Pennsville reaches District 3 Little League championship round after knocking off East Vineland 10-5
DISTRICT 3 LL FINALS
At East Vineland
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Pennsvile 10, East Vineland 5 (EV eliminated)
FRIDAY’S GAME
Pennsville vs. South Vineland, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY’S GAME
Pennsville vs. South Vineland (If necessary), 7 p.m.
(Winner to Section 4 Tournament at Erial LL, starting July 12)
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
VINELAND — It has been five years since Pennsville LL played for a district title. Manager Steve Pangle figures it’s about their time.
Pennsville used two big innings, got several big hits, some solid pitching and ended the game with a fabulous catch to turn back East Vineland 10-5 and reach the District 3 Tournament championship round.
They now play undefeated South Vineland here at Fiocchi Field Friday at 7 p.m. in the first of potentially two championship games. If Pennsville wins, the teams will return for a winner-take-all game Saturday at 7 p.m.
“I think we’re in great position,” Pangle said. “We used our pitchers smartly here today, that way we can still used them on Friday. I feel really good about Friday. As a coaching staff we’re pumped, we’re eady. The boys are pumped and ready, just the way they acted when they got that last out.
“This is us. This is our turn. This is our time. They really rallied together to really make it our time.”
Pennsville rallied from a 3-1 deficit to knock off the team that sent them into the loser’s bracket on Opening Night of the Final Four. They took the lead with five in the third inning, highlighted by Nate Breeden’s go-ahead two-run single, and after East Vineland got back within 6-5 they scored four in the fifth, capped by John Swiderski’s three-run homer, for a lot of breathing room.
The last time Pennsville played for the 12U district title, 2019, they won it. Most of the players on this year’s team were playing coach-pitch back then.
Swiderski’s homer in the fifth inning came after Owen Whalen led off with a double, Nate Morrison walked and Breeden singled home Whalen. Breeden was 2-for-2 in the game with three RBIs and is 5-for-6 in the playoff portion of the tournament
“That was huge,” Pangle said. “We were telling him he’s due, he’s due for a homer. He hadn’t hit one since the first game in Pennsville. We just kept telling him to keep at it, your time’s coming, not the homer so much but you’re big hit’s coming; we can see it. And we told him to believe in himself. If you believe in yourself, good things will come, and that’s what happened.”
“It meant a lot to me because I struggled last game,” Swiderski said. “I was just trying to help myself on the mound, get some more support runs.”
Swiderski came to the mound to put out a fire in the fifth, getting the final out of the inning on a full-count strikeout with the bases loaded, and closed it out in the sixth with a little help from his best friend. Left fielder Caleb Fontaine ran down travel ball teammate Carter Perkins’ shot to the left centerfield gap, stretching out and snagging the ball in the fingers of his glove for the final out of the game.
“I can’t even believe I caught it,” Fontaine said. “It was kind of like one of the best catches I’ve ever caught in my life. I was just running as fast as I could to get there.”
The momentum of the play carried Fontaine to the ground where his teammates mobbed him as if he just delivered a walk-off homer.
“That was awesome,” Swiderski said. “Me and Caleb are best friends and we’re best friends for life now.”
Another key to Pennsville’s success was the way it handled EV slugger Enzo Canderlario. They were the first team this tournament to keep Candelario in the yard. He did score twice, but with Pennsville pitching him the way MLB pitchers go after Phillies right fielder Nick Castellanos — outside and low — he went without a homer for the first time in six district tournament games and was officially 0-for-2. They took the bat out of his hands in the fifth with an intentional walk.
Swiderski’s homer in the bottom of the fifth basically made it so Canderlario wouldn’t beat them if he came up in the sixth if the pitchers took care of business at the start of the inning. Thanks to Fontaine’s catch, they never had to test that theory.
“(We wanted to) keep it out of the zone; pitch around him and have him chase stuff,” Pangle said. “We wanted to stay out of the zone, but just off the zone to where he could do little dribblers if he did make contact or miss it altogether.”
Because everything came together in one place Wednesday night, Pennsville now is two wins away from a district championship.
“Big things are happening right now in Pennsville with baseball and softball.,” Pangle said. “It couldn’t be better right now..”
Pennsville 10, East Vineland 5
| East Vineland (4-2) | 111 | 020- | 5 | 7 | 2 |
| Pennsville (5-2) | 015 | 04X- | 10 | 6 | 3 |
Riverview Sports News 