By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PENNSVILLE – No one wanted to see Monday night’s District 3 Little League Tournament game go the distance more than East Vineland manager Scott Perkins.
His team was playing to clinch the No. 1 seed in the American Division and was leading Pennsville when the umpires stopped play in the third inning because of the weather. There was no guarantee the rain would stop and a suspension was the last thing Perkins wanted.
If they had sent the teams home for the night, play would have resumed Tuesday and Perkins might not have been there. He was catching a plane at 5 o’clock in the morning for a business trip to Atlanta.
Fortunately, the rain did stop, diamond dry was spread all around and play resumed – and East Vineland went on to post a 13-1 victory in four innings.
“It all started earlier today,” Perkins said. “I’m watching the news, I’m watching the radar throughout the entire day, really just crossing my fingers because the weather over the past five days has been so unpredictable that it just leads us right into this.
“Then we see sunshine just a couple miles away and downpours coming straight down. Now, I’m nervous because then you see lightning strikes, sweat is definitely coming down because I knew I had a big thing tomorrow for work and this is where I needed to be.”
The game went through three stoppages and two abbreviated restarts for about 45 minutes in delays. If the game had gone to the next day, Perkins probably would have changed his plans.
“I probably would have canceled my trip, actually,” he said. “I love these boys, I love these coaches and I love this team. This is a once-in-a-lifetime (event). Two of the players are my own kids so I didn’t want to miss that for the world. Work will be there forever.”
Now, he doesn’t have to make that call. East Vineland is done with pool play and will now play the No. 2 seed from the National Division in the double-loss finals round at 5:45 p.m. June 30 in Elmer.
Perkins’ team was good before the delay, opening a 5-0 lead with aggressive base running and solid fielding, but was even better coming back. They scored eight runs in the two innings once play resumed. They scored five runs on pitches that had gotten away at home plate.
“This is our third game and they’ve been building momentum each time,” Perkins said. “We had momentum going into the rain, so you’re questioning whether they’re going to be in the game and focused (once play resumed), but actually they were laser-focused coming out of that because they wanted to play so bad. Because the rain started it made them want to play more.”
East Vineland starting pitcher Enzo Candelario came to play. He pitched three innings of no-hit ball and barreled a pitch up in the zone for a three-run homer in a six-run fourth inning.
The right-hander threw 43 pitches in his first tournament start, faced two batters over the minimum and got a lot of help from his defense to keep the gem alive. He walked the first two Pennsville batters he faced, but both were erased on fielder’s choices to third base. He also had a runner thrown out at first from right field.
“I had no idea I had a no-hitter,” Canderlario said. “After I sat down my coach told me no-hitter. I was happy.”
His home run gave East Vineland a 13-1 lead. It was his eighth homer of the Little League season and first of the all-star tournament. He also had an RBI double and sacrifice fly for five total RBIs.
Liam Luciano broke up the no-hitter with a sharp single up the middle off reliever Wesley Perkins leading off the fourth. He scored Pennsville’s first run of the tournament on Greyson Robbins’ two-out single to right.
“We’re better than what we’ve played, for sure, the last two games,” Pennsville manager Phil Todd said. “It hurts. We’re better than that.”
Pennsville will play its final pool game Thursday at Elmer. The approach will be to play all the 12s because it will be their final game at this level.
East Vineland 232 6 – 13 9 2
Pennsville 000 1 – 1 2 2
WP: Enzo Candelario (1-0). LP: Caleb Fontaine (0-1). HR: Enzo Candelario (EV).
District 3 LL Tournament
| AMERICAN | W | L | RATIO |
| x-East Vineland | 3 | 0 | 0.3333 |
| Millville Am. | 1 | 1 | 0.6667 |
| Elmer | 0 | 1 | 1.0000 |
| Pennsville | 0 | 2 | 2.0000 |
| NATIONAL | |||
| x-South Vineland | 3 | 0 | 0.2222 |
| Buena | 1 | 1 | 0.4167 |
| Salem | 0 | 1 | 0.6667 |
| South Cumberland | 0 | 2 | 2.5000 |
Monday’s Games
East Vineland 13, Pennsville 1
South Vineland 15, South Cumberland 0
Tuesday’s Games
Elmer at Millville American, 5:45 p.m.
Salem at Buena, 5:45 p.m.
Wednesday’s Game
South Cumberland at Salem, 5:45 p.m.
Thursday’s Game
Pennsville at Elmer, 5:45 p.m.
Photo: The East Vineland LL All-Stars escort Enzo Candelario (orange brim) to the dugout after celebrating his three-run homer in the fourth inning Monday night.
District 3 Senior Softball
| DISTRICT 3 | W | L | RATIO |
| Elmer | 1 | 0 | 0.285 |
| Pennsville | 0 | 0 | 0.000 |
| Franklin Twp. | 0 | 1 | 0.428 |
Monday’s Game
Elmer 3, Franklin Twp. 2
Tuesday’s Game
Pennsville at Franklin Twp., 5:45 p.m.
Wednesday’s Game
Elmer at Pennsville, 5:45 p.m.
Riverview Sports News 