By Anthony Williams, Special Writer
The 2012 Little League Tournament is officially underway with the start of District 12 competition kicking off last week.
Twelve teams began the double-elimination tournament with hopes of capturing the District 12 Championship and advancing to Sectionals, but after two rounds of play, only four teams remain unbeaten and in the winners’ bracket, including the Bordentown 12-year-old All-Stars.
Bordentown’s offense has been on fire from the start, scoring nine of its 15 runs via the longball and totaling five homeruns over its first seven innings of competition; while the starting pitching has allowed only three earned runs over the first 12 frames. Falling prey to the solid play of Bordentown were Lawrence, a 10-2 loser on Saturday, and Robbinsville, a 5-2 loser on Sunday.
Bordentown is now just two wins away from playing for the District 12 Championship, and will travel back to Robbinsville on Monday, July 2, to face West Windsor, a 7-1 winner over Sunnybrae, at 6 p.m. in the semi-finals.
Should Bordentown get past the 2010 10-year old District 12 champions, the players will face the winner of the other semi-final game between perennial powerhouses Nottingham and HTRBA.
Mike Bell, 12, of Mansfield took the mound against Lawrence to open up the tournament for Bordentown and pitched 3 innings, allowing 2 earned runs on three hits.
The Bordentown bats would do plenty to support Bell’s effort, with Zaire Fisher, 12, of Bordentown cutting the Lawrence lead in half in the bottom of the second inning with a laser beam solo homerun to right center, and Dylan Decker, 12, of Mansfield providing the rest of the necessary offense with a 3-run homerun in the bottom of the third.
Michael Urban, 12, of Mansfield would add to the homerun total with a 2-run homer to pace Bordentown to a 10-2 victory. After the game, the coaches and fans couldn’t stop talking about Fisher’s bomb that got things rolling for Bordentown.
”It was an amazing shot,” Head Coach Greg Gronostajski said. “It was a line-drive the whole way and never got more than six feet off the ground. He didn’t get all of the pitch and he still put it out — absolutely amazing!”
When talking about Fisher’s performance, the coaches weren’t sure what was more impressive; his homerun, his manly physique at 12 years old, or the fact that he hasn’t played organized baseball since he was 7.
”I’m not sure I want anybody else to know about him,” Coach Gronostajski joked. “This is his first year playing baseball since he was 7, and most teams don’t know anything about him. When you look at him, it’s hard to believe there’s a 12-year-old boy in that man’s body out there.”
Bordentown did not have much time to celebrate its Saturday afternoon performance, as it was one of two teams to have to play on back-to-back days due to weather related scheduling conflicts and had to return to action on Sunday.
Michael Urban was named the starter for Bordentown’s quarter-final match-up against Robbinsville, the 2011 District 12 third place winners. And, it turns out, the winning pitcher in the Bordentown Little League Major Finals would not let his team down. Urban threw 5-1/3 innings, allowing 1 earned run, before being replaced by Dylan Decker due to Little League pitch count rules. Decker would close out the rest of the final frame to earn the save and advance Bordentown into the semi-finals with a 5-2 win.
Bordentown players found themselves in a 1-0 hole in the first inning after errors in right and left field yielded an unearned run for Robbinsville. The local boys would eventually settle down and make up for the lapses with their defense and their bats.
”We were nervous and excited,” Coach Gronostajski said. “We knew we were playing a very good team and had some first inning jitters that we had to overcome, that’s all.”
The potent Bordentown bats would atone for any defensive errors committed in the top half of the first inning, with Brian Amantia, 12, of Mansfield belting a solo homerun and Jimmy Porcelli, 12, of Bordentown hitting a 2-run dinger, driving in Dylan Decker, to give Bordentown a 3-1 lead, all with 2 outs.
Bordentown would go on to add two more insurance runs, but the first three were all the team needed as Urban would stifle the Robbinsville offense the rest of the way.
”We played outstanding defense and Michael got stronger as the game progressed,” Coach Gronostajski said. “Mike retired Robbinsville’s lineup 1-2-3 in the fourth and fifth innings. You can’t ask for much more than that.”
Coach Gronostajski has a very deep and talented team behind him and his players could find themselves playing for a shot at the District 12 Championship. Still, the team will have to get past the 2010 10-year-old champions in West Windsor and last year’s 12-year old champions, Nottingham, in order to do so.
”We’re taking it one game at a time,” Coach Gronostajski said. “At this point, it’s not a matter of who we play, but how we play. If we can stick to our game plan of solid defense, solid pitching, and solid at bats, we’ll be all right.”
Bordentown is carrying a 13-man roster for the Little League tournament and every player must get one at-bat and play three outs in the field or face an automatic disqualification. For Coach Gronostajski that’s not a problem.
”I took on a larger roster because I wanted as many kids as possible to get the full Little League experience,” Coach Gronostajski said. “This team fits together like a puzzle and every kid is an integral piece to making that puzzle complete. As is evidenced by our first two performances, we are getting contributions from everybody. Besides the fact that our first eight batters can leave the yard at any given time, our substitutes provide speed, defense, or pitching without a substantial drop in production.”
With new rules designed to protect young players’ arms and development, pitching strategy plays a huge part in determining whether or not a team advances, and can be a headache for many coaches at this level. For Coach Gronostajski, this is one area that he won’t lose any sleep over. So far, Bordentown has yet to use its No. 2 starter, Dylan Decker, in a substantial role, and is 6 to 7 solid pitchers deep, with an additional five players having pitching experience. The bullpen has not let up a run, earned or unearned, over 3-2/3 innings and has allowed just 2 hits over that same span.
For the rest of the week and over the weekend, Bordentown will be busy preparing for West Windsor, and with all of his pitching options open, Coach Gronostajski isn’t sure what direction he will go in terms of a starting pitcher, but is confident in whoever he decides to send out to the mound.
If the Bordentown bats continue to provide run support, and the arms of Decker, Urban, Bell, Porcelli, and Robert Salinitro, 12, of Bordentown continue to shutdown opposing teams, the ‘B-Town Bombers’ could find themselves hoisting another District 12 Championship.

