By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
The Princeton Little League Intermediate 50/70 team made history last week when it secured the league’s first section championship.
Princeton rallied to knock off Ocean Township, 5-4, in the championship round of Section 3 that they hosted. It’s the second time they edged Ocean.
“Either of those games could just have easily gone either way,” said Princeton manager Jon Durbin. “We feel fortunate to move ahead. A year ago, I’m not sure we would have won those games. With all the extra experience and the older kids on the team, no one panicked and we pulled them out. We had the good fortune to go the whole way.”
Princeton was scheduled to open the state tournament Thursday against West Deptford. Winslow Township is the state tournament host with the championship slated for Sunday. Randolph and Nutley are the remaining two teams in states.
“You have to go in with the assumption that they’re good teams,” Durbin said. “If you end up getting off to a big lead or find out other teams aren’t as strong as others, that’s when you have to adjust. The more pitching you can preserve over four days, the better you’ll be. We’ll assume West Deptford will be a strong team and we’ll make adjustments on the pitching front.”
Princeton has enjoyed solid pitching all through districts and sections. Last Thursday, it was Teddy Durbin who battled through six innings before giving way to Ben Kioko for the final inning.
“Teddy did not have this best stuff,” his father said. “He’d thrown a lot of pitches over the weekend. He kept battling the whole way and found ways to keep us in the game and our defense kept us in the game. After the first inning, I thought he’d be good for 50 pitches. He kept going and he managed to pitch all the way through the sixth inning.
“Then we pitched Kioko. He’s become our big closer. Ben came out and went right in and struck out the first batter and got the next two guys on strong sharp ground balls to our shortstop, Ben Petrone.”
The two also helped to pull out the game with the bat. After Ocean took a 2-0 lead on a two-run home run — the first time that they trailed in sections — Princeton came back with single runs in the second and third innings to tie it. Ocean took the lead again, 4-2, on another two-run home run. Princeton answered and took the lead in the fifth inning.
Petrone led off with a double, stole third and scored on Jackson Rho’s single. Rho is almost an automatic steal at first base, but Durbin held him to let Kioko — a first pitch swinger — take a shot at one and it paid off.
“The pitcher grooved it and Ben crushed it,” Durbin said. “You could tell it was gone as soon as he hit it. It was a bomb to center field. Ben Kioko has had a great tournament from a hitting perspective. He’s powered our offense. Ben Petrone does a good job of powering the offense with getting on.”
Durbin was proud of the way that his team handled a little more adversity than it had seen previously. Princeton responded to every challenge it faced.
“It was pretty much a seesaw affair,” Durbin said. “We did for the first time find ourselves behind. Went down 2-0 off a two-run homer. We didn’t panic.”
The same was true when another home run put them behind again. Princeton relied on its newfound swagger to come back and take the lead and win the game.
“You can tell our core strength remains that our pitching is very strong and our defense has made very few errors,” Durbin said. “The one wrinkle is our offense is strong. That gives everyone confidence. We can build up a lead, or we can fight back swinging the bats as well.”
The defense remained steady and the bats came to life when they needed to. It gave Princeton a section crown that had eluded the defending district champions. This section win was special.
“You could tell by the celebrating after the game,” Durbin said. “After we won districts, they gave each other high-five. They mobbed each other after sections. They realized they had made history.
“The summer all-star tournament is great for Princeton. It builds spirit in the community. Doing these tournaments is important for the league and it’s important for the families. A lot of these kids play baseball in multiple seasons. It helps keep them connected to the Princeton rec program. The heart and soul is the rec program. The summer all-star program helps keep the stronger players involved in the rec program. For the families, these groups going through, they’re the front wave of all the Princeton Little League families who have strongly invested in the league and they’re going out and getting professional lessons in hitting or pitching in addition to playing for the league. You can see the effect it has. They’re getting more confident, and you can see how well they’re doing now.”
The intermediate team can be a role model for future Princeton teams. They have shown that district and section crowns are achievable goals. The Princeton 9/10 team was scheduled Thursday to play against Nottingham in the winner-take-all District 12 Little League final as they try to become the league’s second district champion and get a shot at a sectional.
“It’s historical to win our first ever sectional title,” said Durbin, who is also Princeton Little League president. “Hopefully we’ll win a state title too. It’s exciting to see our intermediate team doing so well and our 9/10 team doing so well.”
