The Old Bridge Little League 16U District team is off to a good start in its quest tomove on to the Region 3 tournament, which opens July 19 in Howell.
Coach Mike Martins’ squad opened the District 10 competition with a solid showing in a victory over Sayrewoods South and then met up with Perth Amboy on Monday. The Old Bridge contingent jumped out to an 8-2 lead, but PerthAmboy battled back. The game was suspended due to the Little League’s 1 p.m. curfew after 10 innings with the score at 10-10.
“We let the lead slip away and let them back into the game,” Martins said. “Our defense is usually pretty good, but we made some errors and Perth Amboy took advantage of them to come back.”
The game was set to be resumed yesterday. An Old Bridge win would set Martins’ team up to meet the victor of a PerthAmboy – Sayrewoods South match-up in the double elimination tourney.
Most of this year’s team members were together two years ago as a 14U team when Old Bridge won the District, Martins noted. Old Bridge has a solid line-up. Its top hitters include left fielder Chris Chiodo, center fielder Tom Garvey and right fielder Dean Roventini, as well as third baseman Connor Green and infielders Nick Denigno, Geoff Nemeth and first baseman Mike Ramirez.
Other members of the team include second baseman Marcus Hernandez, outfielder Rick Roemer and catchers Mike Martins and Kevin Howard. The pitching staff is deep as well, and includes Denigno, Nemeth, Ramirez, Anthony Massa, John Mateyka and ChrisWeber.
“It’s a pretty well-rounded team,” the senior Martins said. “Most of them have played together for some time and they’ve had success. They also tend to score a lot of runs and that really helps the pitchers.”
The coach, who is assisted by Jason Rodriguez and Rick Roemer, said that most of the players also play in the Old Bridge High School program. Ramirez attends St. Joseph of Metuchen, while Green, Massa and the younger Martins all attend St. John Vianney.