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Pennsville forces ‘if’ game
Pennsville 12U All-Stars hands South Vineland first loss of tournament to set up winner-take-all game for District 3 LL title
DISTRICT 3 LL TOURNAMENT Championship Round (At East Vineland LL) Pennsville 13, South Vineland 4 Saturday’s game Pennsville vs. South Vineland, 7 p.m.
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
VINELAND – The Pennsville Little League 12U All-Stars wasted little time making their intentions known about wanting to play for a district championship.
They scored early and often to beat South Vineland 13-4 Friday and set up a winner-take-all game Saturday for the District 3 Tournament title.
John Swiderski and JoJo Mannino hit back-to-back homers in a four-run first inning and Pennsville added five in the second to open a 9-0 lead.
“Being able to put up nine runs in the first two innings sent a statement saying you beat us once, you’re not going to beat us again,” Pennsville manager Steve Pangle said, referring to South Vineland’s 7-2 win in pool play. “We’re here to win it and the kids came ready to go.
“From the first batter all the way to our 12th batter each kid was ready to go. Being able to put up the four and the five just shows they were aggressive, they were ready to battle.”
Swiderski and Mannino went back-to-back in the first to extend Pennsville’s lead to 3-1. For Swiderski, it was his second homer in as many games. For Mannino it was his sixth homer of the tournament and fifth in the last five games.
It was the second time this tournament Mannino was part of back-to-back jacks, but the first time they were both over the fence. He and Nate Breeden hit back-to-back inside-the-park homers at Bridgeton in their final pool game.
Swiderski and Mannino also drove runs home in the second inning. They were both 2-for-2 with two RBIs. The first six hitters in Pennsville’s lineup were 10-for-16 with eight runs scored and seven RBIs.
“I think the statement we made was we’re coming out here to play,” Mannino said. “I loved the way we started today because we don’t really start off real hot. We usually start off light, but today we came out blazing. We were ready today.”
The big early lead gave pitcher Cayden L’Ecuyer “a lot more confidence” going to the mound in a high-stakes game. L’Ecuyer struck out the side in order in the first, held South Vineland to one run and five hits the first time through the 12-man lineup and pitched into the fifth inning before reaching his pitch limit . Caleb Fontaine got the final four outs without a ball leaving the infield.
L’Ecuyer wound up giving up eight hits and striking out six without issuing a walk. He got the win in Wednesday’s elimination game with East Vineland as well.
“He was brilliant,” Pangle said. “He pitched beautifully and did exactly what we wanted him to do. I don’t think the other team knew we had another pitcher like that right now, and that was huge for us not to use him and wait towards the end of the tournament to use him.”
The win came on a two-year anniversary of Pennsville’s win over South Vineland in the 10U playoffs. All but two of the current Pennsville players were on that team.
There will be a little more spice to Saturday’s meeting than a normal championship game after an incident involving an illegal bat resulted in the ejection of a South Vineland manager and player and carryover sanctions Saturday.
The controversy arose with two outs in the third inning after Kayden Potts followed Mason Mendez’ solo homer with a double. The umpires determined the pencil bat Potts used in his at-bat was illegal in 12U Little League. As a result, Potts, South Vineland manager Hiram Cordero and the bat were all thrown out of the game and possibly suspended for Saturday’s game.
South Vineland acting manager Delmo Perez said he would be contacting league, district and state Little League officials to get some clarification and potentially contest the game “because that is the gamechanger of this whole entire thing.” He said the bats were checked prior to the game.
As a result of the controversy Pangle said he expects to face an opponent with a chip on its shoulder Saturday and Perez said as much.
“My boys are going to come ready tomorrow, most definitely,” he said. “They got kicked in the mouth and now they’re ready to kick somebody in the mouth.”
After the incident, South Vineland’s proper bats came to life briefly in the fourth. They scored three runs to get within 10-4 before L’Ecuyer rediscovered his focus and retired the next three batters on nine pitches to kill the rally.
“I wasn’t worried about those runs,” L’Ecuyer said. “I was just trying to show them that they aren’t that good and it’s only four runs.”
The winner of Saturday’s game will play East Greenwich in the opening round of the Section 4 Tournament at Erial LL July 12.
District 3 LL Tournament Pennsville 13, South Vineland 4
Pennsville’s Cayden L’Ecuyer and South Vineland pitcher Elijuah Perez both look towards the umpire after L’Ecuyer slid safely into home to score in the first inning of their District 3 championship round game. On the cover, Pennsville players mob John Swiderski at the plate after his first-inning homer.
Riverview Sports News 