By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Adam Gostomski battled through a tough spring, but he’s enjoying a final summer of baseball with the West Windsor-Plainsboro Legion team.
Its steady No. 5 hitter has provided a lift on offense to go with a well-rounded pitching staff that he helps to catch.
“I had a slow high school season,” said Gostomski, a graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High North. “This summer, I picked it up a bit. I’m seeing the ball better. I thought I’ve been hitting pretty well so far.”
WW-P will be looking to put everything together in the start of the state tournament. At 14-9, they placed sixth in the Mercer County American Legion League.
“We played well all summer,” said WW-P manager Don Hutchinson. “We pitched well and played good defense. We never quite hit like I thought this team would. We’ve been in every game. We’re certainly set. If we go to West Deptford, there will be four Mercer County teams. We lost to most of the teams above us, but we did beat Bordentown. We’re as good as anybody. I think we can do it.”
WW-P has a good dose of just what any team needs to win in the post-season — pitching. Gostomski has caught WW-P North sophomore Alex Mitchell regularly as well as former Knights pitcher Christian Waters at times.
“Our pitching has been excellent,” Gostomski said. “We have a four-man rotation. We have four guys that can go deep into games when they need to. Our pitching is something that’s held us together.
“Pitching is important,” he added. “It’s cool we have a four-man rotation. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. It’s whoever is next in the rotation. We’re confident in all our pitchers. We think all of our pitchers are capable of winning. That’s what’s cool about our pitching — we have a deep rotation.”
It has enabled WW-P to remain among the toughest teams in the MCALL. They were just a few runs away from moving higher in the standings.
“We’re 14-9 but most of our losses have been one-run losses,” Gostomski said. “We can hang with just about any team. We lost to 31 by one, lost to Hopewell by one. We can hang with basically any team.”
If WW-P continues to get strong pitching from Mitchell, Waters and WW-P South products Sean O’Brien and Dan Klein, it can contend with anyone. And with some timely hitting, it could knock off teams that have had better summers.
“Maybe we can get a few more hits,” Gostomski said. “Most of our runs come from two-out hitting. We’ve been doing really well two-out hitting. It’s crazy how good we’ve been doing. We’re also not afraid to do late-game hitting. We were down 5-0 to North Hamilton going into the top of the seventh last weekend. We scored seven runs in the seventh inning. It was crazy.”
WW-P is hoping it can ride that sort of momentum into states. It’s anybody’s game in the playoff format.
“Based on experiences they’ve had,” Hutchinson said, “they believe there’s nobody out there that they can’t beat.”
It’s a last hurrah for Gostomski and his teammates. All but Hun School’s George Revock play for either WW-P North or South and they all grew up playing together. Gostomski won’t be playing next year at the University of Richmond, and this is likely his final chance at organized baseball.
“All these kids we were together when we were 15,” Gostomski said. “We went to the regional tournament. We won the state. This is the same group of kids. We’re giving it one last go before we head off to college.
“We’ve been together a lot. That’s good for us that we know each other and played together for a while. That’s what makes good teams good.”
The team reunited quickly over the summer. They have enjoyed one last run together. Gostomski has aided them with his bat and as a catcher.
“I’ve been catching Christian since I was 13,” he said. “We’re basically on the same page. Alex, I got to know this year. Our pitching coach helped us a lot. I know what to call when I’m catching.”
WW-P has valued his versatility. When Gostomski isn’t catching, he has the ability to stay in the lineup as an outfielder. WW-P has a lot of different pieces who have helped this summer.
“One of the enjoyable things about this team is I play a lot of different lineups,” Hutchinson said. “Everyone on this team has contributed. It’s been fun that way. Everyone feels a part of the team because they get a chance. A few are playing every day.”
Said Gostomski: “At the beginning of the season, I thought we have a really good squad. I thought we could go far — we have a lot of talent.”
WW-P is looking for that talent to play up to its potential through states. It will try to advance to the Final Eight.
“I think the experience we had in the season will help them,” Hutchinson said. “We haven’t hit a lot, but we’ve been in close games. I think that will serve them well in these games.”
The pressure to win late in the summer is something that they’ve been experiencing for years together. They are looking to extend one more summer with each other in the states.
“A lot of these guys have played together,” Hutchinson said. “They’ve played Babe Ruth together. This is like the final hurrah. The core of team has played together before.”
