July 16 Babe Ruth SNJ States (13s)
By Tony Piscotta
Fish4scores.com
July 16: Whatever the Hamilton Babe Ruth 13-year-old All-Star team did at practice on Sunday it worked.
Playing a crisp game and getting a standout pitching performance from Jake Beyer, Hamilton defeated Washington Township, 4-2, in the Southern New Jersey Babe Ruth tournament in the first of four elimination games it will need to win to reach the Mid-Atlantic Regional.
"It would be nice to win states but the regional is still goal one," said Hamilton's Ray Anderson, who had a pair of hits and drove in two of Hamilton's four runs.
And while obviously getting the win was the main objective, Beyer's ability to go all seven innings was equally important because it allows Hamilton to have its entire pitching staff available in the upcoming games.
The complete game was huge for our pitching staff and we had no defensive errors," manager
Hiram Cartagena told the team afterwards. "We didn't give that team any extra outs."
Beyer did not allow a hit after giving up a double in the fourth and allowed just three hits for the game while walking three and striking out two. The Hamilton defense did not commit an error behind him.
Both areas were big improvements after Saturday's loss to Nottingham in which Hamilton pitchers walked eight batters and the team committed four errors.
"It was very important to get the complete game because it takes a lot of pressure off our pitching staff for the rest of the tournament," said Beyer, who also contributed offensively for Hamilton, scoring a pair of runs. "I tried to get ahead and get the first strike. I noticed that they liked to swing at high pitches and once I got one or two strikes on them I tried to throw the ball high and they kept swinging at it."
The two teams traded leads early in the game - with Washington Township scoring in the top of the first before Hamilton tied the game in the bottom of the inning. Hamilton took a 2-1 lead in the third only to see Washington Township tie things up on Angelo DeAngelis' double in the top of the fourth.
Nottingham took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth.
With two outs, Angelo Sanger reached on a single and stole second on the first pitch to Kyle
Liedtka. Liedtka walked on four pitches and after Beyer ran the count to 2-2 he ripped a double to left.
Sanger scored on the play but a nice relay play by Washington Township cut down Liedtka attempting to score all the way from first on the play.
"We didn't hit a lot but we hit just enough," said Ray Anderson.
Hamilton's only extra base hit, a double by Ryan Mostrangeli in the fifth, led to an insurance run for Hamilton when Anderson followed with a single to center.
With the win, Hamilton advances to face Cherry Hill in the first of two elimination games
Tuesday night. With a win Hamilton would face the winner of Tuesday’s second game between
Nottingham and Northern Burlington.
Cherry Hill lost to Mount Laurel, 2-1, in nine innings in the completion of a winner's bracket semifinal just prior to Hamilton's game with Washington Township. That game had been suspended by
Sunday night's storm.