South Vineland rallies for four in fifth to take the lead, then turns back an Elmer rally in the sixth in the District 3 Little League Tournament
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
ELMER – Baseball, they say, is a game of inches and that’s literally how close the Elmer All-Stars came to winning their District 3 Little League Tournament opener Friday night.
South Vineland staged a fifth-inning rally to take the lead and then turned back Elmer in the sixth with leftfielder Kayden Potts stretching out to snare the final out with the go-ahead runs in scoring position to preserve a 7-6 victory.
Elmer’s Adam McGovern came to the plate with two outs in the sixth, one run already home, the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second. He worked the count to 3-0 and manager Matt Schneider gave him the green light.
McGovern hit the ball solidly and it looked headed to the gap to give Elmer a momentum-stealing lead. Potts, a usual pitcher and catcher given the start in the outfield on a last-minute coach’s hunch, raced over and snatched the fly out of the air before it could cause any damage.
A few inches over and it would’ve given Elmer the lead. Instead, the next thing you knew the teams were going through the handshake line.
“The kids never hung their heads,” Schneider said. “Baseball’s a game of inches. We went out there, put charges in the ball and stayed in the game and ultimately gave ourselves a chance at the end there and that’s all you can ask for.”
Given the situation Schneider didn’t think giving McGovern the green light when South Vineland reliever Elijuah Perez had just walked Mateo Cummings ahead of him was a risk.
“At that point in the game you get the pitch you can drive and we go for it,” Schneider said. “Normally, yeah, you want to play (the percentages), but we had the momentum, he got a pitch he could drive and he drove it, but right to the guy. Sometimes you’ve got throw those fundamentals out the window when you get a pitch you can groove.”
“In travel I hit my first home run off a 3-0,” McGovern said. “I thought (this one) I had too much loft on it and I got under it too much. I was just thinking make it to the outfield and see what happens.”
McGovern had a softer swing two innings earlier that netted his team a better result. His slow roller with the bases loaded died in the infield grass for an RBI single that put Elmer ahead 4-3.
“I was really happy (about that) because I’d been on a slump,” he said.
The close calls weren’t just limited to Elmer. South Vineland retook the lead with two outs in the fifth on back-to-back run-scoring doubles by Joel Rodriguez and Perez that both were just out of the reach of Elmer centerfielder Clayton Bishop. They scored their two runs in the first inning with two outs, too.
“To be honest, that’s what we do,” South Vineland manager Hiram Cordero said. “We’re like a two-out team. It’s like when we have two outs that’s when the team wakes up because you have not room for error. That was a good team. Everybody who went up was hitting it. I was telling the guys that’s the way to win – to hit the ball.”
Elmer was the visitor in its own park and took the first lead in the game on Chase Moir’s two-out RBI double in the first inning. McGovern’s run-scoring slow roller was part of a three-run fourth and Elmer extended its lead to 5-3 in the fifth on Ryan Schneider’s RBI ground out.
“If you like baseball that was a fun game to watch, regardless of the outcome,” Matt Schneider said. “We were on the losing end of that, but we told the guys there are good wins and there are good losses and that was a good loss. We were never out of that game to the end.
“Now we’ve got the weekend (free). We told the guys clear their heads; you’ve got to have the memory of a goldfish. Monday we come back (at home against Pennsville). We’re going to play hard, we’re going to go at them and we’re going to attack them like we do.”
South Vineland 7, Elmer 6
| Elmer | 100 | 311– | 6 | 10 | 3 |
| South Vineland | 210 | 04X– | 7 | 9 | 2 |
District 3 LL Tournament
| AMERICAN DIV. | W | L | RF-RA | NATIONAL DIV. | W | L | RF-RA |
| Buena | 1 | 0 | 12-0 | East Vineland | 1 | 0 | 13-3 |
| South Vineland | 1 | 0 | 7-6 | Millville American | 1 | 0 | 6-4 |
| Pennsville | 0 | 0 | 0-0 | West Cumberland | 0 | 1 | 4-6 |
| Elmer | 0 | 1 | 6-7 | Penns Grove | 0 | 1 | 3-13 |
| Bridgeton | 0 | 1 | 0-12 |
FRIDAY’S GAMES
South Vineland 7, Elmer 6
Millville American 6, West Cumberland 4
SATURDAY’S GAME
Buena at Pennsville, 5 p.m.
SUNDAY’S GAME
Millville American at East Vineland, 5 p.m.
MONDAY’S GAMES
Bridgeton at South Vineland, 5:45 p.m.
Pennsville at Elmer, 5:45 p.m.
West Cumberland at Penns Grove, 5:45 p.m.
Riverview Sports News 