Pennsville LL 12U All-Stars eliminated from Section 4 Tournament by Hammonton; Senior Softball State Tournament delayed again by conditions
SATURDAY’S GAMES
SECTION 4 LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL
At Erial LL, Sicklerville
Blackwood 10, Cherry Hill American 2
Hammonton 3, Pennsville 1 (PVLL eliminated)
SENIOR SOFTBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
At Dennis Twp. LL, Cape May Court House
All Games postponed.
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
SICKLERVILLE – There couldn’t have been a worse time for the bats to go cold.
The bats that served the Pennsville LL All-Stars so well on their run to a 12U district title fell agonizingly silent in the next tournament on the road to Williamsport.
Pennsville was limited to four singles Saturday and just couldn’t get a ball through with runners on base, falling to Hammonton 3-1 to end their stay in the New Jersey Section 4 Tournament after two games.
Pennsville hit .324 as a team with 12 home runs in winning the District 3 title last week, but had just five hits and a .161 average in their two sectional tournament games at the Erial LL complex.
“The first couple innings we got runners on and we couldn’t string hits together,” Pennsville manager Steve Pangle said. “We weren’t putting our hits together.
“The pitching was better … but we had our chances and we should have capitalized on them. We just didn’t swing the bats like we did in districts. It was a bad time for our bats to kind of go silent.”
Pennsville put their first two hitters on each of the first two innings, but couldn’t get them home. They scored their only run in in the third inning to make it 2-1 when Brayden Weatherbee rode home on Lauden Tighe’s sacrifice fly.
Hammonton took a 2-0 lead in the second on Lucas Ewer’s RBI double and Roman Murtucci’s two-out RBI single. They made it 3-1 in the third on Brayden Templeton’s RBI double.
Pennsville threatened in the sixth, putting the tying runs in scoring position with two outs and their top hitters coming to the plate. But Hammonton centerfielder Carter Lolio ran down Nathan Breeden’s liner in the gap for the final out of the game.
“They had a lot of heart to keep fighting the entire time even when we were down the whole game,” Pangle said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the way they fought throughout the entire game. They have a lot of heart. They just wanted to keep fighting.”
Outfielder Chase Pangle, who had one of Pennsville’s four hits in the game, called it “sad” to lose, but pushing through the disappointment of the day he said it was “really fun” putting together the success the team enjoyed this summer.
“It was great,” Steve Pangle said of the run. “The kids all came together. They’re all friends outside of here, but they really jelled as a team; the further we got in the tournament, the better they got together and the better they knew each other. They had each other’s back. They had the coaches’ back. They turned into a family. The growth overall from the first practice to tonight was huge.”
Senior Softball ppd. again
CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE – The Senior Softball State Tournament was postponed for the second day in a row due to weather-related conditions.
All the games scheduled for the Dennis Twp. LL complex Saturday (from Friday) have been pushed back to Sunday starting at 11 a.m. Two teams will have to play three games Sunday to reach Monday’s championship round.
The eventual state champion advances to the East Regional in Worcester, Mass., where they will oppose Rising Sun, Md., in their opener July 20. MOT/Middletown, Del., also has secured a spot in the Mid-Atlantic pool. The Pennsylvania and New York champs are also in that pool.
As frustrating as the weather delay has been, it allowed the Pennsville All-Stars to get most of their players back who were competing in various travel ball tournaments over the weekend.
SENIOR SOFTBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
At Dennis Twp. LL, Cape May Court House
SUNDAY’S GAMES
G1: District 1 vs. Bayonne, 11 a.m.
G2: Toms River vs. Pennsville, 11 a.m.
G3: District 1-Bayonne loser vs. Toms River-Pennsville loser, 2 p.m.
G4: District 1-Bayonne winner vs. Toms River-Pennsville winner, 2 p.m.
G5: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser, 5 p.m.
MONDAY’S GAMES
G5: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 11 a.m. (winner to East Regional at Worchester, Mass.)
G6: If necessary, 2 p.m. (winner vs. Rising Sun, Md., in East Regional at Worchester, Mass.)
Section 4 LL Tournament
Hammonton 3, Pennsville 1
| Pennsville | 001 | 000- | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Hammonton | 021 | 00X- | 3 | 7 | 2 |
Blackwood 10, Cherry Hill American 2
| Cherry Hill A’s | 000 | 200- | 2 | 6 | 6 |
| Blackwood | 100 | 36X- | 10 | 7 | 2 |
Riverview Sports News 