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

Blackwood 10, Cherry Hill American 2

Pennsville LL All-Stars drop sectional opener, Senior Softball gets washed out at state tournament

FRIDAY’S GAMES
SECTION 4 LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL
At Erial LL, Sicklerville
G1: Cherry Hill American 9, Hammonton 0
G3: East Greenwich 10, Pennsville 0

SENIOR SOFTBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
At Dennis Twp. LL, Cape May Court House
All games ppd.
G1: District 1 vs. Bayonne
G2: Toms River vs. Pennsville

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

SICKLERVILLE – With all the joy and momentum the Pennsville Little League All-Stars carried from winning their first district championship in five years last week, this was not the way they wanted to start the sectional tournament.

Pennsville struggled at the plate, on the mound and in the field Friday night and lost their Section 4 Tournament opener to East Greenwich 10-0 in four innings at the Erial Little League complex. They’ll look to stay alive Saturday in a 7 p.m. elimination game against Hammonton.

The District 3 champions were held to one hit, struck out nine times and were charged with six errors in the field. Brayden Roberts had their only hit, a solid single to center leading off the fourth inning. Their only other base runner was John Swiderski’s two-out walk in the first.

“We couldn’t put the bat on the ball,” Pennsville manager Steve Pangle said. “We were letting the umpires dictate the game for us and we can’t do that. If they’re calling it a certain way, we’ve got to be able to adjust and tonight we weren’t able to do that.”

East Greenwich starter Brian McCloskey pitched the first 3 1/3 innings and went through the Pennsville lineup once. He allowed one hit and struck out eight. Earlier in the tournament he blanked Glassboro LL for 5.1 innings on one hit and 11 strikeouts.

Pennsville starter JoJo Mannino expended a lot of energy in the first inning, throwing 30 pitches, but he only gave up one run through it all. East Greenwich scored and then loaded the bases with no outs, but Mannino put out the fire with a liner to second baseman Owen Whalen and a pair of strikeouts.

But East Greenwich got to Mannino in the third, breaking it open with eight runs. All 13 of their hitters batted in the inning. They put together four hits, including two-run singles by Zach Kenderdine and Mason Trotter, three errors and three walks (two with the bases loaded) to build their big inning.

“That was an uncharacteristic inning for us,” Pangle said. “We may have one here or there but we’re not a team that has multiple (errors) in the same inning that could hurt us. Tonight we just didn’t bring our best stuff as a team. We just didn’t come as our best team and it showed out there on the field. Tomorrow we’ll be back and we’ll be better.”

East Greenwich now awaits the winner of Saturday’s Cherry Hill American-Blackwood game.

NOTES: Pennsville was playing in the sectional tournament for the tenth time in its history. They have won at least one game in each of their last five appearances. East Greenwich was in the sectional for just the third time and first since going back to back in 2013-14 … Ever wonder how Pennsville got placed in District 3 playing in a section with districts in the teens when the low single-digit districts have been North Jersey designations from the start? District 3 had been a Bergen County district since the state organized into 12 districts in 1957, but it was dissolved in 1981 when its chartered leagues dwindled and the remaining ones placed in District 4. District 3 was reformed in 1985 in Salem and Cumberland counties as a spinoff from Districts 15 and 16. 

East Greenwich 10, Pennsville 0

Cherry Hill American 9, Hammonton 0

Softball washed out

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE — Pennsville’s fifth straight appearance in the Little League softball state tournament has been delayed at least a day by bad weather in the shore area.

All the games scheduled at the Dennis Twp. LL complex Friday were moved to Saturday at 11 a.m., weather permitting, with the games originally scheduled for 11 Saturday pushed back to 2 p.m.

“Totally par for the course,” Pennsville manager Chris Watson said, reminded of the weather issues the team has encountered in previous state tournament appearances. “But it gives us an extra day to practice, I think; our field is in good shape. Hopefully we can get out there and get the bats going again and be ready for tomorrow.

“I think we’re all used to the rainouts and everything at this point; we’ve been doing this for years. The only difference is this year I’ve got a bed cover for my truck so we don’t have to go into a tournament with soaking equipment like we did last year.”

The forecast for an already drenched area did not look good for Saturday.

“I don’t think anybody is really confident about playing tomorrow, either,” Watson said. “Realistically, I think we’ll play Sunday and the championship on Monday.”

If the games are washed out again Saturday, it would give Pennsville a chance to get all its players back from various travel ball tournaments they’re playing in the South.

When the tournament does get underway, Pennsville plays Toms River in its opener, while District 1 and Bayonne battle it out on the other side of the bracket.

SATURDAY’S GAMES
SENIOR SOFTBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
At Dennis Twp. LL, Cape May Court House
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.
SECTION 4 LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL
At Erial LL, Sicklerville
G2: Cherry Hill American vs. Blackwood, 5 p.m.
G4: Hammonton vs. Pennsville, 7 p.m.

Pennsville staves off elimination in the District 3 LL Tournament behind Morrison’s pitching and big extra-base hits by Mannino, Weatherbee; South Vineland reaches championship round; includes Section 4 softball update

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

VINELAND – The Pennsville bats were stifled for the first four innings of their District 3 elimination game Tuesday night, but manager Steve Pangle never lost confidence they would come around and he let his players know it every chance he got.

