By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
In a showdown between the top two teams at the Babe Ruth Mid-Atlantic Regional, West Windsor-Plainsboro came away with a dramatic win to earn a spot in the 13- to 15-year-old Babe Ruth World Series that begins next week.
Coming off an impressive performance in winning the Southern New Jersey state tournament, WW-P went 3-0 in pool play and then posted a pair of wins in bracket play to reach the final. WW-P defeated Lodi, N.J., 11-1, in the quarterfinals and then defeated host Niskayuna, N.Y. in the semifinals, 14-0. In the championship game, WW-P topped fellow unbeaten Mifflin County, Penn., 5-4.
“It was great,” WW-P manager Sean Bluni said. “The regional commissioner from Babe Ruth that was there made mention after the game that it is rare the two undefeated teams meet in final. That was good and it was a good game. We were tied going into the seventh and we scored a run in bottom of the seventh with a walk-off hit.”
WW-P had jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the championship game, only to see Mifflin County come back to tie the game with four runs in the sixth inning. But WW-P loaded the bases in the seventh with no one out and Ian Muni delivered a line drive base hit to win the game.
After finishing third at the District One tournament, WW-P captured the Southern NJ state title to earn a trip to the regional tournament. The team headed to upstate New York with no expectations other than trying to play their best baseball. Their best baseball wound up being good enough to win a regional title.
“That was what happened,” Bluni said. “We didn’t know what to expect. We didn’t go up there expecting to win. We were proud to win the state tournament and it was great we would get to experience playing in the regional. As we started playing games, I think we realized we had a shot to win it. We played six games and won them all. I would say we exceeded expectations. We didn’t go up there with a mind set it would be easy. We knew we would have to play our best.”
WW-P’s strength was its pitching, which limited the opposition to just 11 runs in six games. In fact, the team allowed just one run in nearly three full bracket play games before Mifflin County scored four runs in the sixth inning of the championship game.
“We gave up very few runs the whole tournament,” Bluni said. “Our pitchers did such a good job. When you play six games in six days you have to pitch by committee and limit the kids outings. We had a lot of the kids contribute to the pitching.”
WW-P went to the tournament with 10 players and seven of them saw time on the mound.
“It was a total effort in pool play all the way though to the final game,” Bluni said. “We were up 4-0 and they scored four in sixth. So we had a long stretch without giving up any runs. Ian Muni started and pitched awesome. We got everything out of him we could. He closed out the semis. We went to Luke Potts and he came in to finish things out.”
WW-P now moves on to the Babe Ruth League World Series, which will be held Aug. 10-17 in Lawerenceburg, Tenn. The team will arrive on Aug.8 for some pre-tournament festivities and play its first game on Aug. 11.
“They are all so excited,” Bluni said. “The kids are excited. The parents are excited. It’s hectic and crazy and we’re scrambling with travel arrangements. But everyone understands this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the kids. Everyone is looking forward to it. You’re never really prepared to spend a 10-day stretch down in Tennessee. But it looks like all the kids who have played will be able to get there."
And it will be an experience the players, coaches and families will never forget, regardless of the outcome on the field.
“When we were in districts at the end of June and the first week of July, if you had told me we would be going to the Babe Ruth World Series I would not have believed it,” Bluni said. “It is a pleasant surprise. At regionals we had the smallest roster. We were down to 10 kids due to vacations and other commitments. The other teams had 14 kids and some had bigger crowds because they were local.
“We are all looking forward to the next challenge. I expect the boys to play hard and do their best.”
WW-P’s roster includes Princeton residents Teddy Durbin and Judd Petrone, as well as Josh Eisenberg, Ian Muni, Luke Potts, Chris Bluni, Justin Lockwood, William Raeter, Jack Dileo, Austin Hodges, Nat Millinger and Jake Naddelman. Sean Bluni is the manager and the coaches are Mike Potts and Tom Dileo.
