Stellar summer for SBAA 11-year-olds

BASEBALL

   The South Brunswick Athletic Association’s 11-year-old tournament baseball team recently completed a successful summer campaign with a 31-12 record. The team competed in seven tournaments, and won the South Brunswick Spring Classic, Hillsborough Memorial Day Weekend Tournament, and the Basking Ridge Super Summer Tournament for the second straight year. They also finished second in the Holmdel Recreation and Branchburg Summer tournaments.
   The pinnacle of the season was the defense of the Basking Ridge title.
   After losing their first game, SBAA Won five straight including a 12-4 triumph over Long Valley in the title game. Trailing 3-1 after three innings, South Brunswick scored three in the fifth and seven in the sixth thanks to home runs by Freddie Strebeck, Ty Robinson and Dom Boccio, who clubbed his fourth of the tournament.
   Robinson pitched three solid innings and Boccio allowed just one run over the final three frames. At the conclusion of the tournament, manager Jim Cooney accepted the Sportsman of the Tournament award in memory of friend Tom Durkin, who passed away earlier this year.
   South Brunswick captured the Hillsborough Memorial Day Weekend Tournament with a 10-9 extra-inning extravaganza against a solid Brooklyn Bulldog team. The game went late into the evening on Memorial Day and was in danger of ending in a tie due to the approaching darkness. South Brunswick battled back to tie the game in both the bottom of the fifth and sixth before pushing across a run in the bottom of the eight for the win. Robinson pitched two perfect innings of relief for the win.
   The 11’s had a balanced pitching staff, with nine players each throwing over 12 innings and everyone seeing time on the mound. The pitching was led by Austin Morse, who threw the two complete games, Boccio, and Scott Dunleavy.
   The hitting attack was lead by Robinson, Matt Cooney, James Kelly, and Jared Man with the power supplied by PJ Delacruz, who cracked 11 home runs, including six in a four-game span.
   The defense was solid up the middle, led by shortstop Freddie Strebeck, second baseman Dylan Olsson and centerfielder Anthony Mastandino. The middle infield turned 13 ground ball double plays.
   The coaching staff was comprised of Dan Olsson, Dave Morse, Jim Kelly and Cooney.