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Pennsville power play
Pennsville hits four inside-the-park homers, wraps up pool play with rout of Bridgeton; Elmer wraps up its tournament with win over Buena
SATURDAY’S GAMES Pennsville 18, Bridgeton 1 Elmer 10, Buena 7
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
BRIDGETON – The Pennsville Little League All-Stars already had their spot in the District 3 Final Four clinched before they took the field Saturday night, but they were determined not to take their foot off the gas.
Pennsville batted around in the top of the first and strung together eight straight two-out hits to produce six runs and had four inside-the-park homers among their 16 hits on the way to a 18-1 rout of Bridgeton in their final game of pool play.
“We came out swinging,” Pennsville manager Steve Pangle said. “We talked last game about how many looking third strikes we had and we wanted to stop that. They went up there aggressive and it helped.”
Pennsville, 3-1 in pool play, will host the opening round of the district Final Four at McLaughlin Field Monday and will play National 1 East Vineland (3-0) at 8 p.m. American 1 South Vineland (4-0) and Millville American (2-1) play the first game at 5:45 p.m.
JoJo Mannino and Nathan Breeden both went 3-for-3. Mannino had six RBIs and Breeden three. Mannino hit two of the inside-the-park homers, while Nathan Breeden and Nate Morrison had the others. Morrison, John Swiderski, Chase Pangle and Caleb Fontaine had two hits apiece.
Mannino went 4-for-8 with eight RBIs in the four pool games. Breeden went 5-for-9, Morrison 7-for-12 (with seven runs) and Swiderski 6-for-10. Morrison and Swiderski had at least one hit in every game.
Bridgeton retired the first two Pennsville hitters in the first, then the hit parade began. Swiderski got the ball rolling with a single and Mannino followed with an inside-the-park home run for a 2-0 lead.
Breeden and Pangle had back-to-back doubles (3-0), Fontaine an RBI triple then stole home (5-0) and Brayden Weatherbee, Lauden Tighe and Brayden Roberts had consecutive singles (6-0) before an infield out ended the inning.
“That just shows their heart and fight,” Pangle said. “They’re a no-quit team. They keep battling no matter how many outs there are, no matter what the situation is; they keep fighting. That showed in the first and third innings.
“Our first two hitters went down pretty quick – they were hard hit – and then our third batter was able to get the bat on the ball and it opened us up. Hitting is contagious and they fell in line and started hitting.”
Pennsville added five in the second with Breeden’s two-run triple the big blow. And they scored seventh in the third — again all with two outs – highlighted by back-to-back inside-the-park homers by Mannino (a three-run play) and Breeden.
“I’ve never seen that many legit inside-the-park home runs,” Pangle said. “To me the field looked smaller, so I thought we were going to not be able to take doubles and triples maybe, but the fielders were just having a hard time. They were jumping up instead of back and the ball would hit in front of them and roll all the way to the fence.”
ELMER 10, BUENA 7: Elmer scored four in the first inning and four in the fourth to open a 10-3 lead, then held off Buena’s sixth-inning comeback bid to win finish 2-2 for the tournament. They won their final two games after opening with a pair of tight losses to the division’s Final Four qualifiers.
Chase Moir went 3-for-3 with three RBIs and Grayson Bingham had three hits and two RBIs. Brandon D’Agostino and winning pitcher Easton Aulffo had two hits apiece.
MONDAY’S GAMES (At Pennsville LL) South Vineland vs. Millville American, 5:45 p.m. East Vineland vs. Pennsville, 8 p.m. TUESDAY’S GAMES (At South Vineland LL) South Vineland-Millville American winner vs. East Vineland-Pennsville winner, 5:45 p.m. South Vineland-Millville American loser vs. East Vineland-Pennsville loser, 8 p.m.
Riverview Sports News 