ROBBINSVILLE: Robbinsville softball keeps winning tradition alive

By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
   Mother Nature seems to be about the only thing capable of slowing down the Robbinsville 12-year-old all-star softball team.
   Robbinsville has rolled through its competition to reach the New Jersey state championship. They were up, 6-0, in the final against Pequannock when thundershowers forced the postponement of the game in the bottom of the third inning. After practicing indoors Tuesday, Robbinsville was scheduled to resume play Wednesday after Press deadline at their own Tantum Park field.
   ”At this point, these girls want to play games,” said Robbinsville manager Mark Walsh. “We’ve put in all the work we need to put in. Playing games, that’s what we’re looking forward to doing.”
   Walsh was optimistic about avoiding the showers Wednesday, and the state champion will need to finish play quickly. The NJ winner is scheduled to be in Bristol, Conn., for the start of the regional tournament Friday, but Walsh didn’t want to look that far ahead quite yet.
   ”Pequannock is a nice team,” he said. “They have some decent hitters in that lineup. They have a capable pitcher. If we’re going to play good defense and pitch the ball and hit 1-through-13 in the lineup, we’re going to be tough to beat.”
   The rest of the state already knows that. Most of the Robbinsville 12-year-old team is back from a year ago when they placed third in the World Series, and the players are plenty knowledgeable about what it takes to win the state at every level. Robbinsville won the state two years in the 9/10 year old division against a familiar group of competitors.
   ”When we were 9/10s, it was the same four teams in the tournament as 11/12s,” Walsh said. “It was Pequannock, Harrison, Robbinsville and Little Ferry. It’s the same four teams that we played in the 9/10 tournament.”
   Two years later, it’s the same group of challengers that Robbinsville is taking on again, this time as hosts. Robbinsville is thrilled to be representing District 12 and Section 3 against a perennial group of talented teams.
   ”Maybe these towns have done a nice job of convincing their girls to play Little League whereas some towns are losing their girls to travel,” Walsh said. “We’ve been able to find a balance between playing a competitive travel schedule and committing to Little League.”
   The value of the Little League experience and the bonding that comes from going through a summer together have been invaluable to past Robbinsville groups, and Walsh sees more of that with his team.
   ”With the Little League, there’s a sense of community and tradition whereas a travel team, you’re getting girls from all over that are good players and good teammates,” Walsh said. “When you have an opportunity to do something for your town you want to, and the success we’ve had at the high school level is inspiring to keep doing what we’re doing here.”
   Robbinsville has pulled away from its competition. Whereas it took a 1-0 nail-biter to get by Pequannock a couple years ago, this year they won 10-4 over Pequannock in the winners’ bracket showdown, though they did trail, 2-0, early.
   ”I would say the Little League has done a good job here in Robbinsville of giving the girls the opportunity and the training to get better as players,” Walsh said. “And they’ve promote Little League and we’ve been able to keep all of our girls. One hundred percent of our girls that wanted to play Little League have been able to play Little League.”
   Robbinsville opened the state tournament with a 10-0 win over Little Ferry in five innings. The Pequannock game was the first Little League postseason game that has gone the full six innings for Robbinsville.
   ”We’re getting production throughout the lineup,” Walsh said. “Our nine starting players are making contact, putting the ball in play, putting pressure on the other team. Our reserves are coming in and contributing as they’re asked, whether it’s hitting, bunting, or whatever we’re asking them to do. We’re forcing these teams to make plays on us.”
   They were at it again in their second meeting with Pequannock in the state tournament. This time, it was Robbinsville that jumped out early.
   ”We scored two in the first inning,” Walsh said. “In the second inning, Amanda Allen had a big hit with the bases loaded to break the game open a little bit. McKenzie Medders is out there pitching well. We like our chances to finish this thing up (Wednesday).”
   Sara Mazalewski scored on Allen’s hit. Olivia Moser walked with the bases loaded to tie the game. Ashley Veisz’s hit got through for two more runs, Allie Taylor’s bloop scored Moser and Veisz. In the fourth inning, Moser’s single scored Taylor and Medders. Medders had a big double in the fifth inning to help Robbinsville get to 10 runs. Shea Walsh threw out a runner trying to advance to second on a hit to stem Pequannock’s rally. No one has figured out how to slow down the Robbinsville offense.
   ”We’ve got a nice mix,” Walsh said. “We’ve got a slapper, some girls that can hit the ball pretty hard, we’ve got girls that can knock bunts down pretty well. We’ve got a pretty good mix of offensive players.”
   Robbinsville has continued to play well in the field, get the pitching it needs from Medders and thought with its offense clicking, it doesn’t have to be perfect in the field. They breezed through the section to qualify for states. They won the championship with a 10-0 win over Wall that took only 45 minutes.
   ”I thought we played pretty well,” Walsh said. “We continued to get contributions from all 13 girls, which is something we’re going to need to do if we’re going to go far in this thing.”
   Robbinsville was well prepared for the section having gone through a challenging district. District 12 has always produced solid softball teams, and it’s been Robbinsville for seven of the last eight years to represent the district.
   ”I thought East Windsor was a nice team,” Walsh said. “They had some success winning the Eastern Region as a 9/10 team. I thought the teams we faced in the section were teams we should be able to handle.”
   Walsh has seen his team live up to expectations through the start of the summer. He’s proud that they have played the sort of softball they want to thus far.
   ”I think the common theme is probably our ability to continue to pitch well, continue to play defense, and continue to get contributions from all the girls in the lineup hitting,” Walsh said. “It’s been kind of what’s been expected. You coach and work hard and preach getting a few hits here and there. We’ve been able to do that, and run the bases well and bunt here and there and all the things that are important to win games.”
   There are more games ahead. With a state win, Robbinsville would have the chance to defend its East Region title from a year ago.
   ”I think the big value of doing what we did last year is the kids’ understanding of committing to working hard, committing to being a good teammate and committing to what we’re doing as a team,” Walsh said. “Obviously, the fact we’ve had success doing this and we have a model for what we want to do, I think there’s a built-in trust for the kids. They know we’re doing the right thing.”
   The results show that Robbinsville — weather aside — has been hard to stop.