By Anthony Williams, Special Writer
Five years after winning Bordentown Little League’s first and only District 12 Championship, the 2012 12-year-old All-Stars found itself one win away from duplicating the feat after battling through three grueling rounds of competition.
Bordentown earned their spot in the winner’s bracket finals by beating Lawrence 10-2; Robbinsville 5-2; and West Windsor, 10-7; to set up the Friday night showdown against the defending District 12 champions, and the same team the beat in 2007, Nottingham Little League.
A win would advance Bordentown into the championship game, while a loss would drop them to the loser’s bracket.Mansfield native Michael Urban, 12, coming off of a 3-homerun offensive performance in the semi-finals, got the start against Nottingham and put forth a fantastic effort, holding the potent Nottingham offense to four runs over four innings on four hits while striking out eight batters.
Coming into the game, Nottingham had averaged nearly 15 runs per game with a winning margin of thirteen runs over that same span.
Nottingham got on the board in the first inning, scoring a run on an RBI double, and stretched its lead to four in the third inning when four consecutive batters reached base with two outs. A ground out to the pitcher would end Nottingham’s rally, but the damage had already been done.
”Michael pitched great for us,” Head Coach Greg Gronostajski said. “He kept their big bats in line, kept the ball in play, and kept us in the game, but today just wasn’t our day.”
Bordentown would eventually get on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning when Brian Amantia, 12, of Mansfield, scored on a Dylan Decker, 12, of Mansfield, double to cut the deficit to 4-1. Decker would narrow the lead further in the sixth inning with a solo homerun, but it wouldn’t be enough as Nottingham would eventually win 4-2.
Amantia and Decker were responsible for all of Bordentown’s hits going a combined 4-for-6, while Decker produced both of Bordentown’s RBIs.
”We played well, they just played tighter defense,” Coach Gronostajski said. “We have faced every team’s best pitcher in every single game in this tournament and have been able to hit the ball. Tonight, you saw what makes Nottingham such a special program, and I’m proud of the way our boys played against them.”
After dropping to the losers’ bracket, Bordentown returned to action against Robbinsville on Saturday morning and faced a must win situation in the double-elimination tournament.
Robbinsville had navigated its way through the loser’s bracket, eliminating Ewing, Sunnybrae, HTRBA, and West Windsor along the way to its re-match against Bordentown. Bordentown had sent Robbinsville to the losers’ bracket after a 5-2 win in the quarter-finals.With no room for errors, Coach Gronostajski turned to Decker to bring his team back into the championship picture, handing him the ball to start the game. After amassing a five-run lead over four innings behind the strength of Decker’s outstanding pitching performance and three long balls, Coach Gronostajski was feeling confident in his choice.
”Our bats were strong early on, Urban hit a solo homerun in the first and (Kyle) Forcini and Decker hit two-run homeruns in the third to extend our lead to 5-1,” Coach Gronostajski said. “When our catcher, Steve Ryba, scored on Urban’s double in the fourth, I thought we were adding another insurance run.”
Robbinsville, the 2011 third place finishers, quickly erased any sense of comfortableness the Bordentown player’s had, as they would go on to score six runs on four hits and three errors in the top half of the fifth inning to take a 7-6 lead.
Decker was forced out of the game after facing two batters in the fifth due to Little League pitch count rules, and was replaced by Jimmy Porcelli, 12, of Bordentown Township.
Porcelli inherited a runner on third upon entering the game, but Bordentown still held a substantial 6-2 lead. However, after back-to-back singles by Robbinsville, Porcelli issued a walk and surrendered a double that knotted the game up at 6-6. The ensuing batter would hit the now infamous flyball to right-center that would eventually seal Bordentown’s fate.
”The wheels kind of fell off in the fifth,” Coach Gronostajski reflected. “It started with a dropped pop-fly at third, which resulted in a second throwing error, and ended with the go-ahead run scoring on a dropped fly ball in shallow right-center. Once they started putting runners on base, we panicked a little, and the last error was just a case of lack of communication.”
Bordentown would not go away quietly however, and threatened to steal the game back in the bottom of the sixth inning when Decker stepped to the plate with two-on and two-out. Arguably Bordentown’s best hitter, Decker hit a shot to right field that hung up a little too long and landed in the fielder’s glove for the final out and a disappointing end to a very promising tournament.
Despite not reaching the lofty goals they had set out to attain, Coach Gronostajski was pleased with the tournament experience.
”We carried the largest roster in the tournament, faced every teams ace, and we still had an opportunity to win every game,” Coach Gronostajski pointed out. “We pitched well, played some long ball, and had a very energetic team. It was a wonderful experience and I’m very proud to have shared this experience with thirteen wonderful kids.”

