By Rich Bevensee
Mountainside Huskies 10U coach Jason Guidicipietro was smack in the middle of explaining why his team deserved to win a championship after coming so close in spring and summer league play when his players surprised him from behind with a water bath.
Clearly, despite their previous frustrations, the Huskies had been thinking about how to act after a championship.
The Huskies, who cranked out 51 runs in four games this weekend, slammed an exclamation point on their first title of the summer with a 14-4, four-inning victory over DiChiaro Baseball of Fair Lawn, N.J., in the August Showdown 10U final on Sunday at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
Scott Krempecke, who singled, walked, drove in a run and scored three times in the final, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. He collected 10 hits over the weekend, including an inside-the-park homer and a triple, and he pitched four no-hit innings in the team’s pool-opening, 16-3 win over Rockville Center Tigers 10U.
“This feels so good. We’ve been waiting all summer for this and it finally happened,” Krempecke said. “We knew we could win it all. We’ve been doing so well the whole tournament and we felt good about today.”
Huskies No. 3 hitter Ben Pasuco went 2-for-3 with a double and four RBI to lead the offense in the final.
“This feels super amazing,” Pasuco said. “Spring season, we lost in the championship. Summer, lost to a good team in the semis. All the other tournaments we haven’t done well so it feels really solid to finally win a championship.”
Guidicipietro said it was through team bonding events that the team learned how to muddle through their disappointments and rely on each other to eventually triumph. But it took some patience.
“In our league play we made it to the championship and we didn’t win,” Guidicipietro said. “In our district tournament we beat the team that won the championship but lost to them in the semis. And in our summer league, same deal. So the kids were very hungry, very passionate. The message this weekend was this is our last time on a 46-60 field, so let’s win a championship.
“They’ve been disappointed but they really have come together. They had to get through a lot of team bonding efforts and they really gelled. The success of this team was cohesiveness and it was something special to see.”
The Huskies defeated RVC Tigers 10U, 16-3, and the Springfield Outlaws, 10-2, in pool play, then ousted the Outlaws in the semis, 11-3.
DiChiaro beat the Outlaws, 7-0, and lost to the Tigers, 14-8, in pool play and knocked off the Tigers, 7-1, in the semis.
In the championship game, the Huskies walked off DiChiaro with a five-run fourth inning in which Pasuco was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in the team’s 14th run.
Earlier he singled in a run in the second inning, and doubled in two runs in the third.
Scott Krempecke of the Mountainside Huskies was named the 10U August Showdown MVP.
“In the beginning of the weekend, I hit a triple but I was trying to hit the ball really far,” Pasuco said. “This morning I changed my plate discipline to line drives up the middle. When you try to hit a home run or something far you swing way too hard, drop your shoulder, have weak contact or pop it up.
When you have good plate discipline to hit it up the middle, then you find barrels, and when you don’t try to hit a home run then you hit one.”
All nine Mountainside players scored at least once. For the Huskies, Ryder Blass had two hits, an RBI and two runs scored, Ferris Guenther had a two-run single, and Nico Diiusto had an RBI single. Christian Basile and Will Sandholm both had a base hit.
Krempecke and leadoff hitter Chase Keenan (2-for-3, three runs) shared the distinction of reaching base safely in all four at bats, while Blass (two runs) reached safely in all three of his plate appearances.
Blass surrendered four runs on six hits, walked none and struck out seven.
DiChiaro’s big at bat came from clean-up hitter Steven Catalano, who blasted a two-out, two-run home run over the left field fence in the third inning. It was such a decisive shot that Huskies left fielder Keenan took two steps and watched it sail. Catalano finished 2-for-2 with three RBI.
Also for DiChiaro, Ronquillo singled twice while Cole Popeck, Thomas Nelson and Luke Formoso each collected a base hit.