While the West Windsor and Cranbury-Plainsboro Little League 12 teams have ended their post-season tournament play, both made it out of pool play and into the final nine, and both ended with winning 4-3 records, with West Windsor making it to the final six.##M:[more]##
Led by players like Junya Yokoyama — who has been a big force on the mound and at the plate, with three home runs in the past two weeks — Andrew Clayton, Mark Nicholas Sitek, Scott Feryus, and Ryo Komeno, the team made a dent in the expectedly toughest pool. Along the way, West Windsor took out Allentown and HTRBA. The team lost to Nottingham, one of the toughest teams in the pool, before rebounding to win in the opening round of the final nine tournament against Princeton and then losing 10-1 to Bordentown. The team defeated Robbinsville over the holiday weekend, before falling to Ewing on July 6.
In the 9-8 win over Robbinsville on July 5, Yokoyama came though with a three-run homer with two outs in the top of the sixth inning to secure the win. “He’s pitching well, and he’s hitting the ball very well,” said manager Mark Sitek. “He’s been at the top of his game. He played as well as we could have expected,” especially since coming back from an injury that sidelined him last season.
The Cranbury-Plainsboro Little League 12s went into the opening round of pool play with a win over Millstone-Roosevelt and then a rout of North Trenton. After meeting its objective to make it out of pool play, the team fell to Ewing before bouncing back to defeat Princeton on July 4. The team ultimately lost to Lawrence on July 5.
Manager Dave Benefore said he was pleased with the win against Princeton. He said that good defense with steady pitching “got us to where we were to begin with.”
