Nottingham Head Coach Adam Bendas talks with his players. Photo by Michael A. Sabo

July 5, 2018 – It wasn’t for a lack of effort, it wasn’t because of errors and it certainly wasn’t because of a lack of heart.  Sometimes baseball is a lot like the card game blackjack, the cards just don’t fall for your hand.  That was the case on July 4th as Nottingham came up short against Robbinsville by a final of 9 to 4.

The Sayen Park Gang who won the District 12 tournaments as 10-year-olds and 11-year-olds, fell victim, as many little league teams do to giving up that one big inning.

Nottingham jumped to the lead right out of the gate in the bottom of the first when Christian Finnachio singled home Jake Pope, then later scored on a series of wild pitches, putting Nottingham up 2-0.

Nottingham Coach Adam Bendas pats Tyler Tucker on the back at first base. Photo by Michael A. Sabo

Nottingham starting pitcher, Deacon Bowne put on a solid performance going four and a third innings, allowing two hits and one run while striking out six and walking zero.

But in the 5th inning, the Robbinsville bats would come to live and they would put 9 runs on the board, putting the game out of reach.

This would result in Nottingham’s second loss after they fell in a razor-close battle against HTRBA earlier in the tournament to end their storified run.

“I have had most of these kids since they were 7 years old, this is an experience I will never forget, I could coach another baseball team tomorrow, I will never forget this team, these kids and what we did together.  We have been through so much as a team, and we stuck together as a family always there for each other.  I am so proud of every one of them and I can tell you how much this team means to me”, explained Nottingham head coach Adam Bendas after the game.