By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
Jon Iorio doesn’t know much about the teams that his Robbinsville Little League 9/10 year-old all-star softball team will face in the state tournament.
What the Robbinsville manager does know is that he is taking a resilient squad to states. Robbinsville clawed back through a difficult District 12 tournament. They were down to their final inning before rallying to move into the championship, where they avenged their only loss of districts with back-to-back wins over East Windsor.
”We knew it was going to be tough,” Iorio said. “East Windsor and West Windsor and Florence, they’ve always brought together very good programs. East Windsor and West Windsor pushed our backs to the wall. We didn’t get a chance to play Florence, but against those other two teams it was no cakewalk. District 12 is a very, very tough district to win. It’s always there.”
Their Section 3 title wasn’t easy either, but Robbinsville was crowned the champion with a hard-fought 2-0 win over Lincroft on Sunday. Robbinsville was a perfect 3-0 to take the section and heads into states with some momentum.
”You can never take anything for granted,” Iorio said. “Every team is out to play hard and play well. They come out ready to play, just like our girls do. Every game is a new adventure.”
Robbinsville is off to host Middletown Little League to start the state tournament today against Section 2 champion Wallington. Section 1 champion Hanover and Section 4 champion Waterford Township are the other game.
”We don’t know a thing about them,” Iorio said. “We haven’t seen any of these teams. We’re going to go out and play our game and hope we do OK.”
The 13 players on the Robbinsville 9/10 team are: Arden Benner, Kendal Chmielewski, Danielle Calli, Brynn Hopkins, Jillian Hutt, Ella Iorio, Shea Krebs, Mackenzie Martin, Paige Moser, Kailey Pacifico, Becca Siracusa, Aubrey Strand and Gwen Wells.
”The core of this team has been together since the age of 7,” said the elder Iorio. “They know each other quite well. They’ve gelled over the years. There’s a lot of camaraderie amongst them. What’s most important to us coaches is for them to have fun, learn and play hard. If you combine them, that’s what you want.”
They were the fourth of five possible Robbinsville teams to win a district title this year. They are following the Robbinsville 12-year-old all-star softball team that is one step ahead in regionals after they won sections and states.
”They have the tradition of Robbinsville Little League to try to live up,” Iorio said. “They’re old enough to know what’s transpired over the years of Robbinsville Little League. They’re ready to step up and be that next group. There is the hope that they could carry the tradition.
”They understand what’s it’s taken by watching the older girls play. They support them, they watch them. They know that one day they’ll be in that sort of spotlight. I think that’s what motivates and drives them.”
Iorio has seen his team get tested right from the start of all-star play. The district tournament had four good teams. Robbinsville won their district opener, 8-1 over West Windsor, but they lost their second game to East Windsor, 8-2, to fall into the losers bracket of the double elimination tournament. They were nearly eliminated by West Windsor, which had its eyes on revenge and a 2-1 lead in the final inning before Robbinsville rallied for a 4-2 victory.
”If every game was a one-sided win, it wouldn’t do much to help us in the closer games,” said Iorio, whose coaches are Steve Krebs and Joe Hopkins. “There were a couple close games where we had to gut out some wins. Against West Windsor, we had to come back and win in the last inning. We were down 2-1, so we were almost eliminated. We came back to win.
”The first game, we played West Windsor and we won pretty handily. Then we lost to East Windsor, 8-2. That was a wake-up call that I think they needed. They haven’t lost a game since. In the losers bracket final, they had to score three runs to win that game. Our backs were against the wall.”
They still had to knock off East Windsor twice to advance out of the district. The first game was a 3-2 thriller that forced the winner-take-all if-game later that night. Robbinsville won, 8-3, to capture the district.
”We had to beat them twice in the same night,” Iorio said. “The first game was a 3-2 win that was very exciting. The second game was 8-3.
”Then we had three games in the section where we won pretty handily in the first game. We played the same team, Lincroft, twice. We won, 11-0, and then won, 2-0. That was a close game. That was a nail-biter.”
It leaves Robbinsville battle-tested for whatever the state tournament throws at them. Robbinsville has taken the same approach regardless of opponent and it has worked thus far.
”Defense always wins games,” Iorio said. “We’ve been pretty solid. Except for the first game of the all-star season, after that we smoothed out. We’ve had phenomenal pitching between Brynn Hopkins and Shea Krebs.”
The hitting has come and gone. In some games, like its 11-0 win over Lincroft in their first meeting, Robbinsville’s offense erupted. It is capable of putting up some big numbers, and they would like to see more of that going forward.
”It’s not been very consistent,” Iorio said. “There have been moments where we’ve put hits together. Brynn Hopkins has been one of the standouts. She started off slowly, but has since come up huge in big spots. Ella Iorio has had a very high on-base percentage. She’s our lead-off. She manages to get on base and score a lot of runs. Mackenzie Martin, she bats second, and manages to get on base a lot.
”We have pretty good base-running all-around. We try to take advantage with our base-running and a lot of times it works out. Sometimes we take gambles and lose, but we’re making sure the opposing defense is on their toes all the time. Either someone is going to take that extra base or they have to defend hard-hit balls from our hitters. They do have their lapses, but they’re a pretty tough team to face if you’re a pitcher.”
Robbinsville has delivered just when it has needed to. It has played facing elimination and come through, and it has run the table like it did in sectionals. They are hoping next that they can navigate a slate of state tournament challengers to reach the East Region tournament that will be hosted in Old Forge, Pa.
”The fact that they’ve gotten this far means they’re good,” Iorio said. “It’s going to be dogfight. It’s anyone’s championship banner to win.”

