Quin Sanchez hits ball into turf that scored the first run for the Hickory Hornets 11U.
By Sean Reilly
The Hickory Hornets received quality pitching, had timely hits and made some outstanding defensive plays in their opening game at the 11U Williams Harley Davidson tournament on Saturday afternoon at Diamond Nation.
Ascent Athlete 11U Partridge did the exact same things in the matchup between the teams on Field 4A at ‘The Nation.’
The outcome, then, was a rather appropriate 4-4 tie in Flemington.
The pitchers in the game – Camden Colangelo from the Maryland-based Hornets, and Alex Rosensweig from the Pennsylvania-based Ascent Athlete – both went the six-inning distance.
Both also did their best work in the later innings. Colangelo ended with eight-straight outs, while Rosensweig retired the last seven he faced.
Ascent Athlete 11U second baseman Matthew Hess catches third out pop with two men on.
“The ump was calling the outside pitch and that’s where I like to throw it,” Colangelo said. “My curve ball was working.”
“I was throwing effective fastballs,” said Rosensweig. “I was able to focus and throw strikes.”
Both pitchers also made sure to credit their defense for not only making big plays, but for also lessening pressure in a tight game.
In the case of the Hornets, Quin Sanchez made several impressive plays at third base. And on the Ascent Athlete side, Danny Doogan made numerous slick plays at shortstop.
Hickory was down, 3-0, before scoring four times to go ahead in the top of the fourth.
In the bottom of the inning, Ascent Athlete Partridge had runners on first and second with one out when Patrick McCusker delivered an RBI single to score Doogan, who had singled, for the 4-4 tie.
McCusker wound up being the last baserunner of the game, as both pitchers locked in.
Ascent Athlete Partridge scored once in the bottom of the first and twice in the second to establish a 3-0 lead.
Shane Jordan led off the first with his team’s only walk of the game, advanced to second on a ground out and then scored on Doogan’s grounds rule double to left field.
Hickory first baseman Cameron Daniele stretches to catch throw from across the diamond.
In the second inning, Mike DiCicco reached on an error with one out, and Rosensweig followed with a hard single to center. Matthew Hess was up next, and his single to right field scored a run, with the other crossing on an error.
Hickory scored all four of its runs in the fourth.
Will Frank led off with a single to third, and moved to third on two wild pitches. Sanchez was credited with an RBI while reaching on a throwing error to first.
After a fielder’s choice erased Sanchez at second, Jack O’Brien was safe on an error that also enabled the second run to score.
Dylan Bandy followed with a double to right center. An error on the play brought in O’Brien with the tying run, and Bandy wound up on third after a throw to the plate.
After the second out on a foul out to third base, Ayden Moran produced a single to shortstop that brought in the go-ahead run.
Ascent Athlete-Partridge followed up with a 15-10 win over Grit 11U, and will have a chance at a playoff berth out of its six-team pool pending its outcome against Moorestown (0-2) on Sunday afternoon.
Hickory lost to the Morris County Cubs, 10-5, in its second game. The Cubs, with a 2-0 record, are in good shape to advance as the only unbeaten, untied team in the pool. Hickory meets the Manalapan Braves Red (1-1) in its final pool matchup on Sunday afternoon.