And with one out, Kaci Ullman, fueled by chants of "peewee power," also drew a base on balls to load the bases for Reed, who smacked a two-run single up the middle.
"I finally hit the ball," smiled Reed, who made it to third on an overthrow and broke out of a mini slump with the base knock.
Florence had something going. With two outs, Fantozzi walked and Reed tried to take home on the play but was called out on a close play at the plate.
"I thought we were going to come back but it (the rally) kind of died down," said Reed, who contributed to many big Florence comebacks during this tournament.
Florence also looked like it had something going in the fourth. Erica Bruno reached on a squibber in front of the mound. Then Fantozzi cracked a laser shot in-between first and second, which Washington’s second baseman caught and turned into a quick double play. LeVach attempted to start another rally with her second walk of the day, but she was left stranded.
DeLorenzo made an excellent catch in left in the second inning for Florence. Nia Diads also made a good play in center in the fifth while Fantozzi snagged a liner to end the sixth. Meanwhile, Julia Borowski hurled a great game to earn the win for Washington.
After the contest, Fantozzi gave each player a key chain a player’s mother had made to celebrate this great young squad’s suucess. Although he is going to have open-heart surgery on Monday, Fantozzi’s father Mike was there, as always, to support his son and granddaughter. Like many Florence natives the Fantozzi’s are a sports family. Everyone’s thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Fantozzi for a successful operation.
Reed was starting to feel a little down after giving up a couple of runs in the fifth, but her father (Florence’s assistant coach) Barry gave her a big hug between innings and she went out and threw a perfect sixth. The power of love is a positive thing.
Brielle Morichetti, Ashlee Ricciardi, Kristina Sadler and Samantha Simonelli also made significant contributions throughout the tourney for Florence.
TOURNEY
Tori Fantozzi smacked a double to center to plate Anna Reed with the winning run in the Florence 10-year-old Little League all-star softball team’s 12-11, seventh-inning marathon win over Millstone-Roosevelt in Sunday’s District 12 Final Four losers’ bracket final at Washington.
Reed had reached on a walk and was sacrificed to third on a bunt by Ashlee Ricciardi before Fantozzi hit her shot over the MIllstone-Roosevelt center fielder’s head.
But early on the game looked like it would be an easy blowout win for Florence.
"We scored five in the first and after two innings it was 8-1," said Florence manager Mike Fantozzi.
Rachael LeVach had a two-run triple while Fantozzi plated a run with a double and Ricciardi had a big hit in the opening frame. Slowly but surely, however, Millstone-Roosevelt crept back in the contest.
"We started Erica Bruno to save Tori (Fantozzi) for Washington. But it got to the fifth and I had to bring Tori in at 8-5," said Fantozzi.
Fantozzi’s control was not as sharp as usual and consequently Millstone-Roosevelt ended up scoring six runs in the fifth to take a 9-8 lead. Down 11-10 in the bottom of the sixth, Jessica DeLorenzo creamed an RBI single to send the game into extra frames.
Samantha Simonelli hit the ball well and drove in two runs while Brielle Emery had three hits and knocked in a run for the victors. Fantozzi held strong to get the win in relief.
Florence opened Final Four play with a 7-2 win over East Windsor on Friday. A dominating Fantozzi struck out 16 of 18 batters to pick up the win.
"We only had one hit (a LeVach two-run triple) and they had one hit," said Fantozzi. "We scored all of our runs on walks, steals and aggressive baserunning."
Then on Saturday, Washington sent Florence to into the losers’ bracket with a 5-4 win.
"It was 5-0 and then we started chipping away," said Fantozzi.
Reed pitched a complete game and fanned 10 batters along the way. She, like Fantozzi, pitched well throughout the entire tournament.

