Montgomery 11s fall to late Delaware rally
By: Justin Feil
The stage is set for quite a grudge match if the Montgomery 11-year-old all-stars can meet up with Bear, Del., in the Cal Ripken Mid-Atlantic Regionals next summer. It could be the third straight summer they play in regionals.
Last year, Montgomery defeated Bear, 4-3, on a pair of fifth-inning home runs in the regional semifinals before topping Schwenksville, Pa., to reach the 10s World Series. On Tuesday, however, Bear turned the tables with a fifth-inning home run to win, 6-5, on its way to the 11-year-old crown.
"Basically, it was the complete opposite," said Montgomery manager Tom Verducci. "We beat them on a home run in the firth inning last year. They did it to us this year. It was a good game. It was a back-and-forth game between two good teams. Like last year, it could have gone either way."
Regionals are the farthest that any 11-year-old team can advance at the Cal Ripken level. Next year, the stakes are raised as the regional winner advances to the World Series in Aberdeen, Md., but this year’s return trip to the regionals gave Montgomery an appreciation of how difficult it is to make it that far.
"Even this year, we were the only teams that made it back to regionals," Verducci said of Montgomery and Bear. "We noticed at the states level right away, half the teams were not back. At regionals, only two teams were back. You understand how hard it is to do it a second time."
Montgomery was able to give it quite a try in its second straight trip to regionals. They finished second in Pool B when they dropped a 7-6 decision to Audubon, Pa., on Monday. They then had take on Pool A winner, Bear, Tuesday, after Monday’s loss.
"They scored all their runs in one inning," Verducci said of Audubon. "It was a game we didn’t play all out to win. We were already in the semifinals. If we won, that was great. Losing didn’t change anything; we still had to win two more games to win regionals. It didn’t harm us much at all in terms of that loss."
Montgomery showed no ill effects of its first loss in Cal Ripken play this summer. They came out and built a 5-0 lead in their first three at-bats before Bear rallied. Montgomery led, 2-0, in the second inning after Ben Verducci singled home a run, then went ahead 5-0 with a three-run third.
Adam Kornberg singled, Andrew Corazza reached on error, Andrew Link singled and Greg Kocinski blasted a two-run double. Bear chipped away with three runs of its own in the third inning. They added a run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, then got a two-run homer in the fifth inning to win it. Montgomery, which has been classy in victory, was gracious in defeat.
"They were fine," the elder Verducci said. "They were doing their dirt version of snow angels. Kids are great in general. These kids, they’re really great. They don’t get down about losing games. We know and they know, we played really well. It wasn’t like we hadn’t played well.
"The final result was disappointing, but not the season at all," he added. "We played a really good game. Defensively, we were really sound. We were up against a really good pitcher. He was one of the best we saw all year. We never gave up. We kept battling. You can be comfortable losing a game if you play well."
Losing, though, remains something new to Montgomery, especially two games in a row.
"For the last two years, the team is 80-8," Verducci said. "That’s pretty amazing. Both years they were 40-4. It’s tough to do. Even when you’re playing in tournament games elsewhere (from Cal Ripken), you know there are teams saving their best pitchers for you. You think it would be easy to let your guard down or be caught flat one day. To go through 88 games and win 80 of them, it’s amazing."
This year’s Montgomery team added just one new player, and yet they showed some remarkable improvement top to bottom. There was a noticeable power surge from a lineup that figures to be even stronger as they advance to the 12-year-old level.
"We definitely made a big jump in terms of hitting, especially in terms of the power," Verducci said. "We hit 30 home runs this year which is unheard of for an 11-year-old team. Hopefully we’ll continue to improve offensively.
"At this point, the game gets more refined. The pitchers work more on their command and off-speed pitches. We made lot of improvements in situation hitting, hitting according to the count. Next year, we’ll be transitioning to the 70-foot fields. You can play 60 feet still, but the better teams play at 70. There’s a lot to do there in terms of base-running, holding runners and pick-offs."
Next summer seems far away, but Montgomery is already looking forward to its chance to reach another World Series. Montgomery enjoyed another summer of winning together, even if it didn’t end with a regional championship.
"It definitely doesn’t take anything away from our season," Verducci said. "It was one game it could have gone either way, like last year. This time, it didn’t go our way. I couldn’t be more proud of them last year and this year. This year, from the position of playing teams gunning for them, they handled it really well.
"This team is a coach’s dream. They don’t have any egos. They all get along. Even though they won (last year), they didn’t let that change their approach. They stayed humble. I’ve never had to discipline someone who acted inappropriately. I’ve never had to tell anyone to pay attention to the game, and kids can lose focus. All 12 of these kids are a joy to have. They’ve been great."

