David Zamora is greeted by his teammates after hitting a walk-off grand slam to win the State Title for Hamilton Norther Burlington Babe Ruth 14s. Photo by Michael A. Sabo
By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
July 23: There were two outs, the bases were loaded, the count was 3-1 and one more wide pitch would give the Hamilton-Northern Burlington Babe Ruth 14-year-olds a championship.
Did Jim “Uuummmm” Petersohn toy with putting the take sign on?
“Not with David Zamora,” said the manager, who obviously knows his team well.
Zamora walloped the next pitch deep over Babe Ruth’s No. 3 on the left field Green Monster at Switlik Park for a walk-off grand slam; giving H-NB a 13-0 win over Mount Laurel in the Southern New Jersey State Championship game Sunday.
With the win, Hamilton avoided the “if” game and can begin to focus on the Mid-Atlantic Regionals, which begin Tuesday at Switlik. As runner-up, Mount Laurel will also be in the regionals as the SNJ representative.
“That was probably our best game yet overall between districts and states; our most complete game,” said Petersohn, who knew his team wanted to end it in one game Sunday. “We are building toward the regionals and we want to be ready to play them. I think today started that whole mindset and belief that we deserved to be in the regionals and we’re gonna be very competitive there.”
They will be if they continue to get this kind of pitching. Nick Nemes was outstanding, firing a five-inning no-hitter with two walks, a hit batsman and six strikeouts. His gem was preserved by an outstanding play by late-inning second base replacement Anthony Wilk, who laid out for a sharp ground ball and made a strong throw to first for a hit-robbing play.
Nemes acknowledged the play, but not much else.
“I told him ‘great play,’” the tall right-hander said. “But I didn’t want to say anymore and jinx it.”
Thanks to Zamora’s slam, which invoked the 10-run rule, Nemes got full credit for the no-hitter instead of sharing it with two others.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”9″ gal_title=”Hamilton Norther Burlington 14-year-old Babe Ruth State Champs”]
“We would have definitely put another pitcher in there in the sixth,” said Petersohn, who wants to get his stable of hurlers some work. “It’s not about individual stats, it’s about the team and what’s best for the team. They believe in that and that’s how we’re gonna roll for the rest of the series.”
Nemes was sharp all game, getting ahead of hitters and allowing very little solid contact.
“Everything worked, all my pitches were working,” Nemes said. “The result of that was obviously good. I just changed locations up and down, side to side, different speeds.”
Nemes actually played for the Hamilton Little Lads 12-year-old Cal Ripken state champion before his family moved into the Northern Burlington Babe Ruth district. He certainly enjoyed coming “home” after this year’s merger.
“It’s great,” he said. “To come back here and play with these guys is really good.”
His teammates could not agree more.
“He did a great job,” Zamora said. “We won this game because of him. Everybody fed off his energy on the mound and he did a great job.”
Zamora took the biggest bite out of the feeding trough, as he collected a single, double, homer and six RBI. He was helped by leadoff batter Danilo Perdomo, who had a hit, three runs and two RBI, and No. 2 man Gavin Martin, who had two hits, two runs and two RBI.
“Yeah, they give me a lot of chances,” he said.
The best chance came in the fifth. With H-NB already leading 7-0 thanks to earlier two-run doubles by Perdomo and Zamora, an RBI double by Martin and an RBI single by Connor Luckie; the winning rally started with a one-out single by Nate Rodriguez. Nemes walked and Luckie collected his second RBI single. Perdomo walked and Martin was hit by a pitch to force in a run.
Zamora, who played legion for Broad Street Park as a rising 9th-grader this summer, then ended it despite – amazingly – not getting all of the pitch
“I didn’t think it was gone” he said. “Honestly, I got jammed a little bit.”
Everyone should get into such jams.
The bomb sent the H-NB players out to greet him at home plate, which is kind of rare when the final score is 13-0. But when the celebration ended, it was time to think about regionals.
“As the pitching gets harder, our bats come alive,” Zamora said, “Honestly, I think we can make it to the World Series and have a good time.”
They’ve got some work to do before reaching the Series, but it looks like they’re already having a good time.
EXTRA INNINGS: Petersohn heaped praise on his players’ parents for their efforts in coming out early in the morning to get the field ready after last night’s torrential downpours. . .Hamilton-Northern Burlington did not allow a run in 12 innings against Mount Laurel, as Jake Babuschak, Tom Niedermaier and Zamora combined on a 7-inning shutout in the winner’s bracket finals. H-NB hurlers have thrown 15 straight scoreless innings and have allowed one run in the last 19 . . . Petersohn is unsure who he will start in the Mid-Atlantic opener, saying he needs to discuss it with assistants Frank “The Godfather” Gatto and Mike “The New Father” Moceri, who are both key advisors with their years of high school coaching experience. “I can’t thank the two of them for everything they’ve done for this team,” Uuummmm said. “They’ve both been incredible. I’m very lucky to have them on my staff.”
