HTRBA players celebrate winning the District 12 Little League Championship. Photo by John Blaine.
By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
July 9: When Tyler Dunmeyer was born on July 27, 2004, the HTRBA 12-year-old All Stars were in the process of winning a state title after claiming a District 12 crown earlier in the month.
It would be the league’s last championships of any kind for over a decade.
Little did baby Tyler realize at the time, that nearly 13 years later he would be old enough to do something about the 12-year drought that followed.
He came of age this summer and provided the Mercerville Maulers with their second District 12 title in his lifetime, pitching HTRBA to a 7-1 victory over West Windsor in the D-12 finals before a large Sunday afternoon crowd at Sayen Park. The MMs will host the Section 3 Tournament at Van Horn, and will open Friday at 8 p.m.
Against a ferocious hitting team, Dunmeyer allowed two hits and five walks while striking out five. He also added a double, home run and two runs scored to help his cause.
“This is huge, it took 13 years,” Dunmeyer said. “This is an amazing team. I just can’t believe it. It’s just amazing.”
Unlike Tyler, most of his teammates still hadn’t reached earth when HTRBA last won districts.
“This means a lot,” shortstop Cole Given said. “I wasn’t even born when we won this the last time.”
But he certainly gave life to the latest championship, crushing home runs his first two at-bats to give the Maulers a lead they would never relinquish.
“I’ve been in a slump for a while now, so this felt great,” Given said. “I’ve done a lot of extra work. My hitting coaches told me to drive my back knee so that’s what I’ve been doing, and I try to hit an oppo (opposite field).”
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Cole fueled the offense from the start. After Dunmeyer reached on a two-out error in the top of the first, Given rocketed one deep over the left-centerfield fence for a 2-0 lead.
West Windsor staged its biggest threat in the second when it scored one run and loaded the bases with one out. Dunmeyer then got tough, getting a soft bouncer to third that produced a force at home, and a fielder’s choice grounder to short that ended the inning.
“I just stuck with (the philosophy of) letting them hit it,” Dunmeyer said. “Getting those lucky pitches, throwing off speed to them, it was amazing. That was definitely one of the bigger innings.”
HTRBA awarded its pitcher’s toughness with four third-inning insurance runs. The first came on a solo homer by Givens. Walks to Uriel Sanchez and Nick Csillan and a single by Joe Lemly loaded the bases. Joe Lee than bounced one up the middle that was knocked down, but no one could make a play as Sanchez and Csillan both scored. Tyler Milton, who had two hits, got an infield single to make it 6-1.
Dunmeyer did not allow a hit from that point, but got a big play from first baseman Uriel Sanchez in the third. With a runner on first and two outs, Sanchez speared a line drive that could have been trouble had it not been caught.
“We flashed some leather,” manager Tim O’Sullivan said.
After allowing a leadoff walk in the fourth, Dunmeyer retired the final nine batters he faced for a complete game.
“He’s actually thrown a lot of different pitches in this tournament,” said catcher Lemly, who had two hits. “He’s been throwing really good and they just couldn’t hit it.”
It all added up to the league’s ninth District 12 title overall, and fourth for the 12-year-olds.
“We knew we had a good team coming in,” the manager said. “It was all about how we would play on each given day. We worked a lot on defense, I think today it showed. We always knew we had guys who could hit the ball. We knew to win this district we’d probably have to go through West Windsor to get it.”
Which is exactly what they did, thanks in part to a pitcher who watched the last HTRBA tournament run from the maternity ward.
