For two straight summers, no District 12 championship banners have been raised outside of Hamilton Township at any level.
It became another Hamilton Hat Trick on July 9 when the HTRBA 12-year-olds and Sunnybrae 10-year-olds won their respective championships, joining the Nottingham 11s in the 2022 District 12 Winners Circle. Last year, crowns were claimed by the Nottingham 10s, HTRBA 11s and Sunnybrae 12s.
“The future in Mercer County baseball is bright, the future in Hamilton Township baseball is extremely bright,” said Sunnybrae manager Gary Leonardo after his team beat Nottingham in the 10-year-old finals. “Baseball is in good shape in this town.”
Granted, the district has been whittled down to six teams from a field that used to be in the teens, but it was still an impressive showing for the local squads. And the managers from each championship team were happy to see their sister leagues also do well.
“We should be coming together and supporting each other,” HTRBA coach Jeff Prosdocimo said. “We have three Little Leagues and a Cal Ripken (Hamilton Little Lads) in town. When we play other teams they are shocked to hear that. We see that we can sweep districts because the talent is here, the effort is here. There are people who put in time to make these kids as good as they can be.”
The Nottingham 11s, who have also won their second straight Section 3 championship, were the first to clinch districts, giving them time to watch some other games.
“Darren (Pandolfini, assistant coach) and I went to HTRBA’s District 12 game when they won districts and we supported those teams,” Nottingham manager Angel Bodon said. “We said ‘Hamilton Proud.’ Our 12s got bounced out and we thought they had a chance to play in that game but guess what, HTRBA and Sunnybrae were there and we went out to support them. It’s a Hamilton thing.”
HTRBA slugger Austin Wright felt the same way.
“Usually if HTRBA is out we root for Nottingham and Sunnybrae because we all know each other and it’s kind of cool to see our friends play against each other,” Wright said after his team won the 12-year-old title. “I’ll probably go watch that (Sunnybrae-Nottingham 10-year-old final). I don’t care who wins. It’s just kind of fun to watch them play each other.”
Leonardo, who grew up playing little league and high school ball in Hamilton, feels there is a camaraderie among the three programs when they are not going against each other.
“Absolutely,” he said. “In travel baseball a lot of us play with each other. Coach Pandolfini with Nottingham is one of my very good friends so absolutely I was rooting for them as they headed into sectional play. I think we all have a mutual respect for each other.”
That respect filtered throughout the districts, as each championship round was played with class and sportsmanship amidst the high stakes of a district title.
In the 12-year-old tournament, HTRBA won four straight by defeating Robbinsville (11-0), Lawrence (11-1) and Sunnybrae (10-8, 11-5).
After cruising to their first two wins, the Mercerville Maulers were tested twice by Sunnybrae and responded each time. In the winner’s bracket final, the Yardville Gang scored six in the top of the fifth for an 8-7 lead. HTRBA rebounded in the bottom of the inning when Alex Alonzo tripled home brother Chris, and Austin Wright followed with a two-run homer.
After the Brae battled back to the championship round, HTRBA took a 5-1 lead into the bottom of the fifth only to see Ben Diaz tie it for Sunnybrae with a three-run HR. Once more, HTRBA responded as Wright hit his fourth homer in as many district games — a monster three-run blast over the indoor batting cage — to give the Van Horn tenants a lead they would not relinquish.
“I usually don’t hit home runs every game but I’m kind of in a groove right now,” Wright said after the title game. “I was just looking to drive them in, try to keep things going and get runs in because they still had to hit (in the bottom of the sixth).”
Prosdocimo felt that Wright’s contributions went beyond power hitting.
“When Austin stays focused he’s one of the better players in the area,” the skipper said. “But besides the balls he hits it’s what he does in the dugout and what he does for our team. You can see it’s a lightning rod with what he is when he does hit the baseball. It’s not just another home run, it’s propelling our team into a better position. Good players step up.”
After having won it as 11s, HTRBA was considered the tournament favorite despite the fact Sunnybrae was the defending 12-year-old champion. Nine of the 13 players, including Wright, have been on the roster since age 7.
“We practice every day so you can definitely see the improvement from seven to now,” Wright said. “It’s kind of crazy how we’ve improved.”
Along with Wright and the Alonzo brothers, the roster included Lorenzo Swain, standout pitcher Luca Gaglione, John Logorda, Shane Sammons, Anthony Prosdocimo, Evan Lopez, Brennon Babkowski, Michael Juliano, Ethan Willever and Liam Scolnick. The coaches were Lou Juliano and Danny Alonzo.
Pretty much every player contributed in either a large or small way throughout the tournament, and it marked the sixth championship this group has won since age 8.
“The best thing about them is that their fundamentals get better,” Prosdocimo said. “This (championship) is a game they’re gonna remember but this is also preparing them for high school, and we want to make sure the product we’re delivering to our high school teams is ready to play baseball.”
The Nottingham 11s are also fundamentally sound, as they continue to show few chinks in the armor.
After steamrolling to a state title by going undefeated as 10s, the Sayen Gang came back with equal ferocity this year. They went 4-0 in districts by outscoring foes 44-3, and finally met a stiff challenge in the Section 3 tournament from always tough Toms River.
In the first meeting, Nottingham defeated TR, 6-3.
“That was our closest game, and it was a little nervous for the parents out there after 10-running teams,” Bodon said with a laugh. “We hadn’t played in a six-inning game, and here’s Toms River, they came in and they played us well.”
