Well-armed Pennsville

Pennsville All-Stars edge Elmer 5-3, go 2-0 in District 3 Little League Tournament for first time since winning the title in 2019

DISTRICT 3 TOURNAMENT
MONDAY’s GAMES
Pennsville 5, Elmer 3
South Vineland 17, Bridgeton 1
West Cumberland 6, Penns Grove 2

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

ELMER – Pennsville All-Stars manager Stephen Pangle went with a three-armed pitching plan in his team’s District 3 Little League Tournament opener because of the oppressive heat and it produced the program’s first tournament win since 2019.

He went with the same approach Monday in a game that was 14 degrees cooler at the start and windier – with the same pitchers, in the same order – and it netted a 5-3 victory over the Elmer LL All-Stars that put them in prime position to advance out of the American Division.

They’re now tied atop the division with South Vineland and have wins over current No. 3 Buena and T-4 Elmer. The teams play for the top seed in the division Thursday at South Vineland, where Pennsville could potentially use the three-armed approach again.

“It wasn’t the plan in the beginning, but it worked so well in the first game we figured why not try it again the next game and it worked,” Pangle said. “But you could see our middle pitching starting to struggle a little bit, so we went to our third pitching a little bit earlier than we would have liked, but it ended up working out.” 

JoJo Mannino started for the second game in a row, worked the first two innings, threw 52 pitches, allowed one hit and struck out four. Caiden Colomy had the middle two, threw 25 pitches and allowed one hit. Nate Morrison close it again, throwing 31 pitches over the final two innings and striking out three.

In the first two games of the tournament the trio has given up four runs, seven hits and struck out and struck out 18.

“It’s worked out wonderful,” Colomy said.

“I think we’re dominating; we’re unstoppable if we all just work together and do whatever we needed,” Mannino said. “We’re an unstoppable trio.”

It didn’t start well for them – Elmer scored three runs in the first inning off Mannino – but over the next five frames, the three pitchers kept their hosts off the board on one more hit – a bunt single.

It gave Pennsville the chance it needed to come back. Colomy gave Pennsville a 4-3 lead with a two-run single in the fifth inning and Mannino provided an insurance run with a leadoff homer in the sixth. 

It was a 3-2 game going into the fifth. Lauden Tighe got the go-ahead rally started with a pop single that fell into short right field. “If we didn’t get that hit in that spot, we may not have won that game,” Pangle said.

Morrison reached on a two-out error that put runners at second and third and Colomy brought them both home with a sharp single through the hole at short for a 4-3 lead. Colomy and Tighe both doubled earlier in the game. 

“I was just trying to drive them home,” Colomy said. “I just wanted to get a good hit to the outfield and drive them in.”

Grayson Bingham pitched a complete game for Elmer. He threw 82 pitches, gave up seven hits and struck out three. “He threw an incredible game,” Elmer manager Matt Schneider said. “Any day of the week you’d take that pitching outing right there.”

Elmer scored its three runs in the first inning with the benefit of just one hit – a 23-foot single by Easton Aulffo with the bases loaded that gave his team a 2-1 lead. They scored their first run on an error and their third run when Raylan Baldissaro was hit by a pitch right after Aulffo’s short single.

But they managed only five more base runners the rest of the game, three who got in scoring position, but none past second base. Two of the runners were put out at third.

“We came out urgent and then kind of stood on our laurels,” Schneider said. “We got up early and just took our foot off the gas. They made the hits when they needed to and we didn’t. All the credit in the world to those kids. They played all 18 outs and they deserved to win.”

Pennsville 5, Elmer 3

Pennsville	110	021-	5	7	2
Elmer	300	000-	3	2	2

District 3 LL Tournament

AMERICAN	W	L	RUNS	NATIONAL	W	L	RUNS
Pennsville	2	0	8-4	E. Vineland	2	0	21-10
S. Vineland	2	0	24-7	Millville Amer	1	1	13-12
Buena	1	1	13-3	W. Cumberland	1	1	10-8
Elmer	0	2	9-12	Penns Grove	0	2	5-18
Bridgeton	0	2	1-29

WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
Elmer at Bridgeton, 5:45 p.m.
East Vineland at West Cumberland, 5:45 p.m.
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Pennsville at South Vineland, 5:45 p.m.
FRIDAY’S GAMES
South Vineland at Buena, 5:45 p.m.
Penns Grove at Millville American, 5:45 p.m.
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Pennsville at Bridgeton, 5 p.m.
Elmer at Buena, 5 p.m.