Hopewell 8U baseball team second at Middle Atlantics

By: centraljersey.com
The Hopewell Valley 8U baseball team came home from Troy, N.Y., Aug. 10 as the Middle Atlantic Regional Tournament runner-up.
The team went 5-2 at the tournament and ended up as the second best team out of five states. Its two losses were to the same team, Spring-Ford of Pennsylvania.
In 2007, the 13U team made it to the Babe Ruth World Series. However, this is the best result ever achieved for a Cal Ripken-age team (8-12) out of Hopewell.
In the first game, Hopewell defeated the Maryland state champs from Greater Glen Burnie by a score of 16-1. Tony St. John had two hits, one a double. Will Canata had a hit and scored two runs.
In its second pool play game, Hopewell was defeated by eventual champion Spring-Ford of northwest Pennsylvania, 9-4. Dylan Galgano had a double in the loss.
Hopewell rebounded with an 11-3 win over Kimberton of southeast Pennsylvania to go to 2-1 in pool play. Carmen Zangrilli went 3-for-3 and scored two runs. Aiden Discordia had a triple and a double and pitched two scoreless innings.
In the last pool play game, Hopewell defeated the champions from eastern New York, Clifton Park, by a score of 5-4. Trevor Radice had a hit and a run in the winning effort.
With a 3-1 record, Hopewell advanced to the playoffs to take on the champion of North Jersey, Manalapan, and Hopewell prevailed by a score of 6-4. Kenny Tagliareni was 2-for-2 with two RBI, while Jack Haynes pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Hunter Oshman contributed a hit and a run scored.
In the semifinals, Hopewell was the underdog against a powerful team from Bear, Delaware, that had outscored its opponents in pool play by a plus-22 margin. However, pitching and defense ruled the day for the Bulldogs as they came away with a 4-3 win. Lawrence Mahle outdid Bear’s ace Devin Fry with two scoreless innings of starting pitching as Hopewell took a 1-0 lead. Matt Geiger came on in relief to save the game by getting the final two outs after inheriting a Bear runner on second base with one out in the bottom of the sixth.
In the championship game of the Middle Atlantic Region, Hopewell came up just short against undefeated Spring-Ford of Pennsylvania by a score of 7-5.
Hopewell rallied and loaded the bases in the sixth inning, but Spring-Ford made two fantastic defensive plays to preserve the win. Jason Greenzang helped key Hopewell’s rally after falling behind 4-0 with a booming triple.