All-stars to take on Warsaw tomorrow

Township 12s heading to another World Series

By: Justin Feil – The Packet Group
Megan Hevey and Stephanie White watched the Robbinsville 12-year-old all-star softball team play in the 2008 Little League World Series.
Now they are part of the second Robbinsville team in three years to reach the World Series after knocking off Waterford South, Conn., 5-2, in eight innings to capture the Eastern Regional championship Saturday.
"It’s really exciting," said White, who pitched all eight innings in the win. "We’re one of the 10 teams to go there."
Robbinsville will open the World Series on Friday in Portland, Ore., against a team from Warsaw, Poland. The semifinals and finals will be broadcast on ESPN2, and Robbinsville will have to win its pool to get there. It has yet to lose this summer in 20 games, including a pair of extra-inning wins to complete the Easterns.
Robbinsville topped Laurel, Delaware, 1-0, in eight innings Friday despite not getting a hit. Hannah Olshevski and the defense kept Delaware off the scoreboard. In the eighth inning, Gabi Horowitz worked a walk, pinch runner Emily Langsdorf stole second base and moved to third on White’s groundout after she twice didn’t get down a sacrifice bunt.
"Stephanie made it a successful at-bat," said Robbinsville manager Ed Horowitz. "It was a tough at-bat, and she got her to third with one out. That’s huge. I went to talk to Lexi (Horowitz) and told her to lay down the bunt we’ve been practicing every day for the last two years."
Horowitz’s bunt toward first base was fielded by Delaware’s pitcher, who threw to first to get her out as Langsdorf raced home with the winning run.
"Our defense has helped a lot," said Hevey, the Robbinsville shortstop. "In that game against Delaware, our defense helped. They stranded a lot of runners. We kept them from scoring."
Saturday, in the final, Hevey opened up the three-run eighth inning when she reached on error.
"I was pretty confident," she said. "I knew the strong part of the batting lineup was behind me. They got me around. It was so exciting."
Gabi Horowitz singled and White walked to load the bases. Hevey flew home on a sacrifice fly by Lexi Horowitz. A two-run single by Felicia Schumacher gave Robbinsville a three-run lead.
"I was really confident that we would hold them so we would win the game," White said. "I was confident that all I had to do was throw strikes because I had good fielders behind me that could field the ball."
Three outs later, Robbinsville was heading to the World Series. It’s a dream come true for Hevey, who was a part of last year’s team that came up just short of a state title.
"It’s a lot different this year," she said. "Last year, I was playing second base instead of shortstop. There were a lot of the older girls that went to the World Series two years ago. This year, our whole team played together through the season for travel. We’re more together. It’s more like a family.
"I feel like we had a lot more potential this year," she added. "After two years ago, we had to live up to a lot of expectations. This year, the expectations kind of let up."
Never, though, from the Robbinsville players.
"We have a very good team," White said. "We practice hard and play hard in games. It’s paying off going to the World Series."
Said manager Horowitz: "These girls have spent two years of their lives thinking about doing this. They’ve sacrificed an enormous amount. They’ve spent fall, spring and summer the past two years working their butts off without any guarantee that this is going to happen. I feel so good for these girls that all their hard work paid off. They are the hardest-working group of young people that I’ve ever seen."
The Robbinsville group has battled through nerves, taken every team’s best shot and has persevered. It continues to get contributions from its entire roster. Gabby Manto led the team with three hits in the final. White allowed just five hits and struck out four. She walked only one in eight innings. Hevey threw out a pair of runners at third base against Connecticut. She also had two hits.
Robbinsville heads to the World Series as a battle-tested team. Its eighth-inning wins were just the latest challenges that it has overcome.
"It’s great to win close ball games," manager Horowitz said. "It adds to the character of your team. It adds to the readiness and hardening of your team. It’s a lot easier to win 20-0 and it’s a lot easier on the parents and coaches, but we couldn’t have asked for a better situation. We were tested in the states pretty well and in the region pretty well. When you can play that many one-run ball games and win them, that shows you something about your team. The way it turned out was the best-case scenario for us." The players have gained confidence with each win. They take that confidence with them to Portland.
"We faced really good pitchers both of those games," White said. "I’m pretty confident we could hit off any pitcher."
Added Horowitz: "Once they see what they are compared to what the other teams are, they’ll see they can compete not only at the state and regional level, but nationwide. I think they’ll be a lot more relaxed."
If they keep winning, then the world will have the chance to see their talents on television.
"We’re thinking about it," Hevey said. "We’re just going to try to play our hardest and even if we don’t win, to know we play our hardest and played to the best of our ability, that’s all we want."
The summer run to the World Series has already been better than any of them imagined possible.
"I didn’t expect it to be like this," Hevey said. "I knew we could make it that far, but I didn’t think this summer would be this great."