Homers send all-stars to losers’ bracket
By: Justin Feil
LAWRENCE There was a reason that Washington Township celebrated like they had won the District 12 Little League title after they topped the West Windsor 12-year-old all-star baseball team in a winners’ bracket semifinal game Sunday.
Nobody else had given them quite the scare that West Windsor did. The third-seeds and defending district champions led from the first inning until the sixth, and after forcing extra innings, they finally fell, 7-6, to top-seeded and unbeaten Washington. It was a game that had everything hitting, pitching and strong defensive play.
"I think these are the two best teams, without a doubt," said West Windsor manager Dave Campbell.
His team fell to the losers’ bracket and was scheduled to play Hamilton Township Recreation Baseball Association on Monday. With a win over HTRBA, West Windsor would play the Ewing-Bordentown winner 6 p.m. Wednesday at Lawrence Little League.
"The big change happened when Chris went down," said Campbell of Chris Campbell’s summer-ending broken arm. "Chris would have been perfect for this team, but that’s history. We’re just going to play the same. I went through two pitchers tonight which hurts a little now, but we’re pretty deep. I’ve got guys I haven’t used. Everybody is working. We’re just going to hopefully carry this thing a few more days."
West Windsor advanced in the winners’ bracket with a 6-1 win over sixth-seeded Bordentown on Saturday. The win marked the first win over Bordentown in district play for the majority of those on the West Windsor 12s team. Paul Balestrieri pitched a complete game without surrendering a walk. He also belted a two-run home run in the sixth to cushion his lead. West Windsor had sprinted out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning only to see Bordentown cut that lead in half in the third inning.
As in the win over Bordentown, West Windsor got off to a fast start in support of starting pitcher Mike Duplak on Sunday only to see Washington chip away at the lead. After Washington scored two runs on a home run in the top half of the first inning, West Windsor answered with four runs to take the lead going into the second inning.
Matt McCann and Ben Ruta led off with back-to-back singles and Pat Boyle drove them home with a double. After Pete Carman singled, Balestrieri doubled for another run and Duplak’s sacrifice fly scored another.
"They scored two," Campbell said. "We came right back. We’re a scrappy team. It was a great Little League baseball game. They don’t get much better than that."
Washington tied the game in the fourth inning on a two-run home run by Sean Bueker, but again West Windsor answered back when reserve Kevin O’Connor led off their fourth with a home run.
In the sixth inning, Washington took the lead on a pair of solo home runs, one by Bueker and one by Matt Samel. Falling behind, 6-5, going into their final at bat could have put West Windsor on its heels, but they again answered quickly. Duplak had a ground-rule double, and his courtesy runner, Joe Bensky, reached third on a wild pitch. After an out, West Windsor’s No. 9 hitter, Tim Dwyer delivered his second hit of the game to send the game into extra innings.
Bueker hit his third home run of the game in the top of the seventh for the final difference. Washington scored all seven of their runs courtesy of five home runs.
"I might walk him the next time," Campbell said. "But I would never walk him there. There’s no way you can second-guess that. He’s not even a starter."
West Windsor had a final chance to tie it as Jack Liang started the seventh off with a single. Two outs later, Washington chose to intentionally walk Balestrieri to set up the force and West Windsor’s final chance was knocked down by the pitcher and thrown out at first.
"It’s about playing as a team," Campbell said. "The kids will live through this thing, and nobody gets on anybody on this team. We play as a team. It was a great ball game. You can’t take any negatives out of it.
"They just played a good game," he added. "We just lost it with the long ball. We didn’t do anything wrong. We just got a few pitches up. We weren’t trying to get them up. We were trying to throw them low and away."
As West Windsor did in coming back in the bottom of the first inning, then again for Washington’s tying score in the fourth and finally rallying to answer the go-ahead runs in the sixth, they will have to come back to keep their banner hopes alive.
"You just hope the team digs down and it’s like a character thing," Campbell said. "If we can get through this thing and win it, then you realize it develops your character and you know you can come back in tough situations. It’s a tough loss. The kids are upset."
But West Windsor will be celebrating heartily if they can put together a run through the losers’ bracket and get another shot at the district championship.