Down, but not out, the West Windsor Little League 11-year-old All Star team was defeated by Nottingham on July 20, after having won six of seven games on their way through the post-season.
But manager Steve Lichtenstein is hoping his team will be able to defeat Robbinsville on Thursday, July 21 (after News’ deadline), to stay alive. If the team is successful, it will have a second chance against Nottingham, and maybe even a third: a win against Robbinsville will send the 11s to a rematch with Nottingham on Friday, July 22. They will have to defeat Nottingham twice for the championship.
The loss to Nottingham was a thriller, though, and the 11s succumbed in extra innings. “We were a couple of outs away from winning the game when Nottingham hit one out to tie in the sixth inning,” explained Lichtenstein. “They scored two in the 7th, and we had a couple of guys on base, but we couldn’t bring them home.”
For West Windsor, Dylan Welch went 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored in the loss, while Ben Goldstein went 1-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs.
“It was a very exciting game,” added Lichtenstein. “It was just a matter of who could get a big hit, and they were the ones who got it.”
With a nearly unblemished record, the West Windsor 11s moved through the preliminary tournament with only one loss — to HTRBA in the semifinals. The team’s bats and its pitching are its biggest strengths.
After coming up with four wins in the HTRBA tournament — against Cranbury-Plainsboro, 11-1; Robbinsville, 8-0; Bordentown, 10-6; and Sunnybrae, 7-2 — the team fell to HTRBA in the semifinals. Neither team hit well off the starting pitchers.
“We were able to get five runs and take a 5-1 lead into the sixth,” said manager Steve Lichtenstein. “Then we gave up five runs in the top of the sixth and had a chance to tie, but we left runners on second and third.”
West Windsor was able to bounce back when it revisited Sunnybrae in the district tournament on July 12. Against Sunnybrae, West Windsor got out to a 7-0 lead, with a grand slam from Ryan Strype in the second inning. Sunnybrae was able to catch up, cutting the lead to 7-6, but West Windsor continued to capitalize at the plate in the fourth inning. Welch hit an RBI triple, while Strype came back with an RBI double. Sahil Thube followed it up with an RBI single.
The effort was enough to put West Windsor up, 10-6, although Sunnybrae tried to make a comeback in the last inning. Ultimately, though, Sunnybrae stranded runners on first and third. West Windsor sent Sunnybrae home, 11-7.
Ryan Strype was also a star on the field in the game, ending the game on a double play after the final batter hit a pop-up, and he threw out the runner on base.
Lichtenstein says he is happy to see that the entire team is contributing. When it comes to pitching, though, the team has been relying on Goldstein, who only gave up three earned runs in 17 innings through the first six games. “He averages about one base runner an inning,” said Lichtenstein. “He throws over 70 percent strikes.”
“We’ve gotten good pitching,” added Lichtenstein. “We haven’t had to rely on any pitching depth this year,” he said. “If we get into the loser’s bracket, we’ll see how much depth we have.”
The team defeated Millstone-Roosevelt, 5-1, on July 16, enabling it to make it to the winners’ bracket final of the District 12 tournament. In that game Welch had an RBI single, while Sahil Thube hit a two-run single. Erik Howard hit a two-run home run.
Welch, Matthew Michibata, and Goldstein combined to only give up four hits.
The team fell to Nottingham and will face Robbinsville for a chance for the rematch.
