Pennsville Little League 12U All-Stars wins first district championship since 2019 with an 8-2 winner-take-all win over South Vineland
DISTRICT 3 TOURNAMENT
Championship Game
At East Vineland
Pennsville 8, South Vineland 2
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
VINELAND – Pennsville manager Steve Pangle walked back to the dugout from all the post-game picture-taking under the scoreboard with the championship banner draped over his shoulders like a cape. It was with great reluctance he handed it over when his rightfielder son Chase came out to pack it away for the ride home.
It’s been five years since Pennsville Little League’s 12U All-Stars had the chance to hang a banner in the clubhouse, so it was understandable Pangle didn’t want to give it up easily.
The Pennsville All-Stars won their first district title since 2019 Saturday night – and tenth all time — when they put together a seven-run fifth inning to turn back South Vineland 8-2 in a winner-take-all “if” game for the District 3 crown. That 2019 title run also was the last time Pennsville won a game in the tournament.
“You just gave me the chills just by saying that,” Pangle said. “This is huge. I couldn’t be more proud of the kids. This is all their doing. They fought the entire time, the entire year. We were feeling down at the beginning of the game, but we rallied. We didn’t start off strong, but it’s not how you start it’s how you finish.”
Playing JoJo baseball
They didn’t name an MVP for the tournament, but if they had, it clearly would have gone to JoJo Mannino. The Pennsville ace, who Pangle called “an all-around great player,” came within one out of pitching a complete game – one pitch as it turned out — and hit a grand slam in the fifth inning that put the game away.
The slam was Mannino’s 20th home run of the summer, his seventh of the district tournament and sixth in his last six district tournament games. He also had a grounds-rule double in the first inning. He hit .526 in the tournament with 11 runs and 17 RBIs. Nine of his 10 hits went for extra bases.
“My mindset coming to the plate all the time is make contact, hit it hard and make it go far, too,” Mannino said. “The pitch I hit he honestly just put it down the middle and that’s the happy zone. I just turned on it and hit it hard.”
“He’s in that four hole for a reason,” Pangle said. “He’s what gets us started at times. We just told him to go up and have fun. Just do your thing, do what you do. Do JoJo baseball. Do Pennsville baseball. And that’s what he did.”
On the mound, Mannino pitched a gem. He gave up three hits, two unearned runs and struck out nine. He hit his pitch limit with two outs in the sixth inning. Caleb Fontaine threw one pitch to get the final out of the game.
He was 2-1 in the tournament with a 1.76 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 17 innings.
“I just wanted the game to get over real fast,” Mannino said. “Not to mean I just want to go home. I wanted to get over fast and win this. My mindset on the mound was throw strikes.”
Pensville’s big inning came after South Vineland starter JoJo Rodriguez had left the game after reaching his 85-pitch limit. Pennsville scored the first two runs of its big inning on wild pitches and got a third when South Vineland misplayed John Swiderski’s infield chop along the line before it could roll foul. Then Mannino put it away with his blast.
“That couldn’t have been a bigger hit for Pennsville baseball right now,” Pangle said. “Hitting that grand slam means everything, not just to me, to the coaches, to the boys, but the town of Pennsville itself, especially since not being in this position since 2019.
“You feel like there for a while Pennsville’s baseball might have been dying a little bit. We’re lucky with these group of boys. They’re special, they get along, it’s a great group of kids to be around, great group of coaches to be around. We’re ready to go.”
Rodriguez was controlling Pennsville during his time in the game. He gave up four hits and struck out seven, but he prematurely reached his pitch limit by continually overthrowing his pitches and running deep counts. Still, he was able to get out of several jams as Pennsville left five runners in scoring position over the first four innings.
But at no time did Pangle lose confidence in his team pulling out the game.
“We told them we haven’t gotten this far without your guys,” he said. “I believe in you, the coaches believe in you, you’ve got to believe in yourself. I still feel it in my gut, in my heart, that we’re going to come out winners. This is our inning, this is our time, and they came in that fifth inning and said they felt it. I said if you feel it, you’re talking about feeling it, now show it. And they did.”
Pennsville now advances to the Section 4 Tournament at the Erial LL complex in Sicklerville. They play East Greenwich is their opener Friday at 8 p.m.
NOTES: Pennsville’s district titles have come in 2024, 2019, 2010, 1993, 1991, 1983, 1979, 1978, 1975 and 1967 … They have never won a sectional title. They are 6-13 all-time in sectional play, and have won their opener four times … Keeping with a Salem County theme, Woodstown and Penns Grove each won two district titles pre-1965.
District 3 Championship Game
Pennsville 8, South Vineland 2
| Pennsville (7-2) | 010 | 070- | 8 | 7 | 3 |
| South Vineland (6-2) | 020 | 000- | 2 | 3 | 2 |
Section 4 Tournament
At Erial LL, Sicklerville, July 12-17
(Early Rounds)
Friday’s Games
G1: Hammonton vs. District 13, 6 p.m.
G3: East Greenwich vs. Pennsville, 8 p.m.
Saturday’s Games
G2: Hammonton-District 13 winner vs. Blackwood, 5 p.m.
G4: Hammonton-District 13 loser vs. East Greenwich-Pennsville loser, 7 p.m.
Sunday’s Games
G5: East Greenwich-Pennsville winner vs. Hammonton/13.Blackwood winner, 5 p.m.
G6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 2 loser, 7 p.m.
Pennsville At A Glance
| PLAYER | AB | R | H | BI |
| Nate Morrison | 25 | 12 | 9 | 3 |
| Nathan Breeden | 21 | 7 | 10 | 7 |
| John Swiderski | 21 | 9 | 12 | 8 |
| JoJo Mannino | 19 | 11 | 10 | 17 |
| Cayden L’Ecuyer | 12 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Chase Pangle | 21 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Caiden Colomy | 18 | 3 | 6 | 4 |
| Caleb Fontaine | 19 | 4 | 5 | 2 |
| Brayden Weatherbee | 14 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Lauden Tighe | 16 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| Brayden Roberts | 13 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Owen Whalen | 14 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
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