By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
The West Windsor-Plainsboro Legion baseball team played until the last day of the District 4 state tournament.
Hopewell Post 339 eliminated WW-P with an 11-2 defeat Wednesday in their fourth game in the tournament. WW-P opened the tournament with a 9-5 win over Cherry Hill Post 372 Saturday. They fell to eventual District 4 champion Gibbsboro Post 371, 11-4, Sunday. They bounced back in the double-elimination tournament with a 7-6 win over Allentown on Monday before falling to Hopewell for the third time this summer. Had they won over Hopewell, they would have played Washington Township for a trip to the state Final Eight.
“I was happy with the way we played,” said WW-P manager Don Hutchinson. “We beat a good team in Game 1. We lost to a very good team in Game 2. We had probably our best win of the year over Allentown. Today, we got down early and couldn’t ever get back in it.”
WW-P had played consistently well over the regular season and they came through with strong performances in every game of the districts.
“Gibbsboro, they won the district,” Hutchinson said. “They’re solid. We played fine. We didn’t have a bad game. We didn’t play poorly defensively in any game. We played well in all of them. We gave up a lot of hits against Gibbsboro, Hopewell, even Cherry Hill.”
WW-P also found itself hitting well in the tournament. They needed to get the bats going to overtake Allentown. It allowed them to avenge two tough losses from the regular season by mounting an impressive rally.
“We were down, 5-0,” Hutchinson said. “They had a couple home runs. We got three in the fifth. We got one in the seventh. We had two out and nobody on and we rallied to win in the eighth. It was nice because we lost to them twice by a run before, then we won by a run in districts.”
WW-P took full advantage of the state tournament nine-inning game length. Had it been the seven-inning length of regular-season games, they would have lost. Instead, they were able to chip away at the lead and finally overtake Allentown to make a winner of Dan Klein, who pitched the final six innings of the game. Danny Borup tied the game with a double to cap his 5-for-5 day at the plate. Austin Linder had the two-out single to give WW-P the game-winner.
WW-P had hoped to keep it going, but ran into a Hopewell team that was hitting its stride and hitting the ball the best that they had seen.
“We lost, 4-1 and 1-0, (in the regular season),” Hutchinson said. “They hit the ball a lot better today. That’s kind of typical this time of year — the pitching staff gets a little tired and the hitters are locked in. Going in, of the three Mercer teams, we had a combined record of 1-5 against them. To come out 2-2, it was a pretty good showing. We were certainly competitive.”
The district tournament allowed a group that had largely grown up together to play a few more games together. They just had to travel to West Deptford to do so.
“It was a long drive down there,” Hutchinson said. “Those are long days. Sometimes you’re waiting a while to play. They became long days, but I think they enjoyed it.”
Christian Waters was strong on the mound in the opening win over Cherry Hill. Waters is one of the players graduating from the Legion team.
“There are a lot of graduating guys on this team,” Hutchinson said. “Some 19 year olds are eligible (to return). Pat Cho falls in that category if he wants to come back. I don’t know about some of the seniors from North. I’m sure it’ll be a big turnover next year.”
For WW-P, the summer allows players who grew up playing on the same team and have since gone to rival schools the chance to play again on the same team.
“You don’t have an issue with them coming together,” Hutchinson said. “A lot of them are friends when they come in. The blend between North and South is usually smooth. What was good this year was everyone contributed. That helps build a good camaraderie. You all feel equal. We played a lot of close games. We’re competitive. And watching their body language, I think they had fun. That’s why they’re doing it.
“Some of those guys had been on Babe Ruth together when they’re younger and even Little League when they were younger. There was a nucleus that had had some time together.”
They enjoyed a few more games together in the districts, and made a competitive run at the chance to advance to the state Final Eight. WW-P had played well all summer to earn the right to play in the districts, and though they would have liked to advance, reaching the final day of the districts was proof of how much they wanted to continue their run.
“I think the kids had a good time playing in it,” Hutchinson said. “It’s not like they go away with a heartbreaking loss. We lost to a good team. Even if we won, we’d have had to beat another good team.
“We were right there,” he added. “That’s all you want.”
