The big dawg eats

Candelario, Kleinow homer in fifth-inning outburst that lefts East Vineland past Pennsville LL in District 3 Final Four

MONDAY’S GAMES
(At Pennsville LL)
South Vineland 6, Millville American 5 (7 inns.)
East Vineland 7, Pennsville 4

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – JoJo Mannino saw his young life flash before his eyes in the bottom of the third inning Monday night. That’s when East Vineland slugger Enzo Candelario ripped a screaming liner back to the mound that his travel ball teammate barely had time to raise his glove and catch.

It could have been a frightening outcome for a team that had dealt with a player being struck by a batted ball once already in the tournament. If it was any consolation, it was the only time the Pennsville All-Stars — or anybody in the tournament, for that matter — has gotten the most dangerous hitter out in the District 3 Little League Tournament this year.

“I put it right down the middle for him, which is a bad idea by me, and he hit it back to me,” Mannino said. “It wasn’t that much of a scare. I just saw the ball and put my glove out there.”

The next time Candelario came to the plate, they weren’t so fortunate. He reached down to hit a three-run homer that wiped out a Pennsville lead and sent East Vineland on its way to a 7-4 victory.

East Vineland will now play South Vineland in a winner’s bracket game Wednesday 5:45 p.m. at South Vineland LL. Pennsville will look to stave off elimination against Millville American at 8 p.m. South Vineland rallied for four in the bottom of the seventh, capped by Derek Cuba’s one-out walk-off single, to beat Millville 6-5 in the opening game.

There’s no denying Candelario is the toughest out in the tournament. After going 2-for-3 against Pennsville, he is now 10-for-11 in four tournament games with eight runs scored, 10 RBIs and five home runs. He has hit 43 homers this summer between Little League and travel ball and at least one in each of his team’s District 3 tournament games.

“He’s tough,” Pennsville manager Steve Pangle said. “We were able to get him a couple times, to keep him in-house, in the yard, but that third time he made us pay. It was the perfect pitch, but he made the swing.”

The three-run shot was part of a five-run eruption for East Vineland in the fifth inning. Ethan Kleinow provided the other two runs with a two-run homer. It was his first homer of the season in rec ball.

Pennsville looked to be in a great shape after scoring three runs in the top of the fifth to take the lead. Mannino got it started with a game-tying solo homer with one out. Caiden Colomy, back in the lineup after being held out of Saturday’s pool play finale, put the National Division runner-ups ahead 3-2 with an RBI double and then scored what seemed to be an insurance run on a wild pitch.

“I’m proud of myself,” said Colomy, still sporting the shiner under his left eye from where a foul ball knocked him out of the South Vineland game. “I was trying to get a good hit to really get the team hyped.”

“It was awesome getting the lead, especially with Chili coming back and helping us out with that,” Pangle said. “That just shows his heart and fight, coming back from the injury and first game back hitting a ball to get us some runs.”

Colomy may have given Pennsville the lead, but they still had to get through the meat of East Vineland’s order one more time before they could secure the victory and that meant dealing with Candelario again.

There were two outs and a base open when the slugger came to the plate in the fifth and Pangle admitted he contemplated briefly intentionally walking him to load the bases. Colomy wanted to challenge him and that’s what they did.

Colomy blasted a fastball past him on the first pitch, and then threw a pitch down and away they didn’t think he could get. He reached down and got it.

“It crossed my mind, but you never know what’s going to happen with that next batter,” Pangle said. “It could’ve gone either way. If he didn’t reach for that pitch that would’ve been a strike two and then anything could happen. We just decided to go after him.”

Pennsville thought it was still in it even after the two homers. They put their first two runners on in the sixth and had them both in scoring position with one out, but ended the game with an 8-6-2 double play.

“We didn’t lose the game because of that play; there were a lot of other things we lost the game for,” Pangle said. “But that was tough, because it was a winnable game.”

SOUTH VINELAND 7, MILLVILLE AMERICAN 6: Millville scored three in the top of the seventh to take the lead, but South Vineland manager Hiram Cordero wasn’t worried. He knew what his team had coming to the plate in the bottom of the inning.

With the top of the lineup coming up, the undefeated American Division winner rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh to bwin their fifth straight game in the tournament.

Ronald Leverette and Elijuah Rodriguez got it started with singles and Joel Rodriguez walked to load the bases. Matt Dilks delivered a two-run single with one out to make it a one-run game. They tied it on Mylus Moore’s infield single and walked it off when Derek Cuba sliced the game-winning single into right field.

“I knew we were going to do this,” Cordero said. “This is the team. They play better under pressure, especially under two outs. That’s what this team is about. We don’t give up. We started at the top of the lineup. We knew when it was the top of the lineup it was game time.”

Cuba was never worried.

“I knew if we had faith we could probably win this game,” he said.

DISTRICT 3 LL FINALS
TUESDAY’S GAMES
(At South Vineland LL)
G3: South Vineland vs. East Vineland, 5:45 p.m.
G4: Millville American vs. Pennsville, 8 p.m.
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
(At East Vineland)
G5: Game 4 winner vs. Game 3 loser, 5:45 p.m.
FRIDAY’S GAME
(At East Vineland)
G6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY’S GAME
(At East Vineland)
G7: If necessary, 7 p.m.
(Winner to Section 4 Tournament at Erial LL, starting July 12)

South Vineland 6, Millville American 5

Millville American (2-2)	100	100	3-	5	13	0
South Vineland (5-0)	200	000	4-	6	8	1

East Vineland 7, Pennsville 4

Pennsville (3-2)	010	030-	4	4	2
East Vineland (4-0)	110	05X-	7	6	1