By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
A combination of players from West Windsor Little League and Cranbury-Plainsboro Little League came together over the last two weeks to prepare for District 12 Little League tournament.
“I think they’re excited,” said WW/C-P manager Karen Kelly. “They worked really hard. They’re trying to improve their game as much as they can, whether it’s been working with their travel team or rec team and getting ready the last week and a half. I think they’ve worked hard and they’re ready.”
The team was scheduled to open district play Thursday against Florence, a team that they lost to, 5-3, at 10-year-olds. But they’ve grown plenty since then.
“Just their overall commitment,” Kelly said. “Playing the game at a higher level, working on their hitting, becoming overall better players. There’s been a move with West Windsor and Cranbury-Plainsboro to develop more pitchers. Not having a lot of pitching at the rec level makes for a tough time. They offer a lot of clinics to learn pitching at younger ages. That’s started to filter through the organization and makes for fun games.”
Many of the girls on the team play travel softball, but they played against each other in middle school this year and through the rec softball season. Now they are together for tournament time.
“It’s a great group of girls,” Kelly said. “They’ve really developed their overall game. We have some girls that hit really well, we have some good pitching and fielding. We’re happy how the team looks overall.”
Members of the WW/CP team are: third baseman Julia Baber, middle infielder Olivia Bernheisel, outfielder/first baseman/second baseman Alyse Dunn, outfielder Dana Jung, pitcher/second baseman/outfielder Kate Kelly, outfielder Lauren Killackey, outfielder Christina Kim, outfielder/first baseman Emily Matcham, catcher Kaleigh McCarron, pitcher/shortstop Allie Rome, pitcher/first baseman Gianna Schiera and outfielder Kylee Tucholski. Kelly, Matcham and Tucholski are from CPLL with the remainder of the team from WWLL. Steve Rome and Nick Schiera are coaches.
“We have a really experienced group of coaches,” Karen Kelly said. “Nick managed the 10s last year and Steve has been involved for years as well.”
Many of the players were on the team that won the New Jersey state title at the U11 level last year. Three of this year’s 12-year-olds played up last year, and one of this year’s 11-year-olds was on the 10s team.
“It’s a mix that played last year,” Kelly said. “They all played all-stars at some level.”
They will take on a district known for its talent. Last year, Robbinsville went all the way to win the Little League World Series. Two years ago, it was East Windsor that advanced from the East Regional. It’s another talented district collection this year.
“There’s a couple of girls that might know each other individually,” Kelly said. “We’re familiar with them because we interact with them during the rec season. Each group has a couple different majors level teams, and some of them play each other.”
Now the districts gives them the chance to play to represent their towns. They have the chance to bond over a week to go after the district crown. All four teams in the district are back in action Monday and the championship is scheduled for next Thursday.
“What we talk with them about is doing their job,” Kelly said. “They know what they need to do to be successful, field their position and play defense. And the same thing at bat — they have to hit and get on base so we can score runs.”
