New Jersey edges Delaware for title game spot

Posted 8/7/14

Thursday's pool play finale for New Jersey and Delaware amounted to a play-in game for Friday's Mid-Atlantic Championship, with the winner automatically clinching a spot and the loser having to hope …

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New Jersey edges Delaware for title game spot

Posted

Thursday's pool play finale for New Jersey and Delaware amounted to a play-in game for Friday's Mid-Atlantic Championship, with the winner automatically clinching a spot and the loser having to hope for help later in the day.

The teams delivered a game befitting two of the best in the region.

In a back-and-forth that neither team could put away, New Jersey's Upper Township Little League took a one-run lead in the top of the sixth and held off a rally in the bottom half to win 5-4 over Delaware's Middletown Odessa Townsend Little League.

“It was a great game and a great win for us,” said New Jersey manager Mike Liebrand. “Delaware, that's definitely one of the better teams here. They have a lot of great hitters and they threw two outstanding pitchers against us. We had to burn out our ace today to beat them, but we live to play another day.”

New Jersey finishes pool play at 3-1 and will take one of two spots in the Mid-Atlantic championship. Upper Township is trying to become the second consecutive team from New Jersey to win the Eastern Regional, after Monroe Township won it all last year.

Delaware finishes 2-2 and awaits the result of Thursday's 5 p.m., game between Maryland and Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania would move to 3-1 with a win, which would clinch a spot in the championship, but a loss would create a three-way tie between Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware.

That's why the New Jersey-Delaware game was so crucial. Both teams went full-blast, using their best pitchers and not worrying about saving anything for tomorrow.

“It's a shame we lost one earlier, because we would have been set up better than we are all now,” Liebrand said. “But we had to win this one to move forward. We'll worry about tomorrow tomorrow.”

New Jersey's Tommy Finnegan and Delaware's Aidan Deakins both went the maximum 75 pitches for their clubs, with Finnegan giving up three runs in 3.2 innings and Deakins allowing two runs in three innings. Ben Hoag came on in relief and got the win for New Jersey.

Both teams led in the first three innings but could gain little separation, and the game was tied 4-4 heading into the sixth. Facing Delaware reliever Jake Blair – who had just pitched a scoreless fifth – Ben Liebrand led off the top of the sixth with a single. Finnegan followed with a ground ball to shortstop. Delaware tried for the out at second but Liebrand made it safely, putting two on with nobody out. Blair came back with a strikeout but Tristan Laughlin drew a walk to load the bases with one out.

Blair jumped ahead of Brendan McGonigle 1-2, but McGonigle fouled off three pitches and the worked the count to 2-2. He then smacked a base hit right back up the middle to plate the go-ahead run.

New Jersey didn't get anything else, with Blair striking out the next two batters, but one proved to be just enough to hold off Delaware.

Zak Sophy led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk and Brendan Timmons laid down a perfect bunt for a single. Andrew Fasteson then bunted Sophy and Timmons up a base, putting the tying and winning runs in scoring position for Delaware.

“We had our first two guys get on, bunted them over,” said Delaware manager Shayne Timmons. “We were right where we wanted to be.”

In the New Jersey dugout, nerves were firing.

“Two games ago, we were up 10-3 and we totally imploded, gave up 14 runs in the inning,” Mike Liebrand said. “It looked like that's what might happen today but they really held it together.”

Hoag, who had come on in the fourth, fell behind the Sean Smith 3-1, but Smith hit a soft liner to first on the next pitch and Cohl Mercado made the catch for the second out.

Delaware still wasn't done as Blair worked a four-pitch walk, but Hoag induced a pop-up to second and Ben Liebrand squeezed it for the final out.

“That took a lot of guts right there at the end,” Mike Liebrand said. “Our pitcher has a lot of courage. He did a great job.”

As New Jersey celebrated, Delaware immediately felt the sting of a narrow defeat.

“Don't take anything away from New Jersey,” Timmons said. “They did everything they had to do and we just came up a little bit short. It was a great baseball game. You can't ask for anything more from 9 and 10 year olds.”

And if Thursday's game was the end of the summer for Delaware, what a summer it was. The league was making its third consecutive appearance at the Cranston regional.

“It's been a great summer,” Timmons said. “This group of kids is the best. They work hard every day and they do everything you ask of them. It's been awesome.”

New Jersey has at least one more day left before it's time to reflect. And they hope it'll time to celebrate too, when all is said and done.

“We're probably the smallest team here, size for size, but we scrap for everything we get,” Liebrand said. “We're looking forward to tomorrow.”

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