By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
June 30: There was a strange silence at Sayen Park late last July, as the sounds of the Nottingham Little League 12-year-olds practicing were not to be heard. After winning five straight District 12 titles, upping its total to 54, the Sayen Gang had its streak come to an end and spent the rest of the summer not preparing for sectionals and states.
This year, the NLL players want to put their world back on its axis
“Sure, we take a lot of pride in this,” said manager Bill James after Nottingham opened district play with a 4-2 win over Lawrence at HTRBA’s Van Horn Field Friday night. “We have a lot of great tradition and these guys want to win. Everybody on the bench contributed and did something today and that’s what we do all the time.”
“Let’s just do it game by game now, and hopefully we can win the districts,” said Colin James, who was 2-for-2 with a walk, run scored and two RBI. “If we win the districts we worry about sections but right now it’s game by game.”
The first game proved to be a great test for Nottingham, which survived a big-time scare in the bottom of the sixth inning when Lawrence loaded the bases with none out. The result is that Nottingham advances to play HTRBA — which took a 19-1 victory over Florence in the Van Horn nightcap — 10 a.m. Tuesday at Sayen Field.
Nottingham Little League District 12 All Star Michael Stromberg delivers to the plate against Lawrence. Photo by Michael A. Sabo
Michael Stromberg, who allowed five hits and no walks while striking out eight over the first five innings, allowed two straight singles to start the sixth. James then turned to Matt Dziubek, who promptly came in and threw a wild pitch before walking the bases loaded.
“I saw almost bases loaded and I walked the first guy so now it is bases loaded and no outs,” Dziubek said. “So I’m thinking I’m in trouble from this point. So, I tried to just throw it right on the edge of the plate where it’s hard for them to hit it but they still think it’s a strike. I just kept doing that. Some of them swung at balls so I got lucky there.”
Dziubek got two straight strikeouts before Patrick Maloney made the poor kid’s heart stop with a fly ball to deep centerfield that Braeden Nitti calmly read and grabbed to end it.
“I was thinking ‘Well let’s just hope this doesn’t go over,’” Dziubek said. “I would have had a walk-off against me, that would have a been a first.”
“They battled back,” Colin James said. “The ending was shaky, but we came through.”
Dziubek said he enjoys entering the pressure cooker. . . . as long as it turns out good for him.
“It’s fun when you get a win in that situation but not when you lose,” he said. “It’s like, if I win I’ll be really happy but if I lose it’s like I just screwed something up.”
Bill James had faith in his reliever.
“It was gonna be him or Colin, we decided to go with Matt and he did the job,” the skipper said. “And we made plays. You gotta make plays behind him and we made plays.”
Nottingham, which got a break when Lawrence did not start its ace, Ryan Willever, took a 2-0 lead in the second when James singled, Dziubek hit into a fielder’s choice, Michael Smith singled and both runners (with Matthew James pinch running for Dziubek) scored on an error.
Nottingham Little League 12 year old All Star Michael Smith hustles out of the batters box. Photo by Michael A. Sabo
In the third, the right-handed swinging James crushed one over the rightfield fence for a two-run homer to make it 4-0.
“Colin’s been hitting well all year,” Bill James said. “He went with the pitch to right field. The first at-bat it was the same thing, an off-speed outside that he took past the second baseman for a single.”
Lawrence got two back in the fourth and appeared poised for a stunning comeback in the sixth. And while Dziubek was the last-inning hero, Stromberg deserved a ton of credit for getting Nottingham that far.
“Stromberg did great,” Dziubek said. “He pitched almost six, he got a little tired, but he held them to the two runs the whole game, which was good. And he didn’t let them score anymore after those first two. Since we didn’t score anymore, that was good.”
