The NJ Pride scored 44 runs in four games en route to claiming the 13U Summer Bash championship.
By Rich Bevensee
Nate Sweetman knows how to produce a clutch hit because he’s been there.
Back in late June, Sweetman provided a game-winning single for his NJ Pride 13U team during an eight-game tournament run in Pittsburgh. The Pride leadoff hitter said he never lost confidence in himself after that at bat.
Sweetman had to wait two months for another shot at playing the hero, and he was ready.
With the bases loaded and two out in the fifth inning of a tie game, Sweetman delivered a two-run single which propelled NJ Pride to a 10-8 victory over EEP Bandits-Gray in the 13U Summer Bash championship game on Sunday at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
“I’m just trying to put the ball in play there, to be honest, just being a team player,” said Sweetman, who was 0-for-2 with a walk before he lined a low and outside curveball into center field. “I wasn’t thinking I was due. You have to keep that in the past.”
“Anyone on this team in that situation, they’re gonna give us their all,” Pride coach Andrew Sicinski said. “I knew Nate would come through. Two-out hitting – magic.”
The two finalists had some familiarity with each other before the Summer Bash final, which may explain why the game featured four lead changes. In a Perfect Game tournament final three weeks ago, the Bandits got the upper hand on the Pride, 14-10. The Pride closed their season with a championship and a 39-10-1 record.
The Bandits, a combination of players from Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx, also closed their summer campaign at the Summer Bash. The Bandits, who had won 19 of 24 games since July 1, saw their three-game win streak snapped and finished the season an impressive 60-15-1.
The Pride utilized stingy pitching and a healthy offense to run roughshod over four opponents en route to the title. In the run-up to the final, the Medford, N.J.-based squad outscored three pool opponents, 34-2, then scored in double figures for a fourth straight game to claim the trophy.
“These dudes work their butts off,” Sicinski said. “They work out two times a week and hit four times a week. When we do numbers like that, we expect it.”
Arjun Bodiwala played exceptional defense at second base to earn tournament MVP for NJ Pride.
Pride second baseman Arjun Bodiwala was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, most notably for his defense. He went errorless in five chances in the final and made a terrific backhanded stop of an Antonio Dixon ground ball to get an out in the fifth, but the best was yet to come.
The Pride was protecting a two-run lead in the top of the sixth when the Bandits loaded the bases with one out. Sire Hall cracked a sharp grounder which Bodiwala coolly turned into an inning-ending, lead-protecting, 4-6-3 double play.
“Naming Arjun was an easy choice,” Sicinski said. “That kid works his butt off. He had a tough fall, he went into the spring hot, summer got tough again, but his defense has been lights out all weekend. I told him the double play was the biggest factor of the game.”
“Earlier this year I struggled a lot with defense and it’s great to see that I’m doing well now,” Bodiwala said. “I just worked at it every day.”
The Pride had to come from behind in dramatic fashion before Sweetman had his game-winning at bat.
With the Pride trailing 8-6 in the bottom of the fourth, Evan Davies had a fielder’s choice RBI to score Mikey Tindal from third, and David Clark followed with a sharp single through the hole on the left side to score Davies and tie the game. Clark had a monster game at the plate in the final, driving in four runs on two base hits and a sacrifice fly.
With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Bodiwala reached on a fielder’s choice and Bryce Poehls and Jason Wilkens both singled to load the bases. Tindal was retired with an infield popup but Sweetman followed with a line drive to center to plate Bodiwala and Poehls.
To further illustrate how powerful the Pride is on offense, all 10 batters reached base safely in the final, seven had base hits and five drove in at least one run.
Poehls went 2-for-3, Ethan Litsky had an RBI triple and Gerrit Gierveld provided a two-run single.
Camden Knapp was a hitting machine for the Bandits in the final, going 4-for-4 with an RBI double. For the tournament Knapp went 9-for-12 with a homer, two doubles, eight RBI and five runs scored.
Also for the Bandits, Connor Avci launched a grand slam home run in the final and finished 3-for-4. In four tournament games Avci went 5-for-10 with a homer, triple, eight RBI and two runs.
Joho Cancel went 3-for-4 with an RBI, Damian Ramirez was 2-for-4 with an RBI double, and Sire Hall had two hits and an RBI. It wasn’t hard to see how the Bandits amassed those 60 victories.