Babe Ruth 14s World Series: Hawaii leaves Hamilton-NB two wins short of title with 4-1 semifinal victory

Hamilton NB 14 Year Old Babe Ruth All Stars

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com

Aug. 16: It took a team from 5,000 miles away to do it, but Hamilton-Northern Burlington’s amazing run finally came to an end two victories shy of the ultimate prize.

Representing the Pacific Southwest Region, Hawaii took a 4-1 semifinal win over H-NB Wednesday night in the Babe Ruth 14-year-old World Series in Glen Allen, Va.

The Bulls had advanced by putting the finishing touches on a 13-8 win over Midwest Plains earlier in the day in the resumption of a suspended game.

And while the season had a disappointing end, it can be termed nothing but successful.

“I told them ‘It hurts right now, but don’t let that dictate your memories for the summer,’” manager Jim Petersohn said. “It was a very memorable summer. They accomplished some tremendous, amazing things that they’ll be able to carry with them for the rest of their lives. The bond that they built this summer, the friendships they made will always be there.”

Kelena Sauer was the kryptonite that finally weakened the Switlik Supermen. The Hawaii hurler allowed one run, four hits and two walks while striking out eight in four innings. He was also a terror at the plate with two hits and two RBI. Jayton Pang finished with a 10-pitch seventh that included two strikeouts, as H-NB’s bats were muted for the first time all tournament.

“He was good,” Petersohn said. “He was hitting his spots. The umpire was giving him the outside pitch. After a while you have to make an adjustment from the offensive standpoint.”

Compounding the issues were an un-Bulls-like five errors, as defense was one of the team’s strong points throughout the summer.

“That was a generous scorekeeper,” Petersohn said. “We definitely had eight errors. I don’t think we made eight errors through the entire tournament. That was very untypical of our team.

“I don’t know what happened. Maybe they were a little nervous. I don’t know what they had to be nervous about. They’re just as good as that other team. We knew going in we had to play a flawless game and minimize our mistakes. We’ve played under the lights before, so that’s not a reason.”

Starting pitcher Jake Babuschak allowed four runs but only one was earned. Babuschak yielded eight hits and no walks while striking out four in 4.2 innings. Nick Nemes pitched 1.1 scoreless frames.

Hawaii scored single runs in the first and second before H-NB got one back in the top of the third. Nemes hit a leadoff single, went to second on Conor Luckie’s sacrifice and scored on David Zamora’s ground single up the middle.

Hawaii got the run back in the bottom of the inning. H-NB tried to fight back in the fifth when Luckie walked and Danilo Perdomo reached on a two-out error, but a pop-out ended the threat.

Sauer’s double in the bottom of the fifth made it a little tougher at 4-1. Again, the Bulls tried to charge as Gavin Martin’s leadoff single and Zac Brown’s two out walk brought the tying run to the plate. But Sauer – there’s that name again – got a strikeout to end H-NB’s last gasp.

Zamora had two hits for H-NB, which finished the summer 24-4-1 and went 22-2 in winning the District One, Southern New Jersey and Mid-Atlantic Regional tournaments. The Bulls were 4-2 in their six World Series games and will go down as one of the top District One teams of all time.

But in the end, a team from one of the nation’s most beautiful states made for a not so pretty result for H-NB.

About The Author


Rich Fisher has been around the Hamilton Township sports scene for so long that he actually got Rich Giallella’s autograph when Giallella was still a player! Proud product of Hamilton YMCA and Lou Gehrig baseball leagues and former teammate of Jim Maher on a very average Barton & Cooney rec basketball team, Fish graduated from Nottingham Junior High and Steinert High school and has covered township sports since 1980. His goal in life is to convince Maria Prato that Jersey tomatoes are at least 100 times better than California tomatoes.