Sunnybrae goes down fighting in District 12 loss to Robbinsville

Noah Rivera delivers to the plate against Robbinsville in the District 12 Little League Tournament. Photo by Michael A. Sabo

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com

July 4: The word throughout District 12 is that Robbinsville could be one of the teams to beat this year. When RLL took a 3-0 lead on Sunnybrae in the first inning during Tuesday’s winner’s bracket semifinal, whispers of a 10-run mercy rule game started.

But the Yardville Gang had other ideas, and had the go-ahead run at the plate in the top of the sixth before dropping a 6-4 decision at Sayen Park’s Jim Reed Field.

The loss sends Sunnybrae to an elimination game Wednesday against Lawrence, 6 p.m., at Sayen.

“I’m proud of every one of these boys,” manager Glen Dittes said. “They made some mistakes early on and we were down 3-0. But they didn’t hang their heads. They came back.”

And they came back quickly. After Robbinsville scored three in the bottom of the first, the Brae responded in the top of the second. Vincenzo Immordino walked, Andrew Condurso reached on an error and Dominic LaCava unloaded a three-run homer to tie it.

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LaCava was coming off a no-hitter with 10 strikeouts against West End in the District 12 opener.

“Let’s throw a no-hitter and hit a three-run bomb the next game,” Dittes said. “That’s Dominic. Let’s keep riding it.

“We got that big three-run bomb to put us back in it. Then the boys fought the rest of the way. It was a well-played game and hopefully showed a little bit of what Sunnybrae’s about this year.”

Robbinsville got two in the third but Sunnybrae inched within a run in the fourth when Condurso reached on an error and eventually scored on Jacob Larsen’s ground out. The home team got an insurance run in the fifth on a homer and the Brae tried to tie it in the sixth when it got two one-out baserunners. But Robbinsville reliever Anthony Ziliani recorded two strikeouts to end it.

“It was a whole lot of heart,” Dittes said. “I told the guys they showed a lot of heart, pitchers included.

“Noah (Rivera) was fantastic today. He battled against a tough strike zone that was a little different than what we’re used to. A couple of times he was 3-0 and he came back to get the guy. Isaiah (Helleis) came in, pitched a great two innings. Every one of these boys I’m proud of.”