District 3 LL Tournament Day Two: Woodstown bounces back after opening night disappointment, big inning dooms Pennsville in its high-scoring tournament opener
NJ LITTLE LEAGUE DISTRICT 3
| AMERICAN | REC | RUNS | NATIONAL | REC | RUNS |
| Franklin Twp. | 2-0 | 25-13 | S. Vineland | 1-0 | 10-3 |
| Woodstown | 1-1 | 15-11 | Buena | 1-0 | 11-1 |
| East Vineland | 1-1 | 15-10 | S. Cumberland | 0-1 | 1-11 |
| Pennsville | 0-1 | 8-19 | N. Vineland | 0-1 | 3-10 |
| Elmer | 0-1 | 0-10 |
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Woodstown 10, East Vineland 5
Franklin Twp. 19, Pennsville 8
Buena 11, South Cumberland 1
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN – Most managers would have some concern about the prospects of their young team bouncing back after a gut-wrenching loss just 24 hours earlier. Not Dave Murnane or his Woodstown Little League All-Stars.
Woodstown lost a game it probably should have won in the bottom of the sixth inning Friday night. But between the quick turnaround, the chaos of getting the field ready after an all-day rain and just his general confidence in the players on his team, the Woodstown manager had no doubt they would rebound. That last-inning loss at Franklin Twp. in their District 3 Little League Tournament opener might as well have been last year as last night.
There was no sign of fatigue or fatalism when they returned to the field Saturday at Marlton Park. They scored early and often, two pitchers held the opposition to four hits and they turned back an East Vineland team that was impressive in its tournament opener the night before, 10-5.
“The quick turnaround helped us, but to be honest, I think the chaos here helped us because we weren’t even thinking about last night,” Murnane said. “By the time this game started it felt like last night was a week ago. I didn’t feel like they would have an issue bouncing back.”
“I didn’t have any concerns,” starting pitcher Ashton Wadman said. “I feel like we played pretty good last night, so I felt we probably could’ve come back into this game and hit the ball and pitched pretty good, and we did.”
“When we play and lose we don’t let it affect our next game,” third baseman and reliever Logan Roback added. “We just clean it up and go.”
They didn’t waste any time showing the previous night’s loss was behind them. They scored three runs in the first on Wadman’s two-run double and Roback’s RBI single. Wadman gave Woodstown the lead Friday with a two-run homer in the first.
“Whenever you play the Vineland teams you know you’re playing a big Little League that pulls from a lot of kids, so you know they’re going to come with a pretty good team,” Murnane said. “So the fact we were able to get three on them and then get through the first inning 3-0 I thought we were in a pretty good spot.”
“It kind of set the mood that we’re not going to lose and we just kept rallying and rallying and rallying,” Roback said.
East Vineland cut margin back to 3-2 in the top of the third, but Woodstown responded with three more in the bottom of the inning highlighted by Roback’s two-run single. They made it 9-2 with three in the fifth. All three of the three-run innings came when the top of the order led off the frame.
The top six hitters in their lineup were a combined 7-for-16, reached base 15 times and scored nine runs. Wadman, Mason Fackler and Nolan West all reached base three times. Wadman and Fackler each scored three runs.
East Vineland made it interesting in the sixth when Jace Oliveri hit a three-run homer to bring the final margin.
Murnane said he was “humbled” by all the help and work he received to get the field ready to play. When he arrived at the park two hours before scheduled first pitch and saw the condition of the skin infield he thought there was “no way” there would be a game played Saturday. But with the help of neighboring Little Leagues and about a half-dozen volunteer workers, they got the field in shape and the game started about a half-hour later than scheduled.
| Woodstown | 303 | 031- | 10 | 8 | 1 |
| East Vineland | 002 | 003- | 5 | 4 | 5 |
FRANKLIN TWP. 19, PENNSVILLE 8: Pennsville answered everything Franklin Twp. threw at it in the first two innings of their tournament opener in Franklinville, but it just couldn’t recover from what came at them in the third.
Franklin Twp. broke away from a 5-5 tie with 10 runs in the third inning and took a command position as the only undefeated team in the tournament’s American Division.
“It was a long two-our rally by them,” Pennsville manager Vinnie Cascaden said. “Their batters put it in spots where (his fielders) couldn’t make the play; that was as simple as it was. It falls either a couple feet left or right we’re out of the inning.”
The winners’ big inning came all with two outs. Think of it like the Phillies big ninth-inning rally against the Nationals earlier this week without the drama. They sent 15 batters to the plate. Eleven in a row reached safely after Pennsville starter Dante DiMarco got the second out.
“I guess you could say that; I like it,” Franklin Twp. manager Andrew Myers said of the comparison.
Most of the damage was inflicted against Tyler Colomy as DiMarco was pulled before reaching his pitch limit so he’d be available later in the week. There were six hits, three walks, two errors and a hit batsman.
“I thought our kids wanted it,” Myers said. “Even with two outs they didn’t get down. They went after it and they got it, and I’m proud of them.”
To its credit Pennsville didn’t lie down after the big inning. They scored three more runs, including Michael Genna’s solo homer in the third, and left the bases loaded in the fourth and sixth. Earlier in the game they had matched Franklin Twp.’s four in the first and one in the second. Colomy and DiMarco both had three hits at the top of the lineup to lead Pennsville’s offense.
“I was really proud of the team,” Cascaden said. “They fought back every time they came down. Even after that long inning the boys still went up there, battled, fought, the pitchers still came out here and pitched their heart out. That last inning, I felt like if Ryan (Lucas) got that one over that right fielder (that wound up being caught for the final out) we might have had a chance to do the same thing to them.”
The win left Franklin Twp. 2-0 in the division and clearly with the upper hand for a spot in the Final Four, but Myers is taking nothing for granted.
“We can’t take our foot off the pedal,” he said. “Have to make sure we stay focused and not look ahead, just what’s in front of us. One game at a time.”
Pennsville’s post-game message, meanwhile, was simply to stay positive. They’re still alive for a spot in the district Final Four.
“I just told the boys keep their heads up high and come back and win the next three,” Cascaden said.
| Franklin Twp. | 41(10) | 004- | 19 | 14 | 4 |
| Pennsville | 411 | 101- | 8 | 10 | 3 |
WP: Lucas Capecci. LP: Dante DiMarco. 2B: Lucas Capecci 2 (FT), Luke Hudson (FT), Stoshu Ronczka (FT), Connor McGovern (P). HR: Michael Genna (P).
REMAINING POOL PLAY SCHEDULE
(All games 5:45 p.m. unless noted)
Monday’s games
East Vineland at Pennsville
Elmer at Woodstown
South Cumberland at North Vineland
Tuesday’s games
East Vineland at Franklin Twp.
Elmer at Pennsville
South Vineland at South Cumberland
North Vineland at Buena
Wednesday’s games
Franklin Twp. at Elmer
Woodstown at Pennsville
South Cumberland at Buena
DISTRICT FINALS
July 6
at Buena LL
Game 1: American 1 vs. National 2
Game 2: National 1 vs. American 2, 8 p.m.
July 7
at North Vineland LL
Game 3: Winner G1 vs. Winner G2
Game 4: Loser G1 vs. Loser G2, 8 p.m.
July 9
at Pennsville LL
Game 5: Loser G3 vs. Winner G4, 7 p.m.
July 10
at South Vineland LL
Game 6: Winner G3 vs. Winner G5, 7 p.m.
July 11
at South Vineland LL
If necessary, 7 p.m.
Winner advances to Section IV Tournament at Hammonton, July 17
Riverview Sports News 