The Diamond Jacks Super 13U squad captured the World Series Diamond Bracket championship.
By Rich Bevensee
One player came into the championship game pitching better than he ever has before. His teammate entered this week’s tournament struggling at the plate and anxious to make a difference.
They may have been on different courses of achievement when the weekend began, but Richie Adamczyk and Matthew Futterman were on the same page in lifting the Diamond Jacks Super 13U ballclub to their first tournament title since early June.
Adamczyk was brilliant through five innings, Futterman hit what turned out to be a game-deciding, two-run double and the Diamond Jacks earned a thrilling 3-2 victory over East Coast Ghost Scout of Tinton Falls and the 13U Diamond Bracket championship in the Youth World Series Powered by Playa Bowls on Sunday at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
Futterman, named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, enjoyed a resurgence at the plate, going 7-for-10 with two doubles, a triple and six RBI in the World Series.
“He had a little cold streak two weeks ago, a little bit cold in Georgia, then he came here this weekend and was outstanding,” Diamond Jacks coach Luke Crawford said.
Futterman missed three months of baseball with a back injury before returning in late April, when he had brief success at the plate before his bat went cold. That slump continued into the team’s recent trip to the LakePoint Sports Complex in Cartersville, Georgia, where the Diamond Jacks went 2-3.
He blamed the back injury for not getting consistent reps, which in turn resulted in his sub-par performance.
“I had to get back into it and it was tough,” Futterman said. “It was all rehab and work. I got it back though. I’m 100 percent now.”
Once his physical issues were taken care of, Futterman had to deal with the gap in his swing, which has tormented him the last few weeks.
“It was all working the cages, working with my dad (Mike Futterman), working the tee, just keeping my hands through the zone, everything,” Futterman said. “I was late getting to the ball. My hands were late, my bat, everything was late.”
Futterman’s key hit came in the bottom of the fourth inning when the Diamond Jacks were clinging to a 1-0 lead. With one out Nick Penna hit a double off the right center field wall that was only a few feet from leaving the yard. George Antivachis followed with a single up the middle and Futterman drove a 2-2 pitch into left center, scoring Penna and Antivachis for a 3-0 Diamond Jacks cushion.
“I was thinking, swing hard,” Futterman said. “It’s the only thing I think about every single time.”
The Diamond Jacks’ Matthew Futterman batted .700 to earn 13U DN World Series MVP honors.
Adamczyk was pitching a one-hit shutout through five innings before a couple of infield hits led to East Coast Ghost scoring two runs in the sixth. With the tying run at second base, Adamczyk induced a pair of flyouts to end the threat.
A crucial baserunning call affected East Coast Ghost’s comeback in the sixth. With one out and the bases loaded Collin Nunan lofted a sacrifice fly to center which scored Mikey Fastiggi to make the score 3-2. A Ghost runner was ruled to have left second base early on the play and was called out. So instead of having runners at second and third with one out, East Coast Ghost had a runner at second with two out. The next batter flew out to end the inning.
Adamczyk pitched six innings and allowed two runs on five hits and one walk and he struck out five by utilizing a two- and four-seam fastball, curveball, slider and changeup.
“I’m really feeling it right now,” Adamczyk said. “I’m throwing it off my finger with my curveball and just letting it loose with my fastball. There are days when I know I’m going to have a good day. It’s a very comfortable feeling. I just feel more at ease and I can pitch better.”
“What impresses me about Richie is his feel for his off-speed,” Crawford said. “And when you have a plus-fastball and you can command two offspeed pitches as well as he can, people are just guessing up there.”
Antivachis pitched around a one-out walk to close out a scoreless seventh inning for the Diamond Jacks.
The Diamond Jacks scored their first run in the second inning when Antivachis singled to left, stole second, moved to third on a Luca Agosto single and scored on a one-out passed ball.
The Diamond Jacks (40-11) went undefeated through three pool play games with a plus-26 run differential before having to win a pair of one-run elimination ballgames to claim the title. In the semifinals, the Super 13U team slipped past their Diamond Jacks Gold brothers, 5-4.
East Coast Ghost went 4-2 in the World Series. It went 2-1 in pool play before beating Hudson Athletics Scout, 15-7, in the quarterfinals, and Morris County Cubs Navy, 9-6, in the semis.