The bats did come alive in a big way in the fifth inning and now the Pennsville 12U All-Stars are playing for a spot in the district championship game.

JoJo Mannino crushed a two-run homer and Brayden Weatherbee roped a three-run double to fuel a five-run fifth that carried Pennsville to a 5-3 win over Millville American in the District 3 Little League Tournament. They now play East Vineland in East Vineland Wednesday at 5:45 p.m. with a place in the championship game opposite South Vineland in the balance.

Millville starter Vash Jacobs, helped by a couple double plays, had faced only one batter over the minimum through a scoreless four innings, but Pennsville got to him in the fifth.

Nathan Breeden got it started with a leadoff double and he scored on Mannino’s no-doubter of a go-ahead two-run homer. Cayden L’Ecuyer restarted it by reaching on a dropped third strike, Chase Pangle singled, Caleb Fontaine drew a two-out walk to load the bases and then Weatherbee brought them all around with his hit of the game.

“I was confident the bats would come around,” Pangle said. “I just wanted to hang with them, stay with them, keep the score close if not the same (until they did).

“I preached to them the whole game that this is our game. I felt it. I could just feel the vibe how we did warmups. I let them know every inning they came out this is us, you’ve got to have it in your heart right now. I feel it; you’ve got to feel it.

“In the fourth inning, after they got that (go-ahead) hit, a couple of the kids came up and were like I feel it. I said, you feel that? Yes, I feel it. All right then let’s do it and that’s when we had the five-run inning.”

None of the hits were bigger than Weatherbee’s double – and not just for what it did to the scoreboard. The only 11-year-old on the roster, Weatherbee was 0-for-10 in the tournament with seven strikeouts and had fanned in his previous three at-bats before sending his bases-clearing double into right field.

“It worried me some,” Weatherbee said of the slump, “but even major-league players get in a slump. I just kept on trying to swing, hit the ball and make contact with it and here we are today where I hit a double and sent three people home. I was a little bit sad (about not having a hit), but then when I hit it, it was amazing.”

“We know any kid on this team can hit the ball at any time,” Pangle said. “People are going to go through slumps and that’s fine; we’ve preached having each other’s back. You may not get a hit for a while and then all of a sudden you get that hit when we need it. That’s been our message the entire year: Just keep fighting. That was just big by him. Lifted his confidence way up. It was a monster three-run double for us.”

Pennsville starter Nate Morrison was just as unhittable as Jacobs early in the game. He faced one batter over the minimum through the first three innings and pitched into the sixth before reaching his pitch limit getting the first two batters out. He allowed only six hits over 5 2/3 innings, two unearned runs, no walks and struck out five.

Millville threatened once Morrison left the game, bringing the winning run to the plate, but reliever Caiden Colomy closed it out by getting a game-ending liner to short.

“I wasn’t worried at all,” Pangle said. “(Colomy) was the right guy. We had the utmost confidence in him. We went out and talked to him after he got a couple base runners on. We told him we believe in you, you believe in yourself, the team believes in you, this is your game, let’s finish it, and that’s what he did.”

SOUTH VINELAND 5, EAST VINELAND 2: South Vineland answered East Vineland’s two runs in the top of the fourth with two in the bottom of the inning to tie the game, then took the lead with three in the fifth to reach the championship round of the tournament.

Mason Mendez drew a bases-loaded walk to break the 2-2 tie and Kaden Potts followed with a two-run single to extend the lead.

Derek Cuba, the walk-off hero of South Vineland’s seventh-inning win over Millville Monday, pitched the first 5 1/3 innings and gave up eight hits, two earned runs and struck out seven. Ronald Leverette got the final two outs, getting a ground out with the bases loaded to end the game.

South Vineland did manage to get East Vineland slugger Enzo Candelario out once, but Candelario went 2-for-3 and hit his sixth homer in five tournament games.

South Vineland will play the survivor of the losers bracket in the championship game 7 p.m. Friday at East Vineland.

DISTRICT 3 LL FINALS
TUESDAY’S GAMES
(At South Vineland LL)
South Vineland 5, East Vineland 2
Pennsville 5, Millville American 3 (Millville eliminated)
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
(At East Vineland)
Pennsville vs. East Vineland, 5:45 p.m.
FRIDAY’S GAME
(At East Vineland)
G6: South Vineland vs. Pennsville-East Vineland winner, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY’S GAME
(At East Vineland)
G7: If necessary, 7 p.m.
(Winner to Section 4 Tournament at Erial LL, starting July 12)

South Vineland 5, East Vineland 2

Pennsville 5, Millville American 3

Section 4 Senior Softball

Pennsville Senior Softball will play host Middle Twp. for the Section 4 championship Wednesday at 6 p.m. after Middle routed Monroe Twp. 20-6 in Tuesday’s elimination game. Pennsville beat Middle 7-2 in its tournament opener Monday night.

SECTION 4 SENIOR SOFTBALL
(At Middle Twp. LL)
TUESDAY’S GAME
Middle/Dennis Twp. 20, Monroe Twp. 6 (Monroe eliminated)
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
G4: Pennsville vs. Middle/Dennis Twp., 6 p.m.
G5: If necessary, 8 p.m.
(Winner to State Tournament at Dennis Twp. LL)