The Monroe Purple 12U Travel Baseball team are the 2006 Cal Ripken 12U District 9 champions.
The Purple team went 5-0 in the District 9 tournament to become the 2006 champions. Monroe won their first game vs. Colonia, 11-1. Nick Dini pitched four innings with no earned runs. Monroe had 15 hits, two of which were home runs by Nick Dini and Chris Tagliaferro. Monroe struck out a total of eight players from Colonia in this match, which lasted only four innings.
Their second game was against Edison Boys. Monroe won this game 13-1. Victor Sorrento pitched four innings and Nick Dini pitched one inning. Monroe had 16 hits in this game, with three of those hits going for home runs. Victor Sorrento hit two dingers, while Nick Dini hit one. Monroe pitchers struck out eight players from the Edison Boys in this five-inning match-up.
Monroe came back strong for their third game against North Edison in their Friday night match-up, winning big again, 10-0. Monroe had a total of 12 hits, while Chris Viani went the distance in this five-inning game, striking out three . Monroe played excellent defense in this game, committing no errors and allowing no runs to score. Monroe hit two back-to-back home runs, one by Nick Dini and one by Victor Sorrento.
The next day Monroe faced East Brunswick “A” team on a hot Saturday, and Monroe continued to play hot. They beat East Brunswick in four innings of play, 14-1. Victor Sorrento pitched four innings without allowing an earned run. Monroe committed one error in this game and had 16 hits. Monroe hit four home runs – Kyle Michaud hit one, Victor Sorrento hit two and D.J. Crispino hit one. East Brunswick struck out five times in the game.
Monroe played Colonia in the District 9 Championship game on July 5. This was Monroe’s first six-inning game all season, but the Purple went on to win, 4-2. Nick Dini pitched a complete six-inning game, recording 11 strikeouts. Monroe had 11 hits in this game, but struggled getting runs across the plate. They left several runners stranded on base, but did get two home runs – one from Chris Tagliaferro and one from Nick Dini.
Monroe has won every game they played this season, posting an 8-0 mark. The team will start play in the state tournament on Saturday in Manalapan.
The team consists of Bobby Dudik, Tyler Cushman, Chris Tagliaferro, Robby Darrar, Nick Dini, Victor Sorrento, Ryan Germano, Chris Viani, Kyle Michaud, Nick Cutrone, Jake Rickard, D.J. Crispino and Michael Hoegler. The coaches are Bob Dudik, Andrew Tagliaferro and Gary Cushman.
The team would like to thank the many Monroe residents who came out to the game to support them during the district championship game, and would especially like to thank Chris Brooks, who has continuously supported this team in many ways.