And they would continue to do so. TR battled back to the championship round and gave Nottingham its first loss in two years of district or sectional play by taking a 3-2 victory. With everything on the line, Nottingham came back with a 5-2 win in the finals to advance to state play.
“Our families felt a little uneasy that we were in that situation after losing Saturday night,” Bodon said. “But the kids came back on Sunday and fought back. They were mad. Coach Darren, myself and coach Jamie (Leder) wanted to play right away to get that feeling out of our system.
“We also let the kids know that it’s unrealistic that any team goes undefeated from eight to 12 years old. We were happy that we got the loss out of the way, but happier that we were able to win it all the next day.”
Nottingham is loaded with pitching, as the staff includes ace Brayden Wisniewski along with JJ O’Donnell, Aidan Connell, Brandon Leder and Matthew McCarty.
“We have a lot of pitching,” Bodon said. “We have five or six kids that can easily be aces on any team. It’s crazy, we can’t even give our pitchers enough work because we keep winning by the mercy rule.”
Other players on the roster include Joseph McCarty, Dom Carabelli, Lorenzo Pandolfini, Mason Ayres, Dom Stillitano, Tyler Bodon, Brayden Schaefer and Jack Reymann.
“(Shortstop) Dom Carabelli has been lights out hitting and fielding,” Bodon said. “He’s made every play in the field. He’s amazing to watch. It’s almost like we see him make those plays over and over again and you’ll be tired of seeing them.”
At the plate, it’s the Dom-Dom Show.
“Dom Stillitano is our big hitter, he’s always one swing away from putting it over,” the manager continued. “Dom Carabelli is a line drive hitter at clean-up and he does the job. Lorenzo Pandolfini is my number two batter. I can’t tell you he’s not flashy but he comes up with big hits when we need it. He just puts everything into it and he hustles.”
Having shown it can win blowouts and close games, it will be interesting to see how far this Nottingham team can go this year and as 12s. The benchmark for the league is the 1992 12-year-old team that made it to the Little League World Series Final Four. Mike Braender, a coach on the 92 team whose son “Bullet Head” Mike played for it, has seen similarities.
So can long-time Nottingham coach Bob Montague, who has thrown batting practice to the 11s.
“I compare them to ’92 for a few reasons,” Montague said. “Both teams were very athletic, both are well coached and pick each other up. The pitching is strong and most importantly they are baseball smart. They all know the game. Last but not least, they all get along and are friends and root for each other.”
Another tight-knit bunch are the Sunnybrae 10s, who basked in the glow of their first District 12 title after beating Nottingham on the Brae’s home field.
Like the two older All-Star teams, Sunnybrae went through districts undefeated by beating four teams 60-6. What makes the Yardville Gang’s effort even more impressive is the team is comprised of just five 10-year-olds, along with seven 9-year-olds and an 8-year-old.
“But from day one they bought into what we teach, and that’s great discipline, running the bases the correct way, throwing strikes and playing defense,” Leonardo said. “That’s a great formula for us to win games.”
As is usually the case, the Brae was led by a team effort but also had a few players make big-time contributions.
“One through 13 delivered, but I gotta be honest, Cale Lyon stepped up and pitched a lot of big innings for us,” said Leonardo, who gave the ball to Lyon in the title game. “Josh Marchetti and Dom O’Rourke too. We used three pitchers in this tournament, and I’ve got a bunch more ready to go for sectionals.”
Lyon admitted to some jitters prior to the Nottingham game, but shrugged it off.
“I was a little nervous and it was a little pressure, but it was good,” said Lyon, who threw four stellar innings. “After I had breakfast this morning I just wanted to keep my head in the game and not have my head messed up.
“It’s really exciting to win my first championship. We’ve never beaten this team before but we thought we could today, because in our other games we destroyed the other teams.”
Leonardo felt the whole team had a few nerves before the clincher.
“We were a little tight last night at practice,” he said amidst his celebrating players. “This morning we got a couple runs in the first inning and that got us going.”
Rounding out the squad were Gabe Correa, Declan Sweeney, Blake Mannino, Marco Girard, Gary Leonardo, Jonathan Wheeler, Cam Drudy, Charlie Colman, Jack Traino and RJ McCurley.
“Since they were seven, a couple kids have switched little leagues and we’ve lost a couple kids,” Leonardo said. “We’ve gained a couple kids, some kids have played up, some kids have played down.”
This year, however, they hit on the perfect combination, giving Hamilton Township a District 12 hat trick for the second straight year.
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The 11-year-olds followed up their Section 3 title with a second consecutive state championship, as they swept past Wood Ridge (5-2) and Ridgewood twice by scores of 11-3 and 8-1. The title advanced the Sayen Gang to the Regional Tournament in Denvers, Mass., which begins Aug. 2.
The 12-year-olds topped Freehold Township in their opener, but were eliminated with two straight two-run losses to Toms River East and Freehold Township.
The Sunnybrae 10s fell to Two Rivers West, 6-5, in their opener, bounced back for a 20-12 win over Clark and then were eliminated by Brick on July 19.
Nottingham Little League 11s after winning the 2022 state championship. Players (left to right): Matthew McCarty, Brayden Wisniewski, Brandon leder, Domenick Stillitano, Jack Reymann, Brayden Schaefer, Dom Carabelli, Tyler Bodon, Mason Ayres, Lorenzo Pandolfini, Aidan Connell, Joseph McCarty and JJ O’Donnell. Back row: coach Darren Pandolfini, manager Angel Bodon and coach Jamie Leder. At far left is the team’s biggest fan, Ellis Toggweiler.